Everyone loves Navdeep Bains, Canada’s innovation minister, especially the innovation community which hungers for those countless semi-trailers full of cash he’s been giving out recently.
We're going to look at that and we're also going to remember the time when we could ask government ministers hard questions and have a reasonable expectation of receiving an honest answer even for the difficult issues.
Sources cited during this episode include the following:
The April 22nd, 2020 update to the National Research Council (NRC) Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) Innovation Assistance Program (IAP). Uploaded on August 3rd.
The August 14th, 2020 Federal Government September 4th, 2018 update to the "Innovation Supercluster Initiative." Uploaded on August 3rd, 2020.
"Age of Ingenuity" tracks Canada's "innovation ecosystem," the organizations, agencies and individuals attempting to turn innovative Canadian start-ups into world class, billion dollar "unicorns," able to anchor industries and create jobs.
Copyright disclaimer under section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976, allowing for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism and under section 29 of the 1921 Canadian Copyright Act allowing for “fair dealing” exemptions for criticism, review and news reporting.
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Mars (on the left) has more than a little in common with the Australian outback (on the right) according to the December 4th, 2014 ABC News Australia post, "Mars V Australian Outback." As outlined in the June 10th, 2018 VentureBeat post, "The best countries for tech companies: 2018 rankings," the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has named Australia, Singapore and Sweden as "the countries most prepared for technological change, and the most attractive places for tech companies to invest in the next five years." It's a shame that Canada wasn't in the top ten rankings. Photo's c/o NASA and Jane Stapleton.
Those laws are designed specifically to encourage private sector extraterrestrial exploration and resource extraction. Now it looks like a third nation could soon be following along the same path.
The article noted that one of the priorities of the new space agency is "developing a strategy to position Australia as an international leader in specialized space capabilities" such as space mining.
It also pointed out that terrestrial mining operations often use autonomous drills, robotic tools optimized for extreme environments and other high-tech tools which could be useful for mining operations on Mars or the asteroids.
Australian industry has a unique opportunity to leverage the nation's strengths and advantages to increase its role in the international space sector by providing strategic contributions to global value chains that result in economic return and improve the lives of Australians.
These include:
Growing the ecosystem and downstream utilisation of space-derived data and services, such as Earth Observation, positioning navigation and timing, and satellite communications.
Building an Australian industry to track space objects to ensure the continued availability of space assets.
Leveraging Australia's research and industrial strengths to develop cutting edge technology for global space exploration and utilization.
The Wilde Project is named after Oscar Wilde (it's a long story), and includes Australian researchers from multiple schools and faculties organized through the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. It plans to design a space mission to "process water from the permanently shadowed craters at moon’s poles" to demonstrate the feasibility of a variety of tools and methodologies to the mining community since "both the (Australian) space agency and CSIRO now have it as a priority." Screen shot c/o UNSW Engineering.
But while Australia has (so far at least) not moved forward with the necessary legal regulations needed for citizens and domestically based corporations to claim ownership over space based resources, the national news outlets have starting to notice the local mining expertise and how that skill-set is applicable to the space industry.
Maybe things are starting to look up for Canada's space industry.
Sometime this month, Charlottesville NC based Honeywell International, will formally open its Space Division’s Greenhouse, a technology and space focused incubator in a facility originally owned by the old Cambridge ON based COM DEV International.
Of course, the Honeywell Greenhouse has unofficially been opened for almost a year. It's been publically referenced as far back as the August 22nd, 2018 Space News post, "Small satellites are at the center of a space industry transformation" and many of its core staff have held their formal titles since June 2018.
Before then, most worked for COM DEV and focused on doing pretty much what they had been doing since Honeywell brought the iconic Canadian space company and spun out its Cambridge ON based exactEarth smallsat subsidiary as a separate company in late 2015.
But a formal announcement, as outlined in the January 7th, 2019 Space News post, "Honeywell to open technology incubator," has just got to come as good news, even if only as an implied commitment that the facility will remain open in some capacity.
According to Space News:
The market for geostationary communications satellites has slowed at a time when companies around the world are beginning to build small satellite constellations.
Increasingly, customers demand reliable satellite components they can acquire quickly and inexpensively. To meet that demand, Honeywell is “picking technologies it is really good at making and bringing them into this new age,” Mississian said.
Honeywell has 25 full-time employees working in the Greenhouse established in the Ontario, Canada, facility that was home to COM DEV International before Honeywell acquired the satellite component builder in 2015. The Greenhouse also pulls in expertise from the larger company.
The Greenhouse will work on a variety of projects relating to optical intersatellite links, reaction wheels, optical imagers and technology developed initially by COM DEV for Canadian government contracts.
Last January, no one would ever have thought that the big Canadian space story of 2018 would be the slow destruction of Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies' market valuation on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and its effect on Canada.
Maxar stock peaked with a January 4th, 2018 high of $65.25 US ($88.97 CDN) per share, then bottomed out with a December 24th, 2018 low of $9.55 US ($13.02) per share.
But while Maxar crashed and burned, a whole new generation of private sector, mostly Canadian owned and operated space focused firms quietly perfected their technology, slowly raised funds for expansion and painstakingly developed functional business plans.
Here's an overview of some of the important stories this blog has covered over the last year.
It's alliance with Dorval PQ based Bombardier Aerospace to turn Bombardier’s single-aisle C Series (now known as the Airbus A220) into a commercial success moved Ottobrunn Germany based Airbus Space and Defence into the front ranks of Canadian aerospace contractors and either saved or destroyed the Canadian aerospace industry, depending on who you're talking with. As outlined in the January 29th, 2018 post, "A Pyrrhic Victory for Bombardier," the year began with the successful dismissal of US trade sanctions. It ended with Bombardier selling off several business units and significant employee layoffs. As outlined in the December 20th, 2018 post, "Airbus Has Been in Canada for Thirty-Five Years and Wants to Increase its Contribution to Our Space Activities," Airbus finished out the year intending to utilize the good feelings flowing from the Canadian government because of the Bombardier partnership to grow its Canadian footprint. Graphic c/o Wendover Productions.
Maxar's strong start to the year was based on the perception (or presumption) that the Justin Trudeau Liberal government would follow through on the Federal Space Advisory Board (SAB) August 2017 preliminary report "Consultations on Canada’s future in space: What we heard," with enough new funding in the 2018 Federal Budget to finish the SAB report and light the way forward.
That final report, once written, was also expected to recommend at least one large new project with enough funding to keep Maxar happy, plus enough extra money to spread around to the rest of the space community to create the perception of a "balanced space program."
Additional RADARSAT's for the RCM (up to three more satellites on top of the currently planned three).
New funding for the proposed enhanced satellite communication project (ESCP), a long running Federal proposal to build a two node constellation of modified Molniya orbiting DND satellites.
It certainly didn't help much that, as outlined in the the February 27th, 2018 Toronto Star post, "Budget boosts science research, grant funding," the 2018 Federal budget substantially increased direct government funding for fundamental research, an area of interest which mollified many of the CSA's traditional academic partners.
Maxar also had a tough year on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), dropping from its January 3rd, 2018 high of $82.01 CDN to bottom out at $13.04 CDN on December 24th, 2018 before recovering slightly in time for the year end. As outlined in the October 05, 2017 post, "MDA Acquisition of DigitalGlobe Closes; New US Based Combined Company now called Maxar Technologies," Richmond BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (a Canadian based company with a lengthy history of prime contracting for major space focused Canadian Space Agency (CSA), military and government programs) reincorporated in 2017 as US based Maxar in order to obtain access to the lucrative US satellite and military market. But the bottom fell out of the US geosynchronous (GEO) satellite market and, while the new Maxar did begin picking up US military, NASA and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contracts, Canada waffled over the political implications of providing new contracts for iconic Canadian technology to a US based firm. As outlined in the December 31st, 2018 CNW press release, "S&P Dow Jones Indices Announces Changes to the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices," the shareholders of Maxar eventually completed a planned US "domestication" and "approved a change of domicile for the company from Canada to the United States." Maxar stock "will be removed from all S&P/TSX indices where the stock is a constituent prior to the open of trading on Monday, January 7th, 2019." Graphic c/o TSE: MAXR.
By April, and as outlined in the April 20th, 2018 post, "Telesat Moves Forward with New Offices, New Plans, New Challenges and New Funding," Telesat was accessing financing supplied through a $100Mln CDN pot allocated through the Federal Strategic Innovation Fund in the 2018 Federal budget and a $20Mln CDN direct contribution from the government of Ontario. Several billion more will be needed to complete the program but the existing funding was a good start.
But other space focused hi-tech firms and their proposals fared better. Groups which included PQ based ABB Canada, Kitchener ON based Clearpath Robotics, Ottawa ON based C-CORE, Burnaby BC based D-Wave Systems, Cambridge ON based exactEarth and Vancouver BC based Urthecast all received supercluster funding.
Maxar, which wasn't included in any of the successful applications, didn't immediately panic.
As late as the March 7th, 2018 Space News post, "SpaceX, Trudeau Will Help Lift Satellite Maker Maxar Out of Its Slide, CEO Says," Maxar CEO Howard Lance was still prepared to tell anyone willing to listen that, while the bottom had fallen out of the US geosynchronous (GEO) satellite market (a major source of revenue for Palo Alto CA based Maxar subsidiary SSL, which focused on the manufacture of expensive, high-profit communications satellites) and Canadian deals weren't moving forward, the situation was only temporary.
The markets would improve and, as noted explicitly in the article, Lance expected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to come to Maxar's rescue with a new, government funded space project tailored to Maxar strengths before the end of the year.
It was a quiet year. As outlined in the December 28th, 2018 CSA post, "Highlights of 2018," the Canadian Space Agency listed twelve highlights for the year. They included the January 20th, 2018 addition of a new hand for the Canadarm, the tenth anniversary of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) or DEXTRE on the International Space Station (ISS), the May 5th, 2018 announcement of the participants in the Canadian CubeSat Project, the fifteenth anniversary of SCISAT, the arrival of the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft (with Canada’s critical laser altimeter) at asteroid Bennu and the December 3rd, 2018 departure of Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques for the ISS. Graphic c/o CSA.
But by August, and as outlined in the August 10th, 2018 post, "Maxar Technologies Might be Getting Paranoid," Trudeau still hadn't offered up any space funding. Some, including New York NY based Spruce Point Capital Management, were even beginning to question the fundamental assumptions which had until now supported the Maxar stock price.
Maxar needed to develop a more proactive approach.
The coalition was organized by Maxar through its Ontario based MDA subsidiary and focused primarily on encouraging the Canadian government to fund a multi-billion dollar "3rd generation Canadarm" for the proposed US LOP-G.
According to several high-level sources within the Canadian space industry, certain NASA employees (including Bill Gerstenmaier, the NASA administrator for human exploration and operations) are working with senior members of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Aerospace Industry Association of Canada (AIAC) space committee and Maxar/MDA to co-ordinate a campaign to encourage the Federal government to announce funding for Canada's contribution to the LOP-G program as early as this fall, if possible.
The article also noted that much of the planning for the campaign (and many of the organizational e-mails) originated from MDA director of public affairs Leslie Swartman. MDA, as the holder of many of the original Canadarm patents, would be first in line for any new Canadarm derived work and could reasonably be expected to make a substantial profit off the program.
The coalition campaign culminated in an unusual November 2018 public request from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine for Canada to sign-on to the LOP-G program during a stage presentation at the 2018 Canadian Aerospace Summit, which was held in Ottawa ON on November 13th - 14th, 2018.
In response to the stock collapse and as outlined in the December 6th, 2018 Space News post, "Maxar sells portion of SSL real estate," Maxar began selling off its real estate holdings in an effort to raise money.
It also raised "the maximum consolidated debt leverage ratio," just in case the property sales couldn't generate enough cash to pay down the Maxar debt left over from its initial acquisition of SSL and Westminster CO based DigitalGlobe, the 2017 acquisition which began the process which turned Burnaby BC based MacDonald Dettwiler into Colorado based Maxar.
Worst of all, and as outlined in the December 12th, 2018 Nasdaq post, "Maxar Technologies Ltd. (MAXR) Ex-Dividend Date Scheduled for December 13, 2018," was the cancellation of Maxar's quarterly dividend. Reducing or cancelling the amount of dividend paid to shareholders normally makes them unhappy and sends the message that the company is not doing well financially.
Even with that, it's expected that Maxar will eventually be forced to divest itself of major portions (if not all) of its SSL large satellite manufacturing business. Maxar has promised to announce a decision regarding the strategic direction of its GEO business in the new year.
At least one Canadian expatriate could claim to have had a good year. Cape Canaveral FL based Moon Express (ME) founder and CEO Robert D. Richards (shown here with CSA president Sylvain Laporte) returned to Canada to open a ME branch office and "explore options for collaboration with the CSA and Canada’s space sector on technologies and payloads for missions to the Moon." As outlined in the November 30th, 2018 post, "Procurement Contracts, Not Science or Engineering, Will Define the Next Generation of Robotics and Planetary Rovers," ME is one of nine "US based companies (which) are now eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the lunar surface through a new Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a series of fixed price procurement contracts NASA will begin issuing in 2019 which are intended to facilitate the planned US return to the Moon." The program also has more than a passing resemblance to the very successful Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) fixed priced NASA program, which helped to turn Hawthorne CA based SpaceX into a titan of the NewSpace industry. Photo c/o ME.
Other Canadian companies have also had an adventurous year. They include:
The thirty seven organizations participating in the Canadian Cubesat Project which, as discussed in the May 7th, 2018 post, "Canadian Cubesat Project Finally Moving Forward," received Federal funding through fifteen grants of between $200,000 - $250,000 to post-secondary based teams attempting to build functioning cubesats for launch beginning in 2020.
Montreal PQ based Northstar Earth and Space which, as outlined in the November 16th, 2018 post, "A $52Mln CDN Financing Deal for Northstar Earth and Space Inc.," received funding for the development of "a global environment information platform which will transform humanity's ability to manage our impact on Earth and its natural resources," only one day after Innovation Minister Bains rejected the NASA Administrator Bridenstine's offer to announce participation (and funding) for a Canadian contribution to the US LOP-G.
In essence, and without substantially revised legislation, no one will ever be able to launch an orbital rocket from Canadian soil. Here's hoping that changes in 2019.
Inuvik based satellite receivers, built almost three years ago, are unusable today, after the failure of multiple attempts to fulfill Canadian government licencing requirements. Photo c/o Rolf Skatteboe.
Another group with problems over existing Canadian legislation governing space activities was the entire town of Inuvik NWT.
As outlined in the March 5th, 2018 post, "That Commercial Ground Station Built by New North Networks in Inuvik Still Can't be Used," a local company attempting to fulfill a contract for the European Space Agency (ESA), an international organization which includes the CSA as a "co-operating" member, was unable to do so, even after an almost three year wait, because of Federal government delays in providing the appropriate permits and approvals.
According to the article:
From a legal standpoint, the existing barriers favor legacy players, such as the Federal government owned Inuvik Satellite Station Facility (ISSF), administered by the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation and part of Natural Resources Canada (CCMEO/NRCan), which opened in 2010 and is the only other ground station in the region
A year-end announcement by Seattle WA based Amazon may have rendered the whole issue mute.
As outlined in the December 03, 2018 post, "The New Amazon Web Services Ground Station (AWSGS) Will Disrupt Existing Ground Stations," a new "cloud-based product offering scalable computing power for satellite ground stations and data processing," using "Amazon’s current AWS cloud computing infrastructure." is likely only the latest step in rolling out of new, lower cost, satellite services to the public.
So what's going to happen next year in space for Canada? To find out, check out future editions of the Commercial Space blog.
It's worth noting that a great many academic, non-governmental and business organizations want the Federal government to give them bucketloads of new money for various projects and insist that this will revitalize the Canadian space industry.
They are wrong. Totally and irrevocably wrong. Our current worldwide explosion of private sector space accomplishments has nothing whatsoever to do with simply shoveling new government money into traditionally structured programs.
The problem is the structure of the program, not a lack of funding.
The only real way to revitalize the Canadian space industry and make it competitive in the marketplace of ideas (not just as a component manufacturer) is to change the procurement methodologies of government departments such as the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and update the Federal tax code to support innovative, Canadian based, private sector corporations.
This is what the US and Luxembourg are currently doing and it is the main reason why companies like Hawthorne, CA based SpaceX, Las Cruces NM based Virgin Galactic, Betzdorf Luxembourg based SES SA and even Ottawa ON based Telesat are currently investing so heavily in the final frontier.
Oddly enough, back in 2012, the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) did look at those areas in the first two of its three part series of submissions to the 2012 David Emerson led Aerospace Review.
Updated government policies and regulations covering the experimental permitting, safety standards, liability limitation and launch licencing for commercial launch providers in Canada.
The use of novel contracting approaches for government procurement, such as some of the approaches currently being used to maintain US dominance in this area. Examples of these would include the various NASA Space Act Agreements, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program and the Small Business Industrial Research (SBIR) program.
The ability to commercially access existing US and Canadian government civilian and military facilities related to the space industry and the encouragement of the creation of appropriate new facilities (such as spaceports and satellite receiving facilities) and build new ones, as required.
Halifax NS based Maritime Launch Services (MLS), although saddled with the obsolete, expendable Cyclone-4M launch vehicle at the core of its plan to build a launch facility on Canada's east coast, would also have benefited from at least knowing the process required to gain government approval to build a spaceport.
The second submission doesn't suggest adopting new methodologies or co-opting techniques from others.
It suggests only that the techniques and tax breaks already in place to grow our mining industry, can also be used to grow our space industry.
The second submission contained two recommendations:
"Canadian companies engaging in extraterrestrial resource development should be granted all tax and other benefits now granted to them in their terrestrial exploration and development activities."
"The Federal government should create provisions in Canadian law for clear, transferable title to extraterrestrial mining claims and returned resources and work to negotiate international agreements to the same effect"
To support this recommendation, the paper referenced the specific terms of the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty, referenced a number of independent authors with expertise in this area and reviewed how the implementation of certain "revenue neutral" changes to Canada's tax code changes led to the massive growth of the Canadian mining industry, beginning in the 1980's.
As noted above, the changes recommended in the CSCA submissions are "revenue neutral" for the Federal government to implement. Large new buckets of funding are not required to change the tax code or modify procurement contracts.
They're also changes which are being adapted in the US and in smaller jurisdictions, like Luxemburg, with great success.
Once the recommended changes have been made, our domestic space industry will begin to grow in the same way that Canada's mining industry (which grew in response to the tax changes) and private sector companies like SpaceX (which thrived at NASA under the various COTS programs and used its resulting expertise to dominate the launch market) have started to thrive.
It's simply a question of seeding the industry with the proper resources and opportunities needed to make things grow.
Of course, the whole plan is a least modestly dependent on the willpower of our political class. They certainly didn't have the willpower to implement those recommendations six years ago. They may not have the willpower now.
But if they do then maybe one day, even some of those who've left Canada for more favorable regimes will return to put down new roots in their country of origin. They might even relocate their corporate head offices. Mining companies have certainly done that over the last thirty years.
Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog. He contributed to the CSCA's three part submission to the 2012 David Emerson led Aerospace Review.
Joel Spark, the co-founder and CTO of San Franscisco CA based Spire Global, a US based privately held company specializing in collecting and reselling data gathered from a network of more than seventy Earth observation cubesats currently deployed in low Earth orbit. Spark received his engineering BA from Ottawa ON based Carlton University.
Tahir Merali, a project management engineer with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) who remains the only Canadian on the list who currently lives in Canada. Merali lives in Montreal PQ and received his engineering BA from the University of Toronto.
All three Canadian's honoured spent time at the International Space University (ISU) as did most of the rest of the people on the list.
As outlined in a January, 2018 post to the IISC webpage, "The 2018 35 Under 35 in the Space Industry Awards," the IISC is "proud to recognize and award the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators, authors, artist, technicians, engineers, researchers, and overall game changers in the space industry as part of its 35 under 35 annual award."
Now if only a few more of them could find jobs in Canada.
A quiet weekend with a few close friends. As outlined in the March 24th, 2017 University of Toronto (UofT) Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) post, "International innovation competition comes to Toronto," VIPs participating in the 2017 edition of the Sci Innovation Competition included (from left to right) UofT MSE professor Hani Naguib; deputy Toronto mayor & city councilor Denzil Minnan-Wong; Canada Confederation of Shenzhen Associations chairperson Jenny Qi; Federal minister of innovation, science and economic development (ISED) Navdeep Bains; Chinese Deputy Consul General Xu Wei; and Federal MPs Raj Grewal and Geng Tan. As outlined in the March 23rd, 2018 Electronics Products and Technology post, "Canada’s 20 top new innovators face off," 2018 judges included "a diverse group of business leaders, scientists, academics, and renowned experts in technology and innovation." The list also included more than a few money people such as Don Wright, the president of the Winnington Capital Group and the director of MaRS Innovation Inc. and Yuri Navarro, the CEO and executive director at the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO). Navarro is also the chief of staff for the Ontario minister of economic development and trade. Photo c/o Hao Shi/ UofT.
Twenty groups of Canadian innovators highlighted Toronto’s vibrant tech startup ecosystem and helped to forge stronger business links with China. Given our current "America First" internationally focused "art of the deal" environment, it always pays to cultivate options.
Begun by the Municipality of Shenzhen, China (a global tech hub), the Sci Innovation Competition is sponsored globally by local governments in Toronto, Silicon Valley, Sydney, Tokyo, Boston, Tel Aviv, London, Stockholm and Berlin.
At the 2018 Toronto competition, the Canadian finalists, winnowed from a field of 208 participants, will pitch their ideas to a panel of twenty-seven judges comprised of business leaders, scientists, academics and renowned experts.
First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded from a venture capital pool of RMB ¥20.9Bln ($4Bln CDN) setup by thirty-four institutions to finance the winning teams. Of the twenty finalists, ten skilled Canadian winners will then head to Shenzhen to take part in the finals in April 2018.
The competition features projects from five industries; IT, biotechnology and life sciences, electronic science and technology, advanced manufacturing and materials and energy and offers prizes totaling RMB ¥10.91Mln ($2.09Mln CDN).
Canadian finalists included:
ForceFilm - A Toronto startup that has developed an addon for surgical robots which gives them a sense of touch. ForceFilm’s technology would enable greater surgical precision, reducing risks. ForceFilm is currently seeking approval for its technology from Health Canada.
Sapling Robotics Beach Cleaning Rover - A group of engineers from the University of Toronto and the University of Buffalo developing an autonomous, zero-emission, electric beach-cleaning robot. The rover uses self-driving technology and machine vision to operate unsupervised alongside beachgoers at any time, day or night. Sapling’s goal is to replace the diesel vehicles currently used in beach cleaning, eliminating their harmful carbon emissions, loud noises and terrible smells. The team is currently developing a prototype and seeking a partner (i.e. a hotel or local municipality) for a pilot program over the summer.
Qsun Sun Safety Solution - This team has created an AI-powered wearable and companion app that provides a solution to sun-caused skin damage. The device monitors ultraviolet rays, analyzing a user’s exposure to sun in real-time, notifying them when on the verge of a sunburn. The device uses an algorithm that combines the user’s current sun exposure with their skin type, environmental situation and sun safety habits. The device also provides users with tailored recommendations to manage vitamin D levels based on their sun exposure and diet. After a recent sucessful crowdfunding effort on Kickstarter, the team plans to launch a second-generation device this summer.
GoFind AI - A California-based startup developing artificial intelligence for shopping. GoFind AI is an instant fashion discovery app that lets people upload images or screenshots to find out where to buy the products they are looking for. The search engine is driven by a learning-trained machine that recognizes textures, colours and shapes and gives users access to 100 million products from more than 1,000 online shops. Along with locating the exact product, the app also brings up similar items at varying price points. The team is working on expanding the search engine to include furniture, houses and cars.
The Sci Innovation Competition provides a welcome new source of capital for fostering innovative Canadian tech startups as well as strengthening Canada’s ties with China.
In the face of a possible US/China trade war and increasing trade threats and extortion from the Trump Administration, Canada must forge stronger ties with new allies if it is to survive and thrive in the coming years.
By Henry Stewart According to leading Canadian full service intellectual property law firm Bereskin and Parr LLP, at least one portion of Canada's 2018 Federal budget outlined changes to Canada's intellectual property (IP) laws intended to help Canada’s innovative companies utilize IP assets to help grow their company.
This year's budget allocated financing for the strategy, with "an overall commitment" of $85.3Mln for:
A pilot patent collective ($30Mln) or "sovereign patent fund," which, as outlined in the May 19th , 2017 Globe and Mail post, "Canada needs an innovative intellectual property strategy," will address the calls from "innovation experts who understand the critical role of IP in a 21st-century economy."
The creation of IP education and legal clinics ($21.5Mln) for "clinical legal education to both train and grow the pool of IP expertise, while at the same time providing much needed IP legal services to early stage companies."
The development of IP tools ($33.8Mln) to track the pool of IP available at Canadian research institutions and through funding initiatives, which can be taken over and commercialized by Canadian firms.
After almost two years, that new, private sector commercial ground station built by Inuvik, NWT based New North Networks in Inuvik for San Francisco, CA based Planet and Norwegian based Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), has still not received the second of two sets of Federal government approvals needed to operate under Canadian law.
That delay is likely not the fault of the commercial players.
The five Inuvik satellite receivers, built almost two years ago, look forlorn and lonely today. After the failure of multiple attempts to fulfill Canadian government licencing requirements, the facility remains unable to open for business. Photo c/o Rolf Skatteboe.
As noted by Zubko in a Monday interview with this blog, KSAT is even attempting to fulfill a contract for the European Space Agency (ESA), an international organization which includes another Federal government department, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as a "co-operating" member.
So you'd think the Federal government would at least be interested in not embarrassing one of its departments on the world stage.
But you'd be wrong.
"We are very patiently attempting to wait for a solution to this situation, so that we can open the facility," Zubko noted. He said it takes longer to licence large satellite ground station infrastructure in Canada than it does almost anywhere else in the world and current Canadian law are so onerous and undefined as to act as barriers to entry into the market for new players.
The Federal department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), which is responsible for authorizing radio licences needed to operate fixed Earth stations in Canada, which finally approved their portion of the ground station application last week.
Oddly enough, CCMEO/NRCan is "collaborating" with San Francisco, CA based Maxar Technologies subsidiary MDA (until recently, the Richmond BC based MacDonald Dettwiler) in order to "further develop the site and offer common services at the facility" according to the ISSF website.
However, according to Zubko, "Planet and KSAT, had information they felt was proprietary and didn't want to give to MDA," which goes a long way towards explaining why Planet and KSAT don't want to work through the government run facility.
As outlined in the March 5th, 2018 SpaceQ post, "Planet and KSAT Licensing Issue Enters 22nd Month," both companies have threatened to pull their ground station assets out of Canada by June 1st, 2018, if progress "hadn’t been made in approving their licenses."
According to Zubko, Planet plans to pull out of the project by June 1st, 2018 unless the licences are approved. "They're gone without those licences," he said.
Oddly enough, other ground stations proposals have had their applications reviewed and accepted over the last two years. As outlined in the December 14th, 2017 C-Core press release, "C-CORE satellite receiving station operational in Inuvik," the C-Core ground station is " is optimized for use with today’s emerging generation of breadbox-sized nanosats and cubesats. Its innovative self-leveling platform ensures stability during seasonal frost heave, making it ideal for Arctic deployment." The press release also said that the project was supported by "the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program" which, at least as outlined in the post, has a mandate to "foster innovation and collaboration in Canada’s remote sensing sector and to promote commercial use of remote sensing technologies to support responsible, sustainable development of northern natural resources." That's just what we need; another government department needing to be consulted in order to move forward. Graphic c/o wireservice.ca.
If the project doesn't move forward, Canada could suffer.
Zubko feels that "Canada has been embargoed when it comes to future international Earth observation and communications missions." He feels that the actions of the Federal government have been "inconsistent" at best and could potentially turn the country into an international pariah, unable to partner with other agencies on future space missions.
"At least Planet has a provisional licence so that they can begin testing," Zubco said. He also noted that, as of this morning, KSAT had only been in contact via e-mail with Global Affairs Canada.
"And the government seems to want prior notification of new customers and sales," according to Zubko, which will certainly cause concern given the possibility that the competition from the other Inuvik satellite station facility might also come into possession of the information.
In essence, it's a developing story, waiting for a resolution, which may not happen anytime soon.
