News from the IPL
INTRODUCTION
This newsletter is published by The Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, and sponsored by the Ministry of Research and Innovation. The views and ideas expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Ontario Government.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Ontario government is helping Magna International and Magna E-Car develop the next generation of clean vehicle technologies creating 728 jobs and protecting another 1,337 jobs at Magna’s Aurora, Brampton, Concord and St. Thomas plants. With the government’s support, the company is launching a number of new projects including: electric car concept development; parts for hybrid electric/battery electric vehicles; advanced lightweight metallic components: an alternate energy project; and, advanced bio-based composite materials to reduce vehicle weight and improve fuel efficiency.
Editor's Pick
An Action Plan for Innovation in Mississauga
Hickling Arthurs Low
In recent years, various calls for an innovation centre in Mississauga have been made, each with different ideas as to what such a centre should be about. Ideas have included establishing a centre as: a place where small high-tech businesses can access resources, programs and services to help them thrive; a meeting place for companies and individuals to meet, interact and engage on innovation issues; an incubator and accelerator that can support the development startups and small technology firms; and as an organization that can anchor an innovation hub in the city and align the region’s educational resources with business needs. What this study finds, however, is that the current innovation support system in Mississauga is already delivering on a number of elements captured by these ideas. For this reason, this study sets out an action plan that goes beyond an innovation centre per se to address factors for strengthening innovation in Mississauga as whole including ways to build a talent advantage for the city’s innovation economy.
Innovation Policy
IRPP
This special issue of Policy Options aligns with a symposium hosted by the Perimeter Institute on September 16th. This issue contains articles about public opinion on the importance of research and development; Canada’s R&D challenges; the causes and consequences of Canada’s dropping investment in R&D; debates over whether government should stimulate the supply or demand side for R&D; the global ranking of Canada’s public research institutions; and many other pressing issues for innovation in Canada.
Made in America, Again: Why Manufacturing Will Return to the U.S.
Boston Consulting Group
For more than a decade , deciding where to build a manufacturing plant to supply the world was simple for many companies. With its seeminly limitless supply of low-cost labour and an enormous, rapidly developing domestic market, an artificially low currency, and significant government incentives to attract foreign investment, China was the clear choice. Now a combination of economic forces is eroding China’s cost advantage as an export platform for the North American market. Meanwhile, the U.S., with an increasingly flexible workforce and a resilient corporate sector, is becoming more attractive as a place to manufacture many goods consumed on this continent. This analysis concludes that by sometime around 2015 manufacturing goods destined for the U.S. market will be just as economical as manufacturing in China.
Creating Jobs by Investing in Innovation
Sean Pool, Science Progress
As the debate in Washington pivots this week from deficit reduction to job creation, progressives and conservatives will be vying to convince the American people that they have the best plan to get America working again. But any jobs plan will fall flat if it doesn’t lay out a strategy for investing in innovation. This article makes the case for a jobs plan that focuses on developing the building blocks of innovation.
Two Degrees of Innovation – How to Seize the Opportunities in Low-Carbon Power
Letha Tawney, Francisco Almendra, Pablo Torres and Lutz Weischer, World Resources Institute
This paper offers a strategic framework for those seeking to capitalize on the low-carbon transition. The first section presents innovation as a key strategy to achieve economic development, energy, and environmental goals. The second section explains why the innovation process is unique in the low-carbon power sector and introduces the innovation ecosystem. The third section lays out a stepby- step process to identify and capitalize on the enormous potential and emerging opportunities in this sector.
The Comprehensive Patent Reform of 2011: Navigating the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
John Vollasenor, The Brookings Institution
he Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) approved in September 2011 constitutes the most significant overhaul of the American patent system in decades. This policy brief examines some key patent law changes mandated by the legislation, and provides recommendations for companies on successfully navigating the new landscape. Perhaps most notably, the new law will move the United States away from a “first to invent” system and closer to the “first to file” approach used in much of the rest of the world. Other important changes include a new proceeding in the U .S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for third-party challenges to the validity of a recently issued patent, an expanded mechanism for a third party to provide information to the PTO that could be used to narrow or eliminate claims in a pending patent application being prosecuted by a commercial rival, and the introduction of a new, broadly applicable patent infringement defense based on prior commercial use.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Cities Grow Ontario: Urban Challenges and Prospects
The Martin Prosperity Institute
Ontario’s cities are where the action is and that activity influences the entire province. Metro areas have the jobs, but recent growth is outside the metro areas in areas adjacent to them. The impact of urbanization reaches across the entire province. While cities and suburbs do raise challenges and issues beyond their borders, they also create benefits enjoyed by the entire province. Truly, cities
grow Ontario. This paper aims to show how much and what share of selected people and things are in metropolitan and suburban Ontario and small town and rural Ontario.
Regional Innovation Report: London
Paula Kee, Technopolis
London is one of the world’s most prosperous regional economies, with a GDP of just under €400b in 2006. It has the largest city GDP in Europe and its economy is bigger than that of a number of European countries such as Sweden and Austria. In addition to being the UK’s capital city it is also one of the world’s largest financial centres, a center of international trade, and home to the head offices of most of the UK’s top companies and more than 100 of Europe’s 500 largest companies. Despite London’s impressive economic performance, it performs less well with respect to conventional innovation indicators. This paper outlines the major innovation challenges facing London and potential policy responses.
Statistics & Indicators
The Global Competitiveness Report: 2011-2012
World Economic Forum
Switzerland tops the overall rankingsthis year. Singapore overtakes Sweden for second position. Northern and Western European countries dominate the top 10 with Sweden (3rd), Finland (4th), Germany (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Denmark (8th) and the United Kingdom (10th). Japan remains the second-ranked Asian economy at 9th place, despite falling three places since last year. Canada has dropped two positions this year to 12th place, with a slight improvement in score. The United States continues its decline for the third year in a row, falling one more place to fifth position. Canada continues to benefit from highly efficient markets (with its goods, labour, and financial markets ranked 12th, 5th, and 13th, respectively), well-functioning and transparent institutions (11th), and excellent infrastructure (11th). In addition, the country has been successful in nurturing its human resources: it is ranked 6th for health and primary education and 12th for higher education and training. As has been noted in recent years, improving the sophistication and innovative potential of the private sector, with greater R&D spending and producing goods and services higher on the value chain, would enhance Canada’s competitiveness and productive potential going into the future.
The Value of Education, Part 2: Returns to Education by Occupational Class and Age
The Martin Prosperity Institute
As part of on-going research into understanding the variation in wages and other working conditions around people whose primary work is service-oriented – the Service Class – researchers have looked at the impact of completed education on wage levels. This article continue that investigation by looking at how the returns to education vary by occupational class and age. And, while the results support the general expectation that more education and experience equals higher income, interesting variation by occupational class and age are found.
Policy Digest
White Spaces Innovation in Sweden: Innovation Policy for Exploring the Adjacent Possible
Phil Cooke and Arne Eriksson, VINNOVA
How a future cluster strategy can or should be formed is an issue under discussion in various cluster initiatives and regions in Sweden. One question focuses on the appearance of so-called innovation platforms as the next developmental phase, due to the way in which innovations increasingly appear at the interface between different clusters and innovative milieus.This report documents a multi-client research project to investigate the subject of Innovation Platforms as the next phase in the evolution of Regional Innovation Policy. Those development agencies with responsibilities for supporting and promoting innovation at the leading edge have begun to recognise a basic truth about contemporary business innovation. This is that fruitful innovation interactions increasingly occur at interfaces between diverse firms, sectors, and even clusters. This offers national and regional development agencies a new, catalytic role in stimulating regional innovation. This occurs through shaping innovation platforms that can enable cross-fertilisation between clusters and tackling complex social innovation challenges like climate change, ageing, and sustainable cities to name a few.
Events
Building Capacity for Scientific Innovation and Outcomes
Atlanta, GA, 15-17 September, 2011
The ability of science and innovation systems to deliver depends on continually improving capacity. Yet, capacity is multidimensional and has interrelated characteristics and related challenges. The Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2011 will explore the research base that addresses the broad range of capacity related issues central to the structure, function, performance and outcomes of the science and innovation enterprises. The conference will include a variety of sessions: plenaries to discuss critical questions, contributed paper sessions and a young researcher poster competition.
The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Capital Cities
Warsaw, Poland, 23 September, 2011
Numerous studies and surveys from across Europe demonstrate that in ‘old EU’ the biggest cities are suffering the most from recession, while in new EU members and in Eastern Europe it is rural areas that suffer while cities and capital cities in particular are able to sustain their growth (or to minimize decline). Thus we are proposing to create a Regional Studies Association Research Network which will look at various cases of capital cities’ reactions in the wake of global economic crisis and will come up with the tentative summary of different trends and types of responses which would be useful for further regional socio-economic analysis.
Lund, Sweden, 13-14 October, 2011
The conference offers two days of plenaries, presentations and intense discussions on preconditions and strategies for regional innovation policy and regional development in Europe. It is organized around five key themes: (1) Preconditions for sustainable development (economically, socially and environmentally) in European regions: (2) the role of universities in the promotion of regional development; (3) sectoral specificities (resource based and cultural/creative industries) and their impacts on regional competitiveness; (4) Southern European regions and their strategies to grow out of the global economic crisis; (5) the growth of emerging economies in Asia and Latin America and consequences for European regions. Confirmed keynote speakers include Meric Gertler (University of Toronto), Claire Nauwelaers (OECD), Staffan Laestadius (Royal Institute of Technology KTH), Dominic Power (Uppsala University), Mario Rui Silva (University of Porto) and Cristina Chaminade (Lund University).
Culture, Place and Identity at the Heart of Regional Development
St, John’s, 13-15 October, 2011
This conference will examine the relationship between the arts, cultural heritage and regional development in islands and in rural and remote regions. It will bring together representatives from academia, government, the arts community, the cultural heritage community, the knowledge economy, the tourism industry, and organizations dealing with regional development. It will examine global trends in tourism, technology and demographics, and will feature global best practices in cultural tourism.
Building Better Bridges: Creating Successful Partnerships
Ottawa, 25-26 October, 2011
This is a course designed to provide tools and insights for assisting technology management, research services and applied research professionals from Canadian universities, research hospitals, polytechnics and colleges, develop new and improved practices and models for effectively engaging and carrying out collaborations with industry, government and non-profit partners. Participants will explore new ways to convey the concept that academic-based research organizations are open for business and encourage collaboration.
INNOVATION 2011: Canada’s R&D Partnership Conference
Montreal, 20-22 November, 2011
INNOVATION 2011 is a networking and professional development conference that draws from the global community of technology transfer and industry engagement practitioners from academia, industry and government as well as venture investors and other managers of Canada’s intellectual assets. Partnerships with local, regional and national industry associations and others will enrich the program significantly. In addition to professional development, opportunities for networking, marketing and building relationships with key individuals and organizations in Canada’s Innovation Ecosystem are key cornerstones of the Conference.
Multi-level Governance and Partnership in EU Cohesion Policy
Vienna, Austria, 29-30 November, 2011
The first workshop will tackle the issues of multi-level governance and partnership in EU cohesion policy. The imposition of multi-level and horizontal cooperation in implementation of cohesion funding challenged the established patterns of interaction between the levels of government and the actors involved in regional policy delivery. The partnership principle has also been praised for its positive impact in terms of improvement of administrative capacity and favouring learning across organizational boundaries. In addition, effective multi-level governance mechanisms and horizontal partnership are also considered as crucial for purposeful and strategic use of the Structural Funds. Thus, EU cohesion policy is expected to become more results-oriented in 2014-2020 thanks to, among other measures, an emphasis on a place-based approach, a concept closely linked with multi-level governance and partnership. However, there are major barriers for the functioning of multi-level governance, such as reluctance of some national governments to allow the sub-national actors to play a more important role; or lack of capacity at the regional level to actively take part in shaping and implementation of EU cohesion policy, particularly in countries with centralized and hierarchical administration systems. Likewise, as the ex-post evaluations of 2000-2006 period and the academic research to date suggest, the application of horizontal partnership varies considerably across the Member States and can remain superficial and ‘formal.’
Innovation in a Sustainable Supply Chain: A Global Challenge
Montreal, 5-6 December, 2011
Aéro Montréal, the Québec Aerospace Cluster, in collaboration with CRIAQ, is organizing the third forum entirely dedicated to aerospace innovation. More than 500 participants and renowned speakers from the aerospace industry from Québec, Canada and abroad. The program includes conferences, workshops, B2B technology meetings and innovation exhibits.
Saint-Etienne, France, 26-28 January, 2012
Public and corporate actors are faced with pressing questions concerning innovation policy and the return of R&D investment. To answer these questions, new perspectives are necessary to overthrow received wisdom. This first European seminar on “Geography of Innovation” invites scholars from all disciplines to present their work on local and global processes of innovation, on the interaction between science, technology and policy, on clusters, entrepreneurship and competitiveness, and on green growth and sustainability. To further our understanding of innovation processes, the seminar intends to bring together a variety of disciplines including economic geography, regional science, economics of innovation, network theory and management science. We further welcome new contributions to the establishment of (European) databases as well as new analytical tools, including spatial econometrics, network analysis, (interactive) visualization, bibliometrics and policy evaluation tools.
The Governance of Innovation and Socio-Technical Systems: Theorizing and Explaining Change
Copenhagen, Denmark, 1-2 March, 2012
‘Governance’ is a notion that has gained increasing currency the past years in the field of (sectoral) innovation systems and socio-technical systems’ studies. Generally speaking, it refers to the ability of a society to solve collective action problems in issues that involve science, technology and innovation. However, there continues to be a considerable level of indeterminacy in the literature. Firstly, because the empirical literature on systems exhibits multiple understanding of change, and hence about how governance processes take place. This diversity has not been properly spelled out, obscuring the way in which change is linked to specific forms of (effective) governance. And secondly, because these empirical studies tend to use the notion ‘governance’ in rather loose conceptual terms and sometimes even only implicitly. This tends to underestimate or ignore the coordination aspect embedded in any form of systemic change. For these two reasons, the actual explanatory capacity of the notion ‘governance’ when studying systems’ change remains limited. This workshop aims at addressing this gap in the literature, asking how do agents and institutions coordinate in the process of generating change in complex socio-technical and (sectoral) innovation systems.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.