Major opportunities ahead for UNBC

Over the coming weeks, the federal government will be making decisions on two important opportunities that could have a significant impact on the future of UNBC. The first concerns Canada’s Fundamental Science Review (the so-called Naylor report). The review indicates that over the past 15 years, Canada’s investment in research and development relative to our GDP has declined to the point that our country no longer ranks among the top 30 nations. Released this past April, the significant funding infusion recommended in the report is part of the federal budget discussions occurring this fall.

You might wonder why any of this should matter to the folks in northern British Columbia. The research conducted by the outstanding faculty and students at UNBC not only makes a difference locally, but also has national and global impact on health, the environment, the economy and our communities.

For example: • Engineering associate professor Thomas Tannert and his collaborators in the master of engineering in integrated wood design program are partnering with industry to enable the wood construction revolution to make the next leap forward by discovering new ways to construct tall wood buildings. • Geography professor Greg Halseth and the team at the Community Development Institute are exploring how resource-dependent rural communities and small towns in northern B.C. and around the world are adapting to globalization and changing economic conditions. • Health sciences associate professor Margot Parkes is conducting groundbreaking work in the emerging field of ecohealth and is leading a national study looking at how to prevent adverse human health impacts from resource development.

Every one of these projects relies on federal research funding and provincial operating dollars for our university and its researchers. Without that support and investment, we risk losing the training and potential application associated with these and hundreds of other research projects.

Implementation of the Naylor report will take time and returning Canada’s research investment back to competitive international levels will likely require a phased approach over the next several years. To that end, Universities Canada, the representative voice of UNBC and other institutions across Canada, has led the call on Ottawa to adopt the Naylor report’s recommendations and reinvest and reverse Canada’s decline in research funding.

The second opportunity of potential significance to UNBC is the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. As science and technology continue to change our world, it has become evident that a regional approach to significant research investments can also create economically dynamic outcomes. Places such as Silicon Valley and Toronto-Waterloo are prime examples. The Innovation Superclusters Initiative will strategically invest up to $950 million between 2017 and 2022 to support business-led consortia with significant potential to grow and further diversify our economy. The call for proposals attracted more than 50 letters of intent representing more than 1,000 businesses and 350 other participants from all regions of Canada. That list has now been narrowed to nine finalists. The proposal from British Columbia, of which UNBC is a partner, is among the finalists and aims to “make Canada faster, smarter and more collaborative in inventing, developing and applying digital technologies.”

The cluster will work to advance data collection, analysis and visualization focused on increasing Canada’s competitiveness across environment and resource technologies, precision health and manufacturing.

Each of these areas is a research strength at UNBC and provides opportunity for our faculty and students to create new knowledge and make unique contributions. The federal government has indicated that up to five successful projects will be funded under this initiative and UNBC will work with our anchor partner Telus Communications and other members of the consortium to further refine our proposal. This effort to incentivize large-scale industry partnerships is a first of its kind for Canada. We at UNBC are already a leader in building partnerships that enhance the success of all the communities that we work with. I am excited by the opportunity to participate in the creation of pathways to the north that will lead to new forms of industry partnership.

Given the uncertainty in the U.S. and elsewhere, the value proposition for Canada has never been greater.

I want you all to know that UNBC stands ready to capitalize on this moment, for northern British Columbia, for Canada and for the world. Daniel Weeks is president and vice-chancellor of UNBC