June 1st - June 4th : 20th Annual Conference Schedule

11:00 - 12:30 EDT

12:45 - 14:15 EDT

12:45 - 14:15 EDT

12:45 - 14:15 EDT

12:45 - 14:15 EDT

14:30 - 16:00 EDT

11:00 - 12:30 EDT

11:00 - 12:30 EDT

11:00 - 12:30 EDT

June 1st 2021

Conference Opening

Opening Remarks 

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Jeffrey Crelinsten

Publisher & CEO, Research Money Inc

“Nice looking car…. but what’s under the hood?”
Does Budget 2021 Identify and Manage the Right Risks through Turbulent Times?

This panel examines whether the 2021 Federal budget can adequately address a poorly performing Canadian research and development/innovation (RDI) production system or is it essentially the solution in a different package?

Ömer Kaya

Vice-President, Research and Business Development, Global Advantage Consulting Group Inc

David Watters
 
Founder & CEO, Global Advantage Consulting Group Inc

An Industrial Strategy for Canada - Views from Industry

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, one disturbing effect has been the impact on women and gender-diverse people. The number of deaths for women from the virus has been disproportionately higher because women tend to be on the front lines in caregiver roles. The pandemic has also fueled a she-cession with the majority of the job losses being experienced by women and racialized minorities, thereby dialing back decades of progress in workplace diversity. Now more than ever, Canada needs an economic recovery plan that supports women, gender diverse and racialized communities, because a rising tide lifts all boats.

Mark Little
 

President and Chief Executive Officer, Suncor Energy Inc
 

John Baker
 

President & CEO, D2L

Rhonda Barnet

President & COO, Avit Manufacturing

Monique F. Leroux
 

Chair, Industry Strategy Council of Canada
 

Moderator: Mark Lowey
 

Publisher, Managing Editor, EnviroLine

An Inclusive Plan for Economic Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a massive digital transition that is affecting all sectors of society around the world. As digitization races ahead, laws and regulations that protect privacy and set standards are lagging behind. The increasing use of social media platforms has already put a spotlight on data privacy, cyber security and the need for cross-border regulatory models. The pandemic has heightened the need for oversight as governments implement emergency acts, modify existing privacy acts, and issue specific guidance to enable the response to the health crisis. What will happen once the pandemic ends and how will it affect trust in government and institutions (especially in a low-trust climate)? What digital strategies are governments developing to protect citizens while seizing this massive digital opportunity?

Nadine Letson
 

Assistant General Counsel, Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft Canada

Vass Bednar

Executive Director, MPP, McMaster University

Guy Pearce
 

Chief Digital Officer & Chief Data Officer, Convergence.tech

Moderator: Sebastian Leck

Managing Editor, Research Money

Noel Corriveau

Senior Counsel, INQ Law

June 2 2021

Navigating Digital Transformation: Data Privacy, Security and Regulation

In October 2017 the federal government launched a new form of collaboration between industry and government, creating six Economic Strategy Tables, chaired by industry leaders in six key sectors: advanced manufacturing, agri-food, clean technology, digital industries, health/bio-sciences and resources of the future. In September 2018 they presented an ambitious plan for innovation-led long-term growth for the Canadian economy. In May 2020, the federal government created the Industry Strategy Council – a forum for business leaders to share challenges they’re facing from COVID-19 and to provide advice on economic policy going forward. In October 2020, the Council presented a growth plan for building a digital, sustainable and innovative economy. In this panel, business leaders spearheading this work will present their priorities in developing a robust industrial strategy for Canada.

Moderator: Mark Mann
 

Senior Correspondent, Research Money

Irene Graham
 

CEO, ScaleUp Institute

Dhirendra Shukla

Professor & Chair, University of New Brunswick

Dominique Gruhl-Bégin
 

Head of the Start-ups and Next-Generation Innovators Division, Innosuisse

John Ruffolo
 

Founder and Managing Partner, Maverix Private Equity

Off-the-Shelf or Custom Fit: Best Practices in Supporting Scale-Ups

Governments around the world have developed a variety of mechanisms to support the growth of domestic innovative firms, including R&D tax credits, grants, loans, equity investments, procurement and funding innovation intermediaries. For companies that have grown to significant scale, with global sales, substantial cash flow and rapid growth, what they need to reach the next level varies greatly by industry sector, country, corporate culture and growth strategy. This panel looks at a number of different approaches being used by countries and regions to support their high-growth scaleups.

Naomi Alboim

Distinguished Fellow, Queen’s University

Senior Policy Fellow, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Studies, Ryerson University

Steven Tobin
 

Executive Director, Labour Market Information Council

Moderator: Denise Amyot
 

President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada

AJ Tibando
 

Executive Director, Palette Inc.

Trevin Stratton

chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Policy, CanadianChamber of Commerce

Building Skills for Recovery, Innovation and Growth

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated labour market trends that policy makers have talked about for years. Simultaneously, it has up-ended much of what was previously understood about the composition and resilience of the workforce. Skills and talent are the oxygen that will breathe life into plans for recovery and growth, but coming up with a skills strategy in a country like Canada is more fraught than ever with risks and unknowns. This panel will examine some elements of a skills strategy, from both supply and demand perspectives: what are the prospects and limitations of industry investments in upskilling and reskilling? What gaps should be targeted by immigration policy? Are business and higher education connected in the right ways? Are equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives part of a social agenda, an economic agenda, or both? And do we have the underlying base of labour market information – current and predictive - on which to build such a strategy? Representatives from business, government and academe will discuss how their interests and actions must intersect to create a robust and nimble labour force.

Marcie Hawranik
 

Founder & President, Canadian Equity Consulting

Moderator: Kelly Nolan

Strategic Partnerships Manager, Simon Fraser University

Diana Rivera
 

Senior Economist, Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneur-ship, Ryerson University

Lynn Barr-Telford
 

Assistant Chief Statistician, Social, Health and Labour Statistics Field, Statistics Canada

Anjum Sultana
 

Director of Public Policy & Strategic Communication, YWCA

On day one of this conference we heard from Canadian industry leaders about their recommendations for a Canadian industrial strategy. This panel brings together leaders from the European Union and other countries that are preparing large-scale industrial strategies.

Traditional approaches tend to focus on specific industrial sectors that build on domestic strengths and promise global leadership if supported adequately. Increasingly, governments are using a challenge-focused approach to drive their industrial strategies. Decarbonization and digitization are two global challenges receiving much attention. The COVID-19 pandemic has also added the challenges of public health, economic recovery, supporting SMEs hurt by the pandemic and investing in innovation.

June 3rd 2021

Conference Closing

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Closing Remarks

Thomas Park

Partner, Deep Tech Venture Fund, BDC Capital

Charmaine Dean

Vice-President, Research & International, University of Waterloo

Swaroop 'Kittu' Kolluri
 

Founder & Managing Director, Neotribe Ventures

Moderator - Geneviève Tanguay

Vice-President, Emerging Technologies, National Research Council Canada

Robert Asselin
 

Senior VP, Policy, Business Council of Canada

Crossing the Chasm: Commercializing Deep Tech

This panel explores how to create a support system that facilitates long-term application development within deep areas of fundamental research. Trying to create commercial value from academic research is hard enough in disciplines that lend themselves fairly easily to applications; but for fundamental research in fields such as physics and biology, it’s usually hard to envision potential applications. Even if the potential is there, the interesting developments are very long-term and the lead researchers are typically more interested in discovery than applications. Some institutions have found ways to assemble the patient capital and the business and regulatory expertise to support this kind of deep tech commercialization.

Saskia Sivananthan
 

Chief Research & Knowledge Translation Officer, Alzheimer Society of Canada

Moderator: Lindsay Borthwick
 

Senior Correspondent, Research Money

Carole Mundell

Chief International Science Envoy, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Darrell Bricker
 

CEO, Ipsos

Rémi Quirion

Chief Scientist, Quebec

Research and Public Trust in the Post-Pandemic Economy

While people around the world have been sequestered in their homes during the past year, the thrust and parry of scientific debate about COVID-19 and how to deal with it has been readily available in news reports, commentaries, blogs, social media and public announcements.

The narrative shared with the public constantly evolves in face of a continuous flow of new research and experience with the virus. What has been the impact on public trust in science and research? How has the health crisis affected the role of science advice in government? And to what extent do national cultural differences play a role?

Peter Gluckman

President Elect, International Science Council

Moderator: Paul Dufour
 

Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon
 

President ad interim, European Research Council

Roseann O’Reilly Runte
 

President and CEO, Canada Foundation for Innovation

Sara Wilshaw

Chief Trade Commissioner and Assistant Deputy Minister, Global Affairs Canada

Global Science: International Research Collaboration Post-COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of international collaboration, not only among academic and government researchers but also with entrepreneurs, SMEs and multinational companies. This panel will explore various international efforts to increase international research collaboration around global problems such as climate change and cyber security. 

Matthias Krämer
 

Head of Foreign Economic Policy, Federation of German Industries

Kerstin Bock
 

Co-Founder & CEO, Openers

Felicity Burch
 

Director of Innovation and Digital, Confederation of British Industry

Roberto Alvarez

Executive Director, GFCC

Robert Asselin
 

Senior VP, Policy, Business Council of Canada

National Industrial Strategies – Changing Sector-Focus to Challenge-Focus

Jeffrey Crelinsten

Publisher & CEO, Research Money Inc

Mitch Davies
 

President, National Research Council of Canada

10:45 - 11:00 EDT