A group of Yukon innovators has told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that stable funding is a necessary component of supporting ingenuity.

They made the point during a roundtable discussion held Oct. 15.

“I’m sure when southerners think of the Arctic and the North and the Yukon, the first thing that jumps to mind is not technology innovation centres or great northern research, which is exactly what we have here – a very vibrant research and innovation sector,” Yukon MP Larry Bagnell told the Star after the discussion.

“Of course, that’s why the prime minister wanted to hear from them and why he chose that topic.”

Bagnell facilitated the conference call among Yukoners, Premier Sandy Silver and Trudeau.

Delegates from Yukon University, Yukonstruct, Tech Yukon and Ski Definition participated in the call.

“The concept of the meeting was: what’s working and what are the barriers to progress on research in the Yukon,” Bagnell said.

“I’d say the gist of the feedback was that the reason it’s successful … other than the great creative people we have in the Yukon, is the funding from the federal government and the Yukon government, the Northlight Innovation Centre, Yukonstruct and Yukon College.”

That funding needs to continue steadily and predictably, Trudeau was told.

“One of the researchers at the (university) said … it’s sort of an up-and-down rollercoaster, and they would hope there was some way of stabilizing the funding,” Bagnell said.

“So, it’s not just a roller coaster to organize their research, and they said that’s a particular problem for small universities.”

Grant-based funding for research is helpful and appreciated, but makes it difficult to plan large projects, Bagnell explained.

Yukon start-up companies also need access to capital to flourish in the territory, he said.

“It’s very hard for those companies, especially in the North, where costs are higher; it’s very expensive to do business here compared to some parts of the country,” Bagnell said.

In spite of the challenge of doing business in the North, Bagnell said, all the call participants were very motivated to help innovation prosper locally.

“It was sort of commonly understood and agreed and desired by the prime minister and all the members on the call that research should be as much as possible done in the North, by northerners,” Bagnell said.

There was also discussion about innovation in mining to support the green economy. Bagnell noted that many clean energy projects rely on rare earth metals that the Yukon could provide.

“The green economy will need mining to provide the structures needed to have green energy,” Bagnell said.

All the participants provided feedback to help Trudeau support northern innovators in the future.

“It seemed to me that it was very positive for everyone,” Bagnell said.

“The prime minister got the feedback he wanted when he organized this, and I think the participants were very happy to get their messages across.”