Niall @ Parliament Hill
From February 1st to 4th, Infonaut CEO Niall Wallace was in Ottawa advocating on behalf of the multi-sector partnerships that foster Canadian innovation and economic growth.
Niall is a member of the National Strategy Group, organized by Polytechnics Canada — “a national alliance of Canada’s leading research-intensive, publicly-funded colleges and institutes of technology”. It was in this capacity that he met with senior members of the federal government to discuss increasing support to the health information system (HIS) sector.
On behalf of Polytechnics’ National Strategy Group, Niall met with Dr. Suzanne Fortier, president of NSERC; Dr. Eliot Philipson, president of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI); Deputy Minister Richard Dicerni; ADM Robert Dunlop (Science and Innovation); and Philip Welford (Chief of Staff to Minister Gary Goodyear).
Niall and the National Strategy Group are working with these government partners to strengthen and expand federal funding commitments to private sector-academic alliances.
While in Ottawa, Niall also did some work in his new role as co-chair of George Brown College’s Innovation Advisory Board “Developing Industry Champions” working group, which guides the college on how to engage with external industry partners.
The Association of Community Colleges of Canada (ACCC) hosted a panel on February 3rd, to discuss how best to engage and integrate with industry.
Niall led discussions with this group on how to link student outcomes to industry problem solving, and how to best engage students in applied research for the benefit of all involved (industry, faculty and students).
Contact us if you have any questions on these panels and associations, or would like to learn more about how industry can participate with Canada’s academic institutions.
