Atlantic businesses investing in genomics

To the editor:

Atlantic Canada’s lackluster performance on the recent Conference Board of Canada Innovation Report Card points to several key factors that are dragging down our region’s productivity, economic growth and job creation.

One of these is business enterprise R&D spending, or BERD. Essentially, BERD is an indicator of business investment in innovation. How much companies spend on R&D is incredibly important because it signals a commitment to new ideas increasing the likelihood of becoming new products, processes or services.

Genome Atlantic and our business clients are part of the solution. Private sector investment makes up about onequarter of our cumulative portfolio of approximately $100 million in applied genomics R&D projects since our inception in 2000. That proportion has increased over the years as we implemented an end-user led strategy – from three per cent in 2008 to an average of 22 per cent over the last three years – and we expect to see the trajectory continue upwards.

The reasons are simple. As DNA sequencing becomes cheaper and more accessible, Dna-based solutions are finding broader applications – in our resource industries, in human health, in clean technologies and environmental stewardship, and in combatting the effects of climate change. Because Genome Atlantic’s focus is on end-users, an ever-increasing number of businesses look to us to find the research talent and partnerships that can help them solve real-world problems.

Atlantic Canadian businesses recognize the critical importance of genomics and are investing in these cutting-edge technologies to help them compete globally. In partnership, we are driving innovation and helping to take the Atlantic Canadian economy where it needs to go.

Steve Armstrong,

President & CEO,

Genome Atlantic