The State of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Canada 2025: A Confluences Action Dialogue
Dec 3, 2025 — 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, from 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM (ET), the Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP) will host the latest in its series of action dialogues addressing grand challenges at the science, society and policy interface.
The Dialogue, presented as a webinar, will feature Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, Chair of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) Expert Panel on the State of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Canada, who will provide an overview of the key findings of the CCA Expert Panel report.
About the Event
The event on December 3 is part of the ISSP’s Grand Challenge Action Dialogue series, which convenes policymakers, researchers and thought leaders in a variety of sectors to expand mobilization of knowledge on grand challenges at the science-society-policy interface. The Dialogues are one element of a broader suite of activities supporting the ISSP’s flagship collaborative initiative Confluences: Navigating where science, society and policy come together in Canada.
Confluences emerges from the Institute’s Strategic Plan 2021-2026, which sets the ambitious vision of helping Canada transform decision-making to meet the grand challenges of our time. Our research, teaching and outreach focus on three key thematic areas underpinning our vision: building public trust in expertise and expert-based decision-making; developing co-production of policies among academic, government, industry, Indigenous and civil society members; and weaving together technological and social innovations.
Dr. Ilse Treurnicht
Speaker
Investor, director, advisor and Chair, CCA Expert Panel on the State of STI in Canada
Ilse Treurnicht’s career spans research and commercialization, venture and impact investing, public policy, and the development of health and cleantech firms. She is managing partner of TwinRiver Capital (an impact investment firm), a general partner at North South Ventures (a health impact fund), chair of the Board of the Public Policy Forum, and a director of the Equality Fund and Zentek.
Ilse was CEO of MaRS Discovery District in Toronto from 2005-2017 as it developed from a nascent organization into a leading urban innovation hub. She joined MaRS from her role as CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm (1999-2005).
She was chair of the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance (2010). She served on the Government of Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (2014-2016), Canada’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth (2016-2019), and the Advisory Committee on Open Banking (2018-2021). She currently serves on the Council of Expert Advisors, Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences. She has been a board member and advisor to technology firms, universities, non-profits, and international organizations.
Ilse holds a doctorate in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar, and undergraduate and master’s degrees from Stellenbosch University in South Africa.