Originally published November 5, 2025 in The Hill Times
Canada is at an inflection point. Artificial intelligence is transforming how we work and learn. Global alliances and supply chains are being reshaped by competition over technology and talent. Climate change is redrawing the map of our economy. Our population is aging faster than our systems can adapt, and the rising cost of living is deepening inequality.
These are just some of the current pressures facing our country and none can be solved in isolation. Universities hold some of the best tools to respond to these challenges. We have no shortage of talent or ideas. Yet, as U15’s recent “Canada in Transition” report argues, Canada continues to punch below its weight when it comes to connecting our research power to national purpose. We still lack the alignment between research, industrial capability, and public policy needed to turn discovery into national advantage. That must change.
Universities are remarkable engines of discovery, innovation, and economic growth. They educate the next generation. They serve as part of Canada’s strategic infrastructure, linking talent, research, and innovation to strengthen economic and national security. Canada will need education, research, and collaboration to navigate what comes next.
Few challenges make that clearer than the rise of AI. Its potential to transform how we work and learn is immense. AI is now central not only to productivity, but also to national security and digital sovereignty. The same will soon be true of quantum technologies. Without co-ordination across universities, government, and industry, Canada risks becoming a consumer rather than a creator of technologies that will define the century.
This country’s universities are helping push the frontiers of AI technology and its responsible use, developing new models and applications while also examining social and ethical implications. As U15’s report notes, leadership in advanced industries depends on alignment across sectors, not scale.
At the University of British Columbia, for example, computer science professor Raymond Ng is partnering with BC Cancer to use AI as a triage tool for oncology care. Ng’s team has developed an AI model that uses natural language processing to scan pathology reports and flag high-risk cases that may require urgent attention. The results are very promising, with potential to significantly shorten the time between a cancer diagnosis and a patient’s first consultation with an oncologist.
Ng’s work shows how research in partnership with government and health partners can directly improve the lives of Canadians. And in the process, the next generation of data scientists who will lead Canada’s AI future are being trained and retained in this country. But collaborations like this are still the exception, not the norm—and that is the gap Canada must close.
B.C.’s life sciences sector is a perfect example of what alignment can achieve. Over the past two decades, research from UBC has helped launch more than 270 spin-off firms whose products and services have generated more than $13-billion in sales. Together, they have positioned B.C. as one of the country’s fastest-growing biotech hubs, employing more than 20,000 people across 2,000 companies. Among them is AbCellera—co-founded by UBC professor Carl Hansen and alumna Véronique Lecault—which grew from a small university lab into a global biotech company of nearly 600 staff. Its antibody-discovery platform helped deliver some of the first COVID-19 treatments.
The same principle applies to climate action. Canada will not meet its emissions targets or sustain jobs in resource-dependent regions without closer links between research, industry, and government. One example is Arca Climate Technologies, a start-up company that was co-founded by UBC geologist Greg Dipple. While at UBC, Dipple and his team discovered a way to accelerate carbon mineralization, the natural process that turns mine waste into permanent carbon storage. Through UBC’s entrepreneurial support, they turned that discovery into a business that now employs dozens of people, and is piloting its technology with major mining companies. Arca’s mission is to use waste on the ground to remove waste from the sky—literally pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and locking it away in rock for thousands of years.
Across the country, collaborations like these are showing how universities can contribute to both economic resilience and social progress. But our innovation system remains fragmented. Partnerships between universities, industry, and government are often too ad hoc, funding cycles are short, and incentives are often misaligned. Thanks to support from provincial and federal governments, Canada’s research universities have built world-class capacity in discovery and innovation. The next step is to better align these strengths with national priorities. That means sustained public investment in research, stronger pathways to move discoveries into practice, and policies that foster long-term collaboration across sectors rather than short-term competition.
The next decade will test this country’s capacity to adapt. Whether we succeed will depend on how boldly governments and industry choose to partner with Canada’s universities, which generate the knowledge, talent, and innovation on which our prosperity and sovereignty depend.