Integrated Platform for R&D Information Systems: A Canadian Experience

The “knowledge Economy” is the objective that many countries around the world are targeting in their strategic planning, it is meant to enable social and economical development. For many economists, it is also the sophisticated economy that balances out the dependency on basic commodities as natural resources. Research is the key to creating a “Knowledge Economy”; more and more public and private money goes into funding research around the world. On the other hand, governments and industries are more and more eager to put their hands on practical research results to be applied to solve the ever growing complexity of society issues and needs. This makes Researchers and Research Administrators more accountable. Our target in this paper is to explain how we see the Research Administration Process evolving, and how the Information Technology solutions can help streamlining and standardizing this process.