Science Policy and Agricultural Biotechnology in Canada

Abstract

This paper examines Canadian science and technology (S&T) policies in the 1990s and the growth of the agriculture biotechnology sector. Drawing from several different data sources, we show that advances in biotechnology have made a substantive contribution to the agri-food landscape as evident by the growth in biotechnology companies, as well as the number of approved genetically modified field trials and canola biotechnology patents issued to inventors. We also show that Canadian inventors do not appear to have harvested a substantive number of enabling canola biotechnology patents as compared to U.S. and European inventors. Canada has adopted science policy instruments such as intellectual property (IP) rights and public/private research networks to promote the development of closer government-research industry relations necessary for the commercialization of publicly funded research (Atkinson-Grosjean, House, and Fisher). Canada, a medium-sized country and exporter of primary and processed agrifood products, has a rich scientific tradition that extends to several fields of endeavor. Canada ranks sixth based on its scientists' contribution to the world's total number of publications in science, engineering, and medicine and seventh in the overall quality of research papers (May). While Canada accounts for a smaller proportion of publications worldwide, the impact of Canadian science has increased over the years based on the total number of papers judged to be citation all-stars (Strauss). This is evident, for example, in the field of molecular genetics, where Canadian researchers rank at the top internationally in terms of quality based on the average number of citations received from their scientific papers (Royal Society of Canada). Despite these positive attributes of the Canadian innovation system, there are few case studies undertaken to describe the changes in science policy and the agricultural biotechnology sector (Traore and Rose). The aim of this paper is to gain an understanding of the shifting trends in Canadian science and technology (S&T) policy and agriculture biotechnology. Drawing from several different data sources (e.g., Statistics Canada biotechnology