What's the first impression of the 2012 federal budget announced this afternoon and what does it mean for Canadian universities? Here are a few highlights at first glance that relate to research universities such as ours.
President Samarasekera's comments on the budget are on her site, including a statement from the presidents of the U15 (Canadian research universities).
For more information on the 2012 federal budget, please visit www.budget.gc.ca.
The big problem with this budget from the point of view of research funding is that the new funding to the three research councils is specifically targeted to specific areas of research that are aimed at supporting commercial development.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing intrinsically wrong with applied research, but it should not be the only direction that the government takes.
And the new funding is not even directed at all applied research, but at applied research for which an existing commercial partner can be identified and recruited.
This has two bad aspects. First, it biases new research funding away from productive and innovative fields if there is not a Canadian industrial partner interested in immediately doing the research.
Second, it shows a complete lack of faith of this government in a free enterprise economy - why does the government need to provide money for research that is going to be protected intellectual property and should be yielding its own financial rewards? The value in government funding of research is to create an environment of knowledge and innovation that acts as a catalyst for economic development, not as a source of subsidy to narrowly focused applied research that can not meet the test of the market.