PM announces Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, support for Next Einstein Initiative

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Thank you Minister Gary Goodyear for your kind introduction.  Special thanks to the Perimeter Institute for hosting us today.  Greetings to MPs Peter Braid, Harold Albrecht and Stephen Woodworth.

I should also like to offer a special welcome to the many members of the late
Sir Frederick Banting’s family who have been able to join us today.  I’m glad so many of you could make it at such short notice.

Distinguished ambassadors, high commissioners, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

First, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Hawking for accepting the invitation to come to Canada and contribute to the work of the Perimeter Institute.  You have been an inspiration to many Canadian scientists, both here at the Institute and in research facilities across our country.

Our country is rightfully proud of the many contributions made by our scientific researchers to the expansion of human knowledge.  They have developed technologies that have improved quality of life for hundreds of millions of people all over the world.  And Canadians have always aspired to lead in the pursuit of progress.

We are therefore honoured that you have lent your prodigious intellect and exceptional scientific creativity and curiosity to our efforts.  Long after you return home, Professor Hawking, you will continue to inspire and honour us through the research centre here at the Institute that bears your name.  For all that, we thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be back in Waterloo at the Perimeter Institute.  Being here feels a littler like standing on a mountain top, looking out upon a vast panorama of possibility.

With the University, the Institute and the large number of technology companies that have flourished here, the Kitchener-Waterloo region is now widely recognized as a global centre of excellence in scientific and technological innovation.

And the centre of the centre, as it were, is Research in Motion and its signature Blackberry.

In barely a decade, Mike Lazaridis, Jim Balsillie and their colleagues have shown how scientific and technological innovation, combined with sophisticated marketing techniques, state-of-the-art industrial processes, and good old-fashioned entrepreneurial flair, can drive a product from the drawing board to dominance in the global marketplace.

It is a stunning commercial success story, and the key lesson in it is this: Science powers commerce.

It’s true of all the great scientific advances in Canadian history.

The development of Marquis Wheat by Sir Charles Saunders fostered the fortunes of generations of western Canadian farmers, and all who depended
on what they grew.

The invention of the telephone by Sir Alexander Graham Bell spawned a global telecommunications industry that today employs millions.

And the discovery of insulin by Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best not only saved millions of lives; it also fuelled the growth of the global pharmaceutical industry.

These days, the sequence of discovery, development and commercialization is, if anything, gathering speed and strength.

Developing countries are playing a larger part.

And increasingly, the prosperity and potential of nations are measured by the depth of their scientific and technological expertise.

Canada is no exception.  And Canada cannot be an exception.

To succeed and stay competitive in the global economy, we must invest in the people and in the ideas that will produce tomorrow’s breakthrough biotechnology, pharmaceutical godsend, or telecommunications wonder.

And that is why, ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to announce that the Government of Canada is launching the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program.  In the name of one of our greatest scientists, the program will fund 70 new research fellowships each and every year.

It will give Canadian scientists in research institutions across the country the support they need to explore and develop their ideas to their fullest potential.

Recognizing the globalization of scientific research and development, the program will be open to both domestic and international applicants.  It will attract some of the best and brightest scientific minds on earth to Canada, and it will support Canadian scientists pursuing their research
at foreign institutions.

The Banting Fellowships are the latest initiative under our Government’s comprehensive, long-term, National Science and Technology Strategy, which I unveiled here at this Institute more than three years ago.

It complements other elements of the Strategy, including the Vanier Graduate Scholarships and the Canada Excellence Research Chairs.

And it complements another announcement I am making today, which is that Canada will make a substantial contribution to scientific and technological development in Africa by supporting the unique public-private partnership known as the Next Einstein Initiative.

Created by Neil Turok, a director here at the Perimeter Institute, the Next Einstein Initiative is building a Pan-African network of mathematical centres of excellence.  This is a revolutionary approach to development.  It aims to nurture the brightest minds in Africa so they can take a leading role in solving the complex challenges the continent faces in areas such as agriculture, health and finance.

The Initiative is also supported by our fellow Canadians at Research in Motion, as well multinational partners such as Google, Barclay’s, Nokia, the Ford Foundation, and luminaries such as Professor Hawking and
Nelson Mandela.

I should take this opportunity to thank your local MP, Peter Braid, who brought this very special initiative to my attention as the G-8 meetings approached.  His enthusiasm and support for the project were contagious, and here we are today, looking to provide opportunities for the brightest mathematical minds emerging from Africa today and in the future.

History shows that our world becomes safer, healthier and more stable through balanced distribution of scientific knowledge and technology.

Humanity’s ascent from ignorance and barbarism to enlightenment and equality has been a fitful, uneven process.

If there is, however, a universal constant in human affairs, it is that the expansion of knowledge and technology has continuously made life better for more people.

That’s why our Government is supporting scientific and technological research as well as development at home and abroad.

And it is why we have established the Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowships
and why we are supporting the Next Einstein Initiative, here today.

Thank you.

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