Old hands at the new tools
27/09/2002
As the EU's Sixth Framework programme (FP6) prepares for launch, with the new instruments of integrated projects and networks of excellence taking centre stage, applicants could do worse than look at the experience of Canada in the use of the latter tool. Networks of excellence have been in force in Canada since 1990 and its experience could help address some of the head scratching that has greeted the new tools in FP6... (read more)
Putting Canada in the frame
27/09/2002
Dr Christophe Sensen of the University of Calgary, Canada, is well placed to discuss Canadian collaboration with the EU. A German who went across to Canada over a decade ago, he regularly goes back to Germany, so often in fact that he boasts that the number of air miles entitle him to first class tickets... (read more)
Putting their money where their research is
26/09/2002
Canada has similar targets to many Western European countries. Targets to reach in terms of percentages of GDP dedicated to research and development, climbing OECD league tables and the like. But five years ago it did something quite extraordinary that has had a major impact on both the country's research infrastructure on a macro scale and the possibilities for research for individuals... (read more)
How to bring innovation to the people
26/09/2002
The word innovation is rather nebulous. The concise Oxford English dictionary defines it as 'bringing in new methods' and highlights that it comes from the Latin 'innovare' which means 'to make new or alter'. It is a vastly overused word now, appearing on everything from car adverts to shampoo bottles... (read more)
Making knowledge feel at home
25/09/2002
An article in the Economist magazine in August highlighted that, while European populations are predicted to decrease over the coming decades, populations in North America are predicted to rise. The article pointed out that larger populations could bring either benefits or disadvantages. If the population is increasing with more ageing, unskilled people, this will mean higher social security obligations and little benefit to the knowledge base of society. But if the increase comes largely from either a new educated generation or qualified immigrants, the country will almost immediately be better positioned to compete in the global economy... (read more)
Canada gets people and values together
24/09/2002
'It's all about people' is one of the main themes that repeatedly surfaces among the Canadian research community. As probably the world's 'biggest small country' (having a land mass that dwarfs the EU but with a population smaller than Spain's), Canada has had to make sure that it makes the most of what it has, both in terms of people and resources... (read more)
