Tapping in to great Canadian minds

Who should be supporting scientific research? How are we going to build a knowledge-based economy? What must Ontario do to innovate in the future? How important is scientific collaboration? Why is funding infrastructure so important? What lessons have we learned from the way we've done research? How are we going to retain our best and brightest?

These are all important questions all of us should be asking ourselves. And just a sample of the questions we posed to some of the leading names in science, industry and academia. Notable individuals that include Alan Bernstein, David Crane, John Evans, Mike Lazaridis, Mark Poznansky, Rich Murphy, Nils Peterson, Gord Nixon, Bonnie Schmidt and Lou Siminovitch.

Want to hear what these prominent people have to say? Simply choose the Q & A you want to read using the drop down menu above. Whether you agree with their point of view, or not, one thing is certain. You are sure to be stimulated and challenged.

Q What have been the biggest changes in science since you received your doctorate nearly 65 years ago?
A In my time, the ratio of good ideas to productivity was about one to one. Now I think in many ways technology has taken over, and today it may be 10 times more important than ideas. You still can't be stupid to succeed in science. But if you are just clever, but very good at using the technology, you can do extremely well indeed.
Read full Q A session
The Government of Ontario has invested more than $3.2 billion in research over the past 10 years (1997-2007).
View chart (PDF)