Ottawa awards $950 million to five innovation ‘superclusters’
Consortiums located in regions across the country will each have different focus
OTTAWA— Five industry-led research groups have won a national contest to split $950 million in federal money to create innovation “superclusters” that will include a hub for advanced manufacturing in southern Ontario.
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains predicted Thursday that the injection of cash to key sectors across Canada would grow the economy by $50 billion over the next decade and create more than 50,000 jobs.
The goal, he said, is to create a “made-in-Canada Silicon Valley,” a reference to the region in California that is home to some of the tech giants that have come to dominate the 21st-century digital economy.
“The objective is really to embrace traditional sectors with technologies, to really pave the path forward,” Bains told the Star after announcing the supercluster funding at the new Canada Science and Technology Museum.
“That will allow different parts of the country to generate opportunities for generations to come,” Bains said.
Groups representing industries and academic institutions with links to the recipients were quick to praise the supercluster plan, which was a key plank of the Liberal government’s 2017 budget. There was some criticism on Parliament Hill, however, with Conservative MP Maxime Bernier accusing the government of interfering in the free market by funneling money to five consortiums in what he dubbed in French the “lotto supercluster.”
“I believe that the small business owners and the real entrepreneurs are able to innovate if you lower their taxes. So that would be the solution. Not picking winners — and there’s only five winners today,” he told reporters Thursday.
“Everybody is losing with a policy like that.”
The money comes at the end of a national competition that Bains launched in May 2017, which prompted 50 groups linking busi- nesses, academic and other organizations to draft proposals to establish these “superclusters.”
Bains explained that the five winning proposals will establish new, not-for-profit consortiums to receive the federal money and lead collaboration between their participating businesses and researchers. The $950 million will roll out over the next five years, with each group receiving between $150 and $250 million, he said.
On top of that, the more than 450 private businesses participating across the five superclusters have committed to putting in $1.5 billion of their own money to the initiative, Bains said — meaning the total investment in the conglomerates will reach almost $2.5 billion by 2023.
“This is industry-led. They put together the business plans and they stepped up in a real meaningful way,” Bains said.
Among the five recipients of federal cash was a group from Ontario with key Toronto-based members, such as the MaRS Discovery District and large manufacturing companies in Guelph, Hamilton and elsewhere across the province. Through the creation of a not-for-profit called Next Generation Manufacturing Canada, the Ontario supercluster will focus on technological innovation in advanced manufacturing.
“We have a lot of catching up to do and I think it’s a real shot in the arm and for us, it’s a shot in the robotic arm to move the innovation agenda ahead,” said Rhonda Barnet, chair of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters who is also on the board of the new supercluster group.
Another consortium in British Columbia will create a “digital technology supercluster” to connect “big data” with health care, forestry, manufacturing and other sectors. The Prairies will be home to a “protein industries supercluster” to develop plant proteins, while another group called the “Scale AI supercluster” will be created in Quebec to work on artificial intelligence and robotics.
Finally, an “ocean supercluster” will be based in Atlantic Canada to “improve competitiveness” in fisheries, oil and gas, and clean energy.
“This demonstrates that innovation takes place everywhere,” Bains said, when asked about the even regional split of the five consortiums chosen by the government.
“It’s this consortium that’s going to play a leadership role in solving a lot of . . . problems, unlocking a lot of money off the balance sheets for more research and development that will benefit these respective companies.” With a file from Bruce Campion-Smith