The tendency among the Harper government’s critics will be to see the new mandate it has given the National Research Council, directing it to shift away from basic science toward producing research for industry, as part of a wider pattern of hostility to science, intellect and evidence — of a piece, say, with the destruction of the long-form census.
Among the government’s friends, on the other hand, the NRC’s new business-friendly mandate will no doubt be seen as an example of its unrelenting focus on the economy, adding a much-needed dose of realism to the council’s research and supporting the innovation efforts of Canadian industry. Both views, I think, have it wrong.
The redirection of public funds from basic to applied research may be bad science, but it is even worse economics. Whatever the distortion of the NRC’s raison d’etre is implied, it is nothing compared to the distortion of the economy. Far from a pragmatic matching of public research dollars to the real-word needs of industry, it reveals a basic confusion about the appropriate public and private roles in funding research.
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