Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Announcement of Competition Results

Speaking Points

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, PC, MP
Minister of State (Science and Technology)

Kingston, Ontario
June 1, 2011

Check Against Delivery

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today at Queen's University, and I would like to thank you for joining me.

While I am here, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Queen's on the successful completion of its brand-new school of medicine, which I understand will be celebrating its grand opening on Friday. I am very proud that our government was a financial partner and helped to make this project possible.

I've lost count of the number of times that I have visited Kingston in the two and a half years I have been Minister of State. The reason is simple. Queen's University has some of the world's best researchers working in many different fields. But the same is also true of universities across the country.

Canada has become a destination of choice for leading scientists—people like Professor Stephen Hawking at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. While other governments are cutting back on funding research and innovation in the face of economic uncertainty, our government has invested more. That is because our government understands that science and technology power Canada's economy.

Our government is focused on what matters to Canadians—the economy and jobs. On Monday it was announced that Canada's economy grew by 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2011.Our continued economic growth shows that Canada's Economic Action Plan is working and that we are on the right track to improve the economy for the benefit of Canadian families and workers.

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, to remain at the forefront of the global economy, we must invest in the people and ideas that will produce tomorrow's breakthroughs.

That is why, four years ago, the Prime Minister launched Canada's Science and Technology Strategy— to strengthen our economy, improve the quality of life of Canadians and create jobs. As part of this strategy, our government made a commitment to develop, attract and retain the world's best researchers here in Canada.

This brings me to today's announcement.

I am pleased to announce that our government will invest $29.6 million to help young scientists and engineers get the professional skills they need to make a successful transition into the workplace and keep Canada's economy growing.

This investment, which will be delivered over the next six years, will be through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's Collaborative Research and Training Experience program, or "CREATE".

This funding will support 18 projects across Canada. Here at Queen's University, Professor James Cordy and his team will receive $1.6 million to create a unique training program in Ultra-Large-Scale Software. These are extensive and highly complex software systems that can process the network connections and data of millions of people worldwide—for example, financial or health care systems. This program is unique to Queen's University. It is not offered anywhere else in Canada or anywhere else in the world. As the importance of this research continues to grow, we are in the unique position of building this expertise here in Kingston.

The CREATE program is targeted at students at any level, from undergraduate to postdoctoral. It supports the development of a critical national resource—young Canadian talent in science and engineering.

Projects are led by teams of Canadian university researchers who see the value in helping students acquire professional skills that are not part of their normal academic training. Students will learn to work productively in multidisciplinary research environments and will acquire valuable leadership, entrepreneurship and project management skills. They will also receive training in transferring knowledge and technology, an important final step in the innovation cycle.

These new skills will provide students with a head start in their careers, so they are better prepared to face challenges in the workforce.

In a few short years, we have fostered a stronger culture of science and innovation. The young scientists and engineers we train today will be able to pass these practices on to the next generation of researchers.

With the support of investments like the one we are announcing today, we are improving the quality of research in our country for the benefit of all Canadians.

Thank you.