The initiatives that were developed and implemented immediately following the
publication of the strategy paper significantly altered the Canadian research landscape.
Some examples are (see Section 1.5.1 for a more comprehensive overview):
1. A series of new Networks of Centres of Excellence were created to support stronger
ties between post-secondary institutions and industry, including stronger incentives
for the commercialization of academic research;
2. Significant reductions in a variety of tax rates in order to spur private sector
investment in R&D and the creation of new businesses, including the Scientific
Research and Experimental credit;
3. Federal research granting programs were given four priority areas (environmental
S&T, resources and energy, health and related life sciences, and information and
communication technologies), which quickly became mapped onto the funding
agendas of federal granting agencies, particularly the Natural Science and
Engineering Research Council;
4. The Science, Technology and Innovation Council replaced the Advisory Council on
Science and Technology, the Council of Science and Technology Advisors and the
Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, centralizing S&T advice in a more
tightly controlled agency. This development also included the removal of the
National Science Advisory as a direct advisor to the Prime Minister; and
5. The creation of a new industrial internship program and increased support for S&T
related scholarship programs.