CSPC: A Successful Grassroots Effort
The Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) was founded in 2008 by a dynamic group of young professionals from academia, science-based government departments, and the business sector. CSPC maintains its grassroots culture through the strength and dedication of a volunteer organizing team. Each year, the organizing committee includes a diverse range of early- and mid-career professionals: graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, administrators, policy-makers, and entrepreneurs. Many have developed a deep interest in science policy and have gone on to pursue a career in the field. Since its inception, the CSPC has received a groundswell of engagement from across Canada’s science policy landscape, including the support of over 100 volunteers who have helped organize the conference, over 60 organizations who have provided financial support, and over 70 community leaders who have served on the CSPC’s Advisory and Honorary Committees. CSPC: A Collaborative and Innovative Culture
The longer-term vision of the conference is to foster a strong science policy culture in Canada, shaped by a co-evolution of science and policy goals shared between community members. Through the conference design, CSPC seeks to foster collaboration and innovation between various stakeholders in science, technology and innovation policy, by providing a forum to identify, discuss and offer insights into current Canadian policy. CSPC has itself become a collaboration point with organizations who have become supporters or partners of the initiative. Always looking to improve, CSPC continues to innovate on the way it engages the science policy community by testing and adopting new models of communication and interaction. As part of its aim to strengthen the collaborative and innovative culture around science policy, CSPC is exploring ways to deliver on some of the ideas generated during its conferences. A Strategic Business Plan was created through stakeholder consultation conducted in 2011, which highlights potential areas that CSPC could serve the science policy community outside of the conference. These initiatives are captured in three pillars: serving as a hub of ideas and collaboration for science policy; creating opportunities for youth engagement in science policy; and conducting multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral analyses on science policy and innovation issues in Canada. In 2012, CSPC will be reaching out to the community to gauge interest and support for these objectives, with the aim of prioritizing these opportunities and developing a plan to actualize them. CSPC: A Focal Point for Science Policy
In response to the needs of the science-policy community, CSPC endeavours to be an effective and unique annual forum that draws people of diverse backgrounds from across the nation and beyond. The discussions focus on the dynamics of current and emerging issues of national priority in science, technology and innovation. CSPC has developed an extensive network of contacts, having engaged directly with over 100 organizations within Canada’s science policy community. It has earned a respected position as a neutral, arms-length, non-governmental organization devoted to sound science policy, and now has a proven track record as a facilitator of discussion among diverse Canadian science policy stakeholders from academia, government, business, and the non-profit sector. Each CSPC has been regarded as a resounding success by participants, with the latest conference attracting over 500 delegates from across Canada and abroad. Capitalizing on the effects of the conference, the first pillar of CSPC’s Strategic Business Plan intends to further establish CSPC as a focal point for science policy by becoming a national science and innovation policy Hub. The Hub will develop a collaborative network of member organizations and individuals that become the focal point for critical thinking and integration of science, technology and innovation policy related issues. This would shift CSPC from a volunteer run conference model to a professional organization that offers events and services for its members throughout the year. This first pillar initiative is being explored in 2012, building up to a discussion at the conference. CSPC is beginning to see evidence of the impact of becoming a focal point for science policy, not only for its conference participants, but for all stakeholders of science policy in Canada. The Impact section of this Conference Plan illustrates some of the key areas where the conference has had some influence. Impacts
Since its inception in 2009 CSPC has brought together individuals from areas of policy formulation, science-policy integration, and research science to engage in productive conversations about improving Canada’s science policy environment. This has resulted in a number of collaborative initiatives. The results of the conference and these initiatives are beginning to yield impact in the following areas:
Developing and Sharing Knowledge for Canadian Science Policy
The conference itself has produced a wealth of materials useful for the science policy community in Canada. Some of last year’s highlights included:
A review of the “Jenkins Report” on federal spending on R&D in Canada, and a look at the role of Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in innovation;
A discussion exploring the role of social innovation in building communities; and
The opinion of executives of fast-growing SMEs on Canada’s innovation policies. Conference materials are made available to the public through the conference website, http://sciencepolicy.ca, allowing ideas generated during the conferences to drive discussion and debate throughout the year. Audio-visual materials include:
40 panel discussions and 3 workshops under 16 overarching themes, in which more than 170 leading speakers from the academic, business, government, and non-profit communities are featured;
18 keynote and plenary session addresses from provincial and federal Ministers, distinguished scientists, and policy and business leaders; and
more than 60 interviews with leaders of science policy. In addition, the published proceedings of each CSPC include a two-page report of the key issues examined in each panel discussion. Raising the Profile of Science Policy
Annually, CSPC has brought attention to science policy in Canada with favorable coverage from many media outlets, both national and international. In its editorial, Nature magazine hailed the CSPC as a “hopeful sign” for Canadian science policy (Nature 463, 135 (Jan 14, 2010)). Influential national media including The Globe and Mail, CBC, The Mark, TVO, Hill Times, Agence Science-Presse, Biotechnology Focus, Canadian Government Executive, and many others have covered CSPC each year. CSPC continues to explore ways of making science policy issues more accessible to the public and ways of raising awareness of the fundamental importance of science policy to the health of Canadian society. Training and Enabling the Younger Generation
One of the distinct strengths of the CSPC is that it brings together participants across all stages of their careers. As such, the conference can offer unique opportunities for the next generation of leaders in the science policy community to both engage with more experienced participants and to develop professionally by attending the workshops and discussions. CSPC has relied on the service of more than 100 student and early-career volunteers to help to organize the conference over the years. These young professionals have included graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, young policy-makers, administrators, entrepreneurs, and business people. In this way, CSPC has become an enabling vehicle for many younger members of the science and technology community to deepen their policy expertise. Many have developed a deep interest in the field, and launched their career through the CSPC network. Likewise, many young policy-makers and administrators from outside of scientific research networks have enjoyed the excitement and opportunity to work with scientists directly and to better understand the culture of the scientific community. These connections are one way in which CSPC endeavours to build a stronger science policy culture in Canada. Building on this momentum, the second pillar of the CSPC Strategic Business Plan focuses on engaging youth by creating a platform to develop and mentor future science and innovation policy thinkers that includes development of mentorship, internship and fellowship programs. This pillar will also be explored during 2012 and reported on at the conference. Facilitating Collaboration between Science Policy Stakeholders
The CSPC has always placed a strong focus on enabling members of the science policy community to connect and collaborate on ideas and initiatives. With participation from multiple sectors and disciplines within government, academia and the business sector, the conference atmosphere encourages depth of insight and collaboration between participants in all stages of their political, professional or scientific careers. The knowledge and understanding developed supports the participants in their careers to help shape the policies of today and tomorrow in conjunction with science, and enables Canada to pivot itself as a leader in science, technology and innovation policy. One important outcome from discussions initiated at CSPC 2009 is SciencePages, a publication written for parliamentarians and other decision-makers. It aims to increase discussion on topical issues that have science and engineering at their core by summarizing the current state of the knowledge and policy landscape. Each issue is prepared and reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team and is published quarterly. SciencePages is an initiative of the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE), in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). More information can be found at www.sciencepages.ca
