Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

The speaker asserts that: “If ever there were a time for universities to assume a leadership role in providing the knowledge needed for socio-ecological change, this is surely that moment.” But what drives research and innovation in Alberta’s largest universities, and in what directions? What kinds of knowledge are our universities producing to help Albertans make a transition to a post-carbon economy that can provide income security and a good life for all? These are the questions that motivated the research that led to the June 2020 report, Knowledge for an Ecologically Sustainable Future? Innovation Policy and Alberta Universities, published by the Parkland Institute and the Corporate Mapping Project. Over five years, painstaking data collection from multiple sources allowed Adkin and her research assistants to reconstruct a picture of the funding flows to the Universities of Alberta and Calgary over a period of twenty years. Focusing on funding to the domains of energy and environmental research, located