Moreover, Canada s capacity to define strategic research priorities based on concrete information was found to be very limited. The data collected in this study demonstrated a poor fit between the research priorities of universities and those of firms. However, firms and universities shared similar views on the role of university research. Firms were not interested in having universities work on research problems of immediate concern to them. They wanted universities to conduct long-range research aimed at developing generic technologies and new methods.
Canadian universities place great emphasis on human molecular biology.
The practical impact of much of this research is to develop new pharmaceutical products for the treatment of disease. Apart from a number of small and medium- size entrepreneurial firms, Canada has a pharmaceutical industry that is generally weak in innovation, although there are some genuine accomplishments in this regard. This frustrates the efforts of university researchers. University research in the life sciences is focused on research related to the pharmaceutical industry. With provincial medical insurance, Canada is ideally positioned to mine health databases and to investigate practices that would help to optimize service delivery.