The consultation process initiated by the Prime Minister culminated in a strategy paper
that advocated for increased engagement with the Canadian S&T sector in order to
develop three national advantages, as outlined in Figure 1: an ‘Entrepreneurial
Advantage’, a ‘Knowledge Advantage’ and a ‘People Advantage’ (Industry Canada,
2007). The major output of the paper from the standpoint of federal S&T strategy was a
drive to encourage greater private-sector investment in S&T, the perceived need to focus
on select S&T priority areas, a recognition that the country’s already high standing in
publicly performed R&D required sustaining, general considerations for alternative
management arrangements for non-regulatory federal R&D labs, the consolidation of an
assortment of advisory councils into a single ‘Science, Technology and Innovation
Council’, and the need to create additional funding opportunities for S&T researchers
and students (Fast, 2007, 6-7).