Comments on: Suggestions for public support to entrepreneurs (troubling facts about MaRS Discovery District – Part 4 of 4)

By: gregboutin

gregboutin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:23:00 +0000

Please note a number of comments disappeared in the move to a new site (non of them supporting MaRS!). I am working to re-establish them. Thanks.

By: re: Sred

re: Sred — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:21:22 +0000

I like what you said about the need to extend sr&ed to commercialization activities for start-ups etc. At this time it seems that most start up hardly benefit from sr&ed refunds.

By: Innovation Series – 1.5 – Measurement Segway | The Road Less Traveled

Innovation Series – 1.5 – Measurement Segway | The Road Less Traveled — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:12:58 +0000

[...] The athlete analogy from the previous post regarding measuring success via inputs which is what typically happens. Alternately there is a focus on results but not on return for investment. What I mean by that is if you throw lots of money at a problem then there is a good probability that some level of success will be achieved, but at what cost. I have yet to see from any level of government statistics that tie inputs (primarily spending) to outputs (results). Greg Boutin of Growth Times wrote a very exhaustive series of posts on how Ontario is spurring innovation. [...]

By: E

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 21:20:20 +0000

Also, I highly suggest taking a look at Genome Canada ($900 million in Federal funding, $1.9 billion in total), and Biotalent.ca. As an industry professional having returned to Canada in order to change this trend, I am very discouraged. Having just finished setting up a $250 million contract manufacturing facility in Asia (cGMP, FDA approved) all I can say is that I’m unsure as to where all the money is going. That company is now worth about $2 billion.

Canada, we have lost this race, and we need to get serious if we are going to even enter it.

By: E

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:15:51 +0000

You should look into this more deeply. The Canadian government has been doing this since the 70′s, ever since it began funding biotech. A very good overview of this can be found here: http://www.ramshorn.ca/RBOD.html

Please see the Allelix fiasco, and you’ll find that that was also set up by the same gentleman, John Robert Evans. He was also on the board of Connaught Labs (before it was sold to Sanofi) – he is an absolute expert at doing this type of thing, that is, bleeding money from the Government with little to show for it. That report will show you that this is only another instance in a long line of this happening.

I’m glad someone has decided to finally look into this! Put on your muck boots, because you’ll see that billions of dollars has been wasted in exactly the same fashion – good luck!

By: Greg Boutin

Greg Boutin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:08:31 +0000

David, I spent six years on the government side and could see directly the results (or lack thereof) of most grant programs. I also studied economics as part of my stanford curriculum and suggest you take a look into the well-documented negative effects of direct grants. Of course there will always be some positive effects when one gives free money, and those are usually extensively showcased by the government. But if you really want to assess the effectiveness of an incentive mechanism vs another, you need to compare them. There are so many arguments in favor of tax incentives: fairness, lower management expense / money outlay ratio, less red tape, higher visibility etc…. So I don’t know if I am a novice in grant programs, but your comment makes you look like one in critical thinking.

Two things especially disturb me in your comments: first, you are biased, since your job is in grant writing. In essence, you appear to suffer from the same flaws as MaRS, supporting an argument just because it serves your economic interest. Second, while there are so many other points in my blog posts, on which to build on to try and offer an alternative to that ineffective public system, you decide to focus on our one element of difference. Disappointing. One thing I’ll give you in conclusion is that you are not afraid of expressing your own thoughts, and we certainly need more of that.

By: David Reynolds

David Reynolds — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:50:07 +0000

Greg
I cannot agree with your statement regarding getting rid of government grants. Tax credits do not help commercialize research and based on the 350 Canadian clients that we have served … and yes I can tell you that the really were clients… there is a need to support innovation and at this time get Canadian products and services out to the global market. As you are a novice to the whole government incentives world, I can understand your lack of insight but there is a way to ensure that any support going to a business actually creates jobs and revenues in our country. I suggest that you look at Ontario Rural Economic Development program as I believe it is one of the best funding that have ever existed in Canada. I would also recommend looking at the incentives for cooperatives. Both of these initiatives support work Canadians excel at trust and working collectively together.