Changes in academy/industry/state relations in Canada: The creation and development of the networks of centres of excellence

The Networks of Centres of Excellence programme is perhaps Canada's most dr amatic science policy innovation since the First World War. This article tr aces its development, using documentary analysis and interviews with the po licy actors responsible for conceiving and implementing the programme. Esta blished in 1989, the networks were explicitly designed to change the norms of science. The intention was to instil an approach to long-term fundamenta l research that considered possibilities of use from the start. Of equal im portance was the idea that management was essential to produce knowledge in a network structure.