Tom Traves (right), the president of Dalhousie University, spoke to NovaKnowledge members about the university’s contribution to Nova Scotia’s emerging knowledge economy. (Photo: Kathleen Callahan)

Dal driving Nova Scotia’s knowledge economy –pres

Dalhousie is one of Nova Scotia's largest business enterprises and contributes to the province's emerging knowledge-based economy, says President Traves

Dalhousie University President Dr. Tom Traves says the university is driving Nova Scotia’s “knowledge economy.”

In a presentation called “The Business of Education” Wednesday morning, Traves said Dal should be viewed as “an economic force”—a thriving business as well as a learning institution.

“I don’t think people appreciate fully the brute economic significance of having a university, and this is of course totally independent of our primary mandate as an education institution and as a research institution,” says Traves.

NovaKnowledge hosted the event at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It is a group dedicated to expanding Nova Scotia’s knowledge economy.

Tim Outhit, NovaKnowledge’s president and CEO, said the group is a cross between a think tank and an advocacy group, with members from non-profit organizations, the government, and the education and business sectors.

“We get people together and we try and solve problems,” says Outhit. “Our goal being we want a knowledge-driven economy for Nova Scotia.”

The jargony phrase “knowledge economy” came up throughout the event. Outhit says it’s the exporting of ideas rather than goods—creating jobs that use brainpower instead of manpower.

He says it’s “based on knowledge, innovation, research and development and exporting ideas and solutions in addition to raw materials.”

Traves says Dal is a leader in promoting an emerging knowledge economy in Nova Scotia.

He says the university is one of Nova Scotia’s largest enterprises, bringing in nearly half a billion dollars per year in revenues and employing more than 3,500 faculty and staff. Most of the revenue, he says, stays in the local economy.

Traves says Dal exports education, meaning that students are sent into the workforce with the proper knowledge and skills to work in knowledge-based jobs.

He says Dal is also an “immigration agent.” There are more than 16,000 students at Dal and the University of King’s College, and Traves says half come from outside Nova Scotia. He estimates each of these students spends $10-15,000 a year beyond tuition fees in the province, meaning they pour about $100 million into the local economy annually.

Traves also says Dal is a “major exporter” of ideas. Each year, he says the university receives more than $115 million toward research, which funds around 1,000 full- and part-time employees.

Research is a major contributor to the knowledge economy, both because of the research jobs it provides and the job opportunities that open as a result of research.

A survey released last week by The Scientist magazine rated Dal 7th internationally as one of the best places to work in academia. Some of the factors considered were the quality of mentoring, pay, and research resources.

Deborah Buszard is the director of Environmental Programmes at Dal and a member of NovaKnowledge. She says Dalhousie is the leader of Nova Scotia’s universities in terms of research and development.

Traves says there are steps to take to maintain Dal’s spot as a top research university. In addition to recruiting researchers, he says the goal is “to make sure that they have an environment within which their research creativity can flourish.”

“That involves everything from proper facilities, the right kind of equipment, and financial resources they need to support what are often very expensive research projects,” says Traves.

He says there are limits to the amount of money government will spend on research projects and encourages partnerships with other members of the business community.

“For our researchers, if they can connect up with external research partners who want to pursue something together, that creates tremendous opportunities not only to do basic research but to leverage that research into product services which create news jobs, wealth and prosperity for our community.”

Buszard says the government needs to see education as an investment rather than a cost.

“We need to think about the concept of investing in people for the future, enabling Nova Scotian students to actually get the quality education they deserve,” she says. “ And that means making the university level of education financially accessible.”

The idea of a knowledge economy may seem to exclude those involved in the actual production of goods. But Outhit says the manufacturing sector is becoming more technologically advanced, and therefore more knowledge-driven.

Traves agrees, saying traditionally blue-collar jobs like working on a fishing boat are increasingly knowledge-based.

“It’s an incredible high-tech vessel. It’s got all sorts of IT capacity. It’s got incredible electronics, and the people who command those vessels have to be really skilled. That’s a knowledge intensive activity.”

“Even in the traditional historic sectors of our economy, we are in a knowledge-based enterprise,” says Traves. “It’s hard for me really to identify parts of the emerging economy that aren’t knowledge-based.”

Outhit says universities and the research they conduct are crucial to the knowledge economy.

“There are those who still view our education system as a drain on our taxes,” says Outhit. “I think research has shown time and time again that universities generate revenue for our economy, significant hundreds of millions of revenue, as well as tomorrow’s leaders.”

Buszard agrees. “We’re going to be investing in the human capital. That’s the next stage of development for Nova Scotia.”

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