Biotechnologies:
a strategic choice
for Québec
December 1991
CONSEIL DE LA SCIENCE ET DE LA TECHNOLOGIE
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Conseil de la science et de la technologie
Govemment of Québec, 1992
First issue, January 1992
Legal deposit: Ist quarter 1992
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
National Library of Canada
ISBN: 2 -
550 - 22575 - 9
December 1991
The Honorable Lucienne Robillard
Minister of Higher Learning and Science
Govemment of Québec
Québec
Dear Minister Robillard :
ln keeping with the provisions of section 31 of the
Act to promote the advancement of science and technology in
Québec, 1 am honored to submit to you the advice of the Conseil
de la science et de la technologie entitled Biotechnologies: a
strategie choice for Québec.
Yours respectfully,
Louis Berlinguet
Chairman
Foreword
On April 25, 1991, the Honorable Lucienne Robillard,
Minister of Higher Learning and Science, entrusted the Conseil
de la science et de la technologie with the mandate of re-examining
the status of biotechnologies in Québec. She wanted such an
examination "to assess the effectiveness of the measures adopted
sorne ten years ago, to determine the status of the resources and
activities of research and business circles, and to better understand
the current situation in order to orient industrial and government
planning".
She also mentioned in her letter that the Honorable
Gérald Tremblay, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Technology, "intends to draft an action plan to promote the development
of bio-industries".
The interest shown in biotechnologies is fully warranted
for they are generic technologies whose applications will promote
the development of a vast array of sectors by producing new
components and by greatly altering industrial processes. The
leading industrialized countries are weIl aware of this fact and
have begun to invest enormous efforts and sums in this area.
Several years ago Canada agreed to invest considerable
efforts to develop telecommunications, a strategy that was justified given the enormous size of our country and the presence of
top-calibre university and industrial research teams. Canada is
now considered one of the leading countries in the telecommunications field.
Today, Québec is witnessing the erosion of the competitive edge it enjoyed in processing and exporting its natural
resources. We have at our disposaI top-quality university research
teams, laboratories and institutes. The rational use of biotechnologies in carefully chosen sectors could make an enormous
contribution to the economic development of Québec. It is from
this perspective that the Conseil has addressed aIl the aspects
mentioned in the mandate entrusted to il.
Special attention has been paid to the action strategies
and perspectives that the Québec government should adopt to
foster the development, implementation and use of biotechnologies in Québec. A summary of the studies and analyses used in
the preparation of this advice is also published in a separate
document.
The Conseil would like to thank the working group that
was set up to carry out this mandate. This group was chaired by
Andrée· G. Roberge and made up of Marcel Risi and Maurice
Brossard, all members of the Conseil, as well as Jacques Gauthier
and Jean Chagnon. The Conseil would also like to thank Secretary Camil Guy and the staff of the secretariat for the work they
accomplished, having to cope with relatively tight deadlines.
~rlin:u~
Chairman
December 1991
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
6
SUMMARY
Biotechnologies: a strategie choice
The field of biotechnologies encompasses practically
every industrial sector. These generic technologies represent one
of the greatest technological challenges for modern economies.
While these technologies offer a definite and major potential,
their industrialization is still emerging.
However, once they have reached maturity, biotechnologies will have a fundamental impact on the competitive nature
of aIl industrial sectors. Not only will biotechnologies create new
products, they will also radically transform processes, in particular
the exploitation of natural resources and the preservation of the
environment.
Following the lead to be able
to face international competition
The main commercial partners of Canada and Québec
consider biotechnologies as being strategie, second only to
communications. They have made biotechnologies a key axis of
their research and development investments. The United States
and Japan have a significant head start in this field with Europe
making efforts to stay in the race.
Québec must be aware of the stakes involved. Trying to
get along without biotechnologies in the future will be like trying
to manage without computers today. A large portion of the bases
that supported Québec's economic development have begun to
erode, in particular in the natural resource field. The situation
must be rectified and biotechnologies provide the opportunity to
do so. Should Québec fail to take up the biotechnology challenge
in time in such crucial fields as health care, the food-produce
industry, forestry and the environment, it may miss an invaluable
opportunity concerning a number of key factors such as competitiveness.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
7
Biotechnologies: a strategie cholce for Québec
Status of biotechnologies in Québec
The research and development efforts of Québec and
Canada have been much more modest than those of the main
industrialized countries. Here budgets are counted in millions
rather than in billions.
However, in certain aspects, in particular basic research
leading to the use of biotechnologies, Québec's research teams
and laboratories are of comparable calibre to those of most
industrialized countries.
While Québec has sorne one hundred industries identified with biotechnologies, most of them are newcomers, modest
in size, and concentrated mainly in the health and food-produce
industry fields and, to a lesser extent, in the environment field.
In Québec, the passage from laboratory experiments to
the demonstration and industrial scale stage is the main challenge
associated with the development and use of biotechnologies.
This stage is dependent on the ability of university research
teams to cooperate with industrial firms and engineering consultants.
Need for a highly skilled labour force
Biotechnologies require a highly skilled labour force as
research accounts for a large portion of company activities,
necessitating the services oftop-level researchers and technicians.
Be it at the university or cégep level, teaching in the
basic disciplines associated with biotechnologies is of good quality
and seems to be meeting market needs for the time being. But the
fact that students have lost sorne of their interest for basic disciplines such as chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and chemical engineering points to shortages in the future.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
8
Summory
Characteristics particular
to biotechnologies
A long time is required to develop new products and
processes ensuing from biotechnologies due to specifie factors:
difficulties in achieving production to scale, safety for the environment and human and animal life, high development costs,
complexity of regulations ranging from intellectuai property to
the duration of patents, to the approval of new products.
Nevertheless, the governments of industrialized countries are adopting policies to reduce these obstacles and to promote
strategie alliances to facilitate technology transfers.
An action plan for Québec
The Conseil de la science et de la technologie is of the
opinion that the industrialization of biotechnologies can revitalize several sectors of Québec's economy traditionally geared to
natural resources.
Moreover, the Conseil believes that Québec has aIl the
assets needed to play a role similar to that of other industrialized
countries of the same size in the development and use of
biotechnologies.
However, the limited means that Québec has at its disposaI calls for a pooling of efforts and resources. Government
initiatives must be conceived from the standpoint of a rearrangement of existing means.
The government must make sure that company-related
policies on intellectuai property, the obtaining and the duration
of patents and regulations are harmonized with the policies of
those industrialized countries that are our competitors. Similarly,
the government must maintain its fiscal incentive policy and
encourage strategie alliances between Québec and foreign fums.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
9
Biotechnologies: a strategie cholce for Québec
The Conseil feels that the govemment must support the
development of research in university establishments and must
insure that higher leaming centres supply the highly qualified
labour force that will be necessary to develop biotechnologies in
the years to come. The govemment must also encourage manpower training at the company level.
The Conseil believes that with an appropriate strategy
Québec can tum to good account its assets in certain specific
areas such as the health market and use biotechnologies to revitalize its economic base associated with the exploitation of natural
resources, agriculture and forestry, not to mention employing
biotechnologies to solve environmental problems.
The Conseil de la science et de la technologie has devised
an action plan to achieve this goal, which it proposes to the
govemment.
The govemment is invited to support the development
of biotechnologies in light of the potential for industrializing
products and processes and the degree of participant maturity.
The action plan takes into account the strengths and
weaknesses along with the degree of maturity particular to the
respective development of four main application sectors: health,
food-produce industry, forestry and the environment.
The plan includes a support strategy for large businesses
by creating an environment that is conducive to their development,
and one for small and medium size businesses by promoting their
viability.
Govemment backing for human resource training is
essential as is support for university research. On the subject of
university research, it is imperative to promote the creation of
multidisciplinary research teams having a critical mass.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
10
Summary
The Conseil would like to draw attention to the importance of promoting public awareness and of informing Quebecers
about biotechnologies and the strategie benefits Québec could
secure from their development.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
11
Recommendations
To insure the development, implementation and use of
biotechnologies in Québec, the Conseil de la science et de la
technologie recommends :
1- That the Québec govemment recognize biotechnologies as a
strategie priority for Québec's long-term economic development.
2- That, with this goal in mind, the Québec govemment take
the necessary steps to apply the action plan proposed by the
Conseil as part of this opinion.
3- That the Québec govemment, mainly those departments
concemed, take the necessary measures to maximize the
contribution of biotechnologies to the development of the
economy, particularly in the sectors offering the greatest
potentials at the industrial level, namely health, foodproduce industry, forestry and the environment.
4- That, with this objective in mind, the Québec govemment :
A-maintain flexible fiscal incentives for research and development and improve such incentives by extending
them to the production to scale and clinical test stage as
weIl as to technology transfers ;
B- increase its technical and financial support for the acquisition of technologies and develop an assistance strategy for small and medium size businesses ;
C- use technical and financial support to promote the creation of strategie alliances between local and foreign
frrms;
D- insure that the contracting out policy of the departments
and public agencies in the field of biotechnologies takes
into account industrial firms ;
Biotechnologies: a strategie choice for Québec
E- promote multidisciplinary research teams in biotechnologies as part of its university research assistance
programs and encourage the formation of critical masses
of researchers ;
F- adopt measures to foster cooperation between university, industrial and government researchers as weil as
engineering consultants working in the field of biotechnologies;
G- take into account the importance of biotechnologies in
the various sections of the Technology development fund,
namely : mobilizing projects, R & D program for small
and medium size businesses, Synergism program for university-industry ties and the environment research program;
H-make the necessary representations to the federal government to have adopted a competitive patent policy as
compared to that of Japan and the United States, in particular regarding the coverage of patentable products, the
time periods required to examine applications and for
approval procedures, as weil as the duration of effective
protection given to patented products ;
1- adopt biotechnology product safety and efficiency regulations in harmony with those of our main industrial
competitors, and ask the federal government to do likewise
in its activity spheres.
5- That the Québec government create establish structured
technological and industrial monitoring aimed at the United
States, Japan and the European Economic Community (EEC)
in close cooperation with the leaders of those businesses
using biotechnologies to take maximum advantage of the
business opportunities that could arise for Québec industry.
6- That the Québec government insure that teaching establishments continue to train a sufficient quantity of high-quality
specialists in the basic scientific disciplines necessary for
the development of biotechnologies.
Conseil de 10 science et de 10 technologie
14
Recommendatlons
c
7- That efforts be made to inform the Québec public about
biotechnologies and their scientific bases, and the industrial
applications, the commercial potential and the strategie advantages that Québec could secure through their development.
8- That the Québec government set up a mechanism to moni.
tor the application of the action plan, under which decisionmakers from industrial, university and government circles
would meet on an annual basis to take stock of the results
obtained and the actions undertaken and to set goals to be
achieved each year in the development of biotechnologies in
Québec.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
15
Membres du Comité des biotechnologies
Mme Andrée G. ROBERGE
Présidente du Comité
Conseiller scientifique,
Université du Québec
Membre du Conseil
M. Maurice BROSSARD
Vice-président Biotechnologie
Conseil national de recherches
Canada,
Directeur général,
Institut de recherche
en biotechnologie
Membre observateur du Conseil
M. Marcel RISI
Président-directeur général,
Centre québécois de valorisation
de la biomasse
Membre du Conseil
M. Jean CHAGNON
Président-directeur général
Lallemand me.
M. Jacques GAUTHIER
Président-directeur général,
Bio-Mega inc.
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
16
Membres du Conseil de la science
et de la technologie
Président
Monsieur Louis Berlinguet
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
Membres
Monsieur André Bazergui
Directeur
École polytechnique
Monsieur Bernard Lachance
Directeur général
Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
Monsieur Laurent A. Bergeron
Vice-président exécutif
Agence spatiale canadienne
Monsieur Réal L'Archevêque
Vice-président, Recherche et
technologie
SNC inc.
Monsieur André Besner
Chercheur chimie des matériaux
Institut de recherche
d'Hydro-Québec
Monsieur Richard Le Hir
Vice-président et directeur
général
Association des
manufacturiers du Québec
Madame Micheline Bouchard
Vice-présidente, Marketing Amérique du Nord
Groupe DMR inc.
Monsieur Laurent Picard
Professeur, Faculté
d'administration
Université McGill
Monsieur André Carrier
Monsieur Marcel Risi
Directeur général
Président-directeur général
Les Mines Sigma (Québec) ltée Centre québécois de valorisation de la biomasse
Monsieur Guy Fouquet
Vice-président et directeur
général
Groupe S.M. inc.
Madame Andrée G. Roberge
Conseiller scientifique
Université du Québec
Monsieur Toby Gilsig
Président
Les Systèmes M3i inc.
Monsieur Gabriel Savard
Président-directeur général
Société de développement
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
17
Membres observateurs
Substituts
Monsieur Michel Audet
Sous-ministre
Ministère de l'Industrie, du
Commerce et de la Technologie,
Gouvernement du Québec
Monsieur Georges
Archambault
Directeur, Direction
générale des technologies
Ministère de l'Industrie, du
Commerce et de la
Technologie,
Gouvernement du Québec
Monsieur Maurice Brossard
Vice-président Biotechnologie,
Conseil national de recherches
du Canada
Directeur général,
Institut de recherche en
biotechnologie
Monsieur Guy Létourneau
Sous-ministre adjoint à la
Science
Ministère de
l'Enseignement supérieur et
de la Science
Gouvernement du Québec
(
Monsieur Pierre Lucier
. Sous-ministre
Ministère de l'Enseignement
supérieur et de la Science
Gouvernement du Québec
Secrétaire
Monsieur Camil Guy
Conseil de la science et de la
technologie
Conseil de la science et de la technologie
18