Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Strategic Priorities

Through discussions with Industry Canada, various other clients, board members and CRC management, six major strategic priorities have been developed to define major elements of CRC's research program and associated activities to help CRC meet its goals. CRC believes that these six priorities will ensure that the organization will continue to conduct world-class R&D in areas of importance to telecommunications in Canada, provide a window on the future for policy decision-making and help to address specific challenges faced by various clients.

It should be noted that CRC will not address all of these issues alone, but will continue to foster working relationships and partnerships with numerous organizations across Canada. In most of these partnerships, CRC offers significant expertise in its core strength areas while the other parties either bring complementary scientific expertise or valuable insight into the application and use of a particular technology.

Broadband Access

The objective of this activity is to carry out scientific and engineering research to develop cost-effective solutions for access to broadband services in rural and remote communities in Canada. Its scope ties very well into Industry Canada's major objectives of Connectedness and Innovation as well as the recently funded BRAND Program.

Radio Spectrum

Industry Canada is mandated to regulate the radio spectrum and therefore, must have a solid technical base to make proper decisions and policy. Research in this area contributes to advice for spectrum policy development, support for SMART regulations, reallocation and/or new or more efficient use of allocated spectrum, and utilization of new frequency bands.

Defence Communications

DND is one of CRC's major clients and research tasks are done on a cost-recoverable basis. Most of the activities are closely tied to CRC's own technology interests, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. DND's present interests include interoperability of communications networks, quality of service, network security and high-capacity wireless systems.

Network Security

As communications, commerce, defence and other applications become more dependent on the national network infrastructure, the requirement for security and redundancy increases in priority. CRC already has modest research activity in this area but due to its growing importance, some additional tasks will be undertaken in partnership with other Canadian organizations. In particular, security of wireless networks is one of the emerging challenges.

Internet and Convergence

Although the Internet can be considered to be a mature technology having been in existence for over 20 years, it is important for Canada to be on top of, and even contribute to, new world developments and improvements. As technology evolves and bandwidth is more readily available to consumers at reasonable cost, it also becomes important to understand and predict convergence trends between the various competing and complementary information delivery systems. For example, if high-quality video can be transmitted from anywhere in the world over the Internet onto a large computer screen, what is the potential impact on the Canadian broadcasting industry and its regulations? CRC can provide a valuable look forward on these trends so that the government can be better informed when considering policy decisions.

Applications

One of the key drivers for acceptance and use of broadband technology is the availability of high-quality applications. CRC is well positioned to use its access to various national and international communications networks to conduct high-quality demonstrations of novel broadband applications, with a particular focus on those with a high degree of social or industrial benefit.

The interrelation between these six priorities and two strategic goals is depicted in the diagram in Appendix A. These priorities are further described in the form of tables in Appendix B. Each priority is detailed in terms of the specific programs and projects that CRC will undertake, their impact, performance measures, linkages and approximate resources. More specific performance measures will be developed on a yearly basis and will be included in operational plans.