Public Science, Private Interests: Culture And Commerce in Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence

Atkinson-grosjean, Janet

ISBN 10: 0802080057 / ISBN 13: 9780802080059

Published by Downsview, Ontario, Canada: Univ of Toronto Pr, 2006

About this Item

"The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program is Canada's flagship research funding initiative and a policy innovation that has been emulated by a number of other countries. The NCE program is historically significant in the political economy of Canadian research: established in 1988 by the Mulroney government, it was the first program to attach expectations of industry partnerships and commercial exploitation to funding for academic research. The program rests on dual goals of research excellence and commercial relevance and promotes a national research capacity that 'floats across' existing academic institutions and provincial jurisdictions.Janet Atkinson-Grosjean's Public Science, Private Interests is the first book-length study of NCEs, and offers an assessment of the long-term impact of the erasure between public institutions and private enterprise. Atkinson-Grosjean reveals not only the cultural and commercial shifts sought by policymakers, but also unintended consequences such as regional clustering, elitism and exclusion, problems with social and fiscal accountability, tensions with host institutions, and goal displacement between science and commerce. This is a work of great importance to Canadian policy studies and particularly to science and medical research policy." (Publisher).

Seller Inventory # HB2339S

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Public Science, Private Interests: Culture And Commerce in Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence
• Publisher: Downsview, Ontario, Canada: Univ of Toronto Pr
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802080057
• ISBN 13: 9780802080059
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • ECONOMICS
  • CANADIAN STUDIES

About this title

Synopsis

The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program is Canada's flagship research funding initiative and a policy innovation that has been emulated by a number of other countries. The NCE program is historically significant in the political economy of Canadian research: established in 1988 by the Mulroney government, it was the first program to attach expectations of industry partnerships and commercial exploitation to funding for academic research. The program rests on dual goals of research excellence and commercial relevance and promotes a national research capacity that 'floats across' existing academic institutions and provincial jurisdictions.

Janet Atkinson-Grosjean's Public Science, Private Interests is the first book-length study of NCEs, and offers an assessment of the long-term impact of the erasure between public institutions and private enterprise. Atkinson-Grosjean reveals not only the cultural and commercial shifts sought by policymakers, but also unintended consequences such as regional clustering, élitism and exclusion, problems with social and fiscal accountability, tensions with host institutions, and goal displacement between science and commerce. This is a work of great importance to Canadian policy studies and particularly to science and medical research policy.

About the Author

Janet Atkinson-Grosjean is a research associate with the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology at Simon Fraser University and the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia.