Abstract

　　For eight decades, China and Canada have engaged in an increasingly rich and comprehensive collaboration in science, technology and innovation. Beginning with the personal engagement of some of the most prominent innovators in both countries in the 1930s through the 1970s, it was realized that China was building on millennia of leadership in innovation, while Canada was in the forefront of Western advances in key areas of research. As China began to open up to the West in the late 1970s, Canada’s development agencies focused on helping China build capacity. University collaborations have also been strong, facilitated by the large Chinese diaspora in the Canadian research community. Canadian companies have had long-standing relations in China, and start-up incubators and accelerators in both countries have linkages with their counterparts. Over the years, Canadian and Chinese governments have deepened their S&T engagement, with an Agreement for Science and Technology Collaboration signed in 2007, and the Canada-China Joint Committee on S&T (CCJC) established to guide joint initiatives including a funded program for collaborative research. The most recent events were the inaugural meeting of the Sino-Canadian Innovation Dialogue held on October 29, 2018 and the CCJC meeting on October 30, 2018. The future is bright for continuing collaboration in the coming decades.