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
Big City, Big Ideas Lecture: Catherine Barbe: Planning and Integrating the Paris Metropolitan Region
Victoria College, University of Toronto, 19 November, 6:30-8:30pm Join us for a discussion with Catherine Barbe (Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Societe du Grand Paris) about some of her experience and strategies with the implementation of the Grand Paris project, and insights and lessons on further integrating the Paris metropolitan region.
Australia Releases Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda, Establishes Five Industry Growth Centers
SSTI Weekly Digest Australian Minster Tony Abbott announced a $400 million AUD (approximately $352M USD) national Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda focused on building the country’s innovation economy, supporting apprenticeship and workforce programs that address the needs of industry, and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The centerpiece of the agenda is a $188 million AUD (approximately $165.5M USD) initiative to create industry growth centers in five sectors: food and agribusiness; mining equipment, technology and services; oil, gas and energy resources; medical technologies and pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing services. These industry-led centers would provide funding and technical assistance to support the commercialization of products developed via university-industry partnerships.
EU Launches New Bioeconomy Observatory
European Commission How much is Europe investing in the bioeconomy today? What is the state of the bioeconomy sectors across the EU? What are the related policy initiatives taken at EU and national levels? Replies to those and similar questions can be found on the bioeconomy observatory website, set up by the Joint Research Centre. It will allow a regular assessing on the progress and impact of the bioeconomy. It will supply policy-makers and stakeholders with reference data and analyses, providing a solid basis for policy development and decision-making. Information and data are currently collected at EU, Member States and regional levels. Eventually, they will also be available for key international partners such as Brazil, Malaysia or the USA.
Editor's Pick
Report to the President: Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing
Executive Office of the President, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology The United States has been the leading producer of manufactured goods for more than 100 years, and the manufacturing sector is once again adding jobs and opening new factories at its fastest rate in two decades. The United States has long thrived as a result of its ability to manufacture goods and sell them to global markets. Manufacturing drives knowledge production and innovation in the United States by supporting two‐thirds of private sector research and development and by employing the vast majority of U.S. scientists, engineers, and technicians to invent and produce new products. Yet, in the 2000’s, manufacturing faced major employment declines as factories were shuttered. U.S. strengths in manufacturing innovation and technologies that have sustained American leadership in manufacturing are under threat from new and growing competition abroad. This report builds on previous efforts by the Council of Advisors and proposes a series of recommendations to enable innovation and leadership in the advanced technology sector.
Innovation Policy
Employment and Skills Strategies in the United States
OECD How to stimulate growth and support job creation are two critical challenges that countries confront following the global financial crisis. The Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Program of the OECD has developed international cross-comparative reviews on local job creation policies to examine the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment. Each country review examines the capacity of employment services and training providers to contribute to a long-term strategy which strengthens the resiliency of the local economy, increases skills levels and job quality. This report looks at the range of institutions and bodies involved in workforce and skills development in two states – California and Michigan. In-depth fieldwork focused on two local Workforce Investment Boards in each state: the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA); the Northern Rural and Training and Employment Consortium (NoRTEC); the Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA); and the Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works. The report concludes with a number of recommendations and actions to promote job creation at the federal, state and local levels.
Expert Panel Report on the Envisioned State of Basic Research
MEXT, Japan Academic research, which produces the bulk of scientific knowledge for the construction and development of an advanced society founded on scientific knowledge, is important. However, the deployment of strategic basic research for the creation of social and economic values that have been generated through the objectives established by the national government is also important. Strategic basic research also contributes to the creation of new, use-inspired scientific knowledge. In addition to driving initiatives to take on the challenges of clarifying the significance of strategic basic research, sorting out its concepts, and securing a more effective and transparent scheme for the development of the strategic basic research scheme, the national government should also send a clear message to citizens on the significance, scheme, and benefits of strategic basic research. The expert panel discussed the envisioned state of strategic basic research promotion as represented by JST’s Strategic Basic Research Programs (CREST, PRESTO, ERATO and ACCEL for creating seeds of new technologies）. The R&D system was wholly reviewed from a high level with a long-term perspective, and methods for fostering innovation rooted in basic research were studied and finalized into this report.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Future of Cities: International Seminar Report
Government Office for Science, Gov.UK This report summarizes the findings of a round table with a group of international experts representing local and national governments, academia and the private sector. The project aimed to take a long-term look at how UK cities can best contribute to economic growth and wellbeing over the coming decades. The project considers the opportunities for UK cities within both a national and global ‘system of cities’. It also assesses future challenges to UK cities, many of which will be common to other countries.
European Cluster Panorama 2014
Christian Ketels and Sergei Protsiv, European Cluster Observatory This report profiles developments in ten selected emerging industries, identified through data-driven analytical processes that focus on the identification of strong and weak linkages across economic activities. These profiles capture the overall size and growth dynamics within each of these industries, and show their geographic footprint across EU regions. At the EU level, they can help pinpoint narrow hotspots of emerging linkages within these industries as well as identify those regions in Europe that have already been able to create the conditions for growth in these industries. At the regional level, profiles provide key insights into the current patterns of specialization across and within the ten emerging industries, and thus can help regional authorities to focus on those areas where competencies exist and growth is most likely to be achieved.
Brittany Bruce, University of Waterloo Encouraging the use of collaboration in regional economic development has been increasingly prevalent over the past few decades by both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. This push has two origins. First, regional level stakeholders are coming to understand the limits of what they can achieve as individual organizations. This has made collaboration at a regional level attractive. Second, provincial, state and federal levels of government increasingly prefer to interact with only one entity at a regional level, making consolidation of effort through collaboration key. There is an expectation that regional collaborations between multiple cities and counties will help to mobilize more resources, than a single municipality would be able to do alone. This study explores collaborations that connect diverse stakeholders (public officials, private organizations, and non-governmental entities) related to regional agriculture initiatives and regional economic development in the North Country in New York state and Four Counties in Ontario.
Statistics & Indicators
Measuring University-Business Links in the United States
Tomas Coates Ulrichsen, Alan Hughes, and Barry Moore, HEFCE The context of the report is increased interest in the UK in improving the measurement of the linkages between universities and business (referred to here as ‘knowledge exchange’(KE)), including ability to benchmark performance with other countries. This report summarizes primary and secondary sources on the US experience of measuring KE, including current analyses of US and UK KE performance (Part I), and US developments in improving measurements (Part II). Understanding of the breadth of KE as in the UK is less well developed in the USA and hence Part I focusses primarily on a narrower set of research and development (R&D) and technology transfer metrics.
The Scientific Competitiveness of Nations
Giulio Cimini et al. This paper uses citation data of scientific articles produced by individual nations in different scientific domains to determine the structure and efficiency of national research systems. The authors characterize the scientific fitness of each nation—that is, the competitiveness of its research system—and the complexity of each scientific domain by means of a non-linear iterative algorithm able to assess quantitatively the advantage of scientific diversification. They find that technological leading nations, beyond having the largest production of scientific papers and the largest number of citations, do not specialize in a few scientific domains. Rather, they diversify their research system as much as possible. On the other side, less developed nations are competitive only in scientific domains where many other nations are also active. Diversification thus represents the key element that correlates with scientific and technological competitiveness. A remarkable implication of this structure of the scientific competition is that the scientific domains playing the role of “markers” of national scientific competitiveness are those not necessarily of high technological requirements, but rather addressing the most “sophisticated” needs of the society.
Policy Digest
What Should the Role of the Federal Government Be in Supporting Innovation Districts?
Bruce Katz, The Brookings Institution
Innovation districts are springing up in cities across the country. Unlike traditional science parks and suburban innovation corridors, these districts cluster cutting edge research institutions, R&D intensive companies, entrepreneurial firms and business incubators in small geographic areas that are livable, walkable, bike-able, and transit connected. They incorporate both the new collaborative workings of the “open innovation” economy as well as new market and demographic preferences for quality places. In analyzing this growing movement, researchers tend to focus on the role that local actors have played in the development of these areas. For this reason, the federal government should not attempt to lead the development of innovation districts. Successful districts do not emerge from a federal program like empowerment zones but rather from the collaborative efforts of local institutions and leaders and organic market dynamics. In addition, the emerging districts around the country differ markedly in their leadership structure, sector orientation, and existing economic, physical and networking assets—obviating any one “one size fits all” response. Still, the federal government clearly has a role to play and should focus its support on three main inputs to successful innovation districts: (1) Basic and applied research; (2) skilled workers; (3) infrastructure and housing.
Basic and Applied Research
While the most advanced districts around the country are created by networks of regional stakeholders—local governments, universities, private businesses, entrepreneurs, real estate developers, and civic institutions—the federal government provides a strong foundation through its funding of basic and applied research. Many innovation districts are centered around a major anchor institution, which tend to rely heavily on federal dollars to support their research. MIT, for example, relies on the federal government for roughly 70 percent of its research funding—$466 million in 2013. This federally-backed research creates a platform for commercialization, which spurs job creation and entrepreneurial growth and brings technological advances to our businesses and homes. However, in recent years, federal support for basic research has begun to slip, and the growth trajectory of R&D spending has suffered. At a time when sequestration cuts and budget pressures further threaten the U.S. R&D base, federal leaders must recommit to funding this basic research.
Skilled Workers
Innovation districts—and the innovation economy more broadly—rely upon a technically skilled workforce, specifically those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. The federal government can do a number of things to support this. By implementing something akin to the Race to the Shop proposal (a version of which is currently being developed by Delaware Sen. Chris Coons) the federal government could encourage a more robust school-to-work pipeline for sub-baccalaureate workers. Given the proximity of innovation districts to low-income neighborhoods (and, in some cities, public and affordable housing developments), there is the demand for targeted federal efforts to underwrite STEM-oriented schools that offer apprenticeship opportunities.
The trend toward locating community colleges amid burgeoning Innovation Districts (e.g., Houston Community College at the Texas Medical Center Baltimore Community College at University of Maryland BioPark) offers the mutual benefit of connecting sub-baccalaureate students with real-world training and connections to potential future employers. At a more macro level, reforming the nation’s immigration system, particularly in attracting and retaining highly skilled foreigners, should also be a top priority.
Housing and Infrastructure
Unlike traditional science parks and suburban innovation corridors, innovation districts, like the cities and urban communities that house them, need effective transit systems, adequate mixed-income housing and mixed-use development to succeed. Many innovation districts have already used a variety of federal resources for these purposes to great effect. After years of budget cuts and legislative drift, the primary imperative is to reestablish the federal government as a reliable, consistent, and flexible partner in these arenas, both with regard to tax incentives (e.g., the New Markets Tax Credit) and discretionary and credit enhancement programs around housing, transportation, and sustainable development.
A Stronger Federal Role
In summary, the federal government did not start the rise of innovation districts but it could help accelerate this encouraging dynamic and broaden the impact on innovative growth, urban revitalization, and social opportunity. It should do so in a humble way – doing what cities and metro areas can’t (e.g., providing a strong national platform for research and innovation) and providing support that is respectful of local variation and supportive of local networks and ecosystems. At a time when the nation still needs more and better jobs, smart federal action would spur not only high levels of job growth, business formation, and commercialization but also urban regeneration that works for local residents and communities. It would also test a new form of federalism, where cities and metro areas lead and the federal government follows. It would even make the federal government more efficient by providing a higher level of market and social return on discrete federal investments and integrating the otherwise fragmented flow of federal resources. All of this could amount to what former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros called a “two-plus-two-equals-five” effect.
Events
Creating Shared Value Through Clusters for a Sustainable Future
Monterrey, Mexico, 10-13 November, 2014 The agenda will focus on the potential of clusters to contribute to the creation of value for a sustainable and viable future, with over 80 international practitioners and academics sharing their latest work and research around this topic. The conference offers a unique opportunity to meet your peers from around the world and exchange good practices.
Apples to Apples City Data: Webinar 
Online, 11 November, 2014 The Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization announced in May 2014 that the World Council on City Data (WCCD) has pioneered the first international standard for sustainable cities, ISO 37120: Sustainable development of communities — Indicators for city services and quality of life.The WCCD and ISO 37120 were created by cities, for cities. For the first time ever, urban policymakers will have objective, verified measures to compare their services and performance levels with other cities around the world. It also gives citizens, businesses and civic organizations a new tool for holding local leaders accountable. They can now ask data-driven questions on topics from education to public safety to water and sanitation. In this Webinar, co-hosted by Citiscope, we’ll look at how the new ISO standard works. We’ll hear from local leaders in Boston, London and Buenos Aires to hear why the data standard matters in their cities and how they are implementing it. And we’ll learn about next steps for the new World Council on City Data, the body convening cities worldwide and verifying that city data meets the ISO standard.
CFP – National Systems of Entrepreneurship
Mannheim, Germany, 20-21 November, 2014 National Systems of Entrepreneurship (NSE) are fundamental resource allocation systems driven by opportunity pursuit of individuals through the creation of new ventures. In contrast to the institutional emphasis of the National Systems of Innovation (NSI) frameworks, NSE are driven by individuals who act within and interact with an institutional frame. This approach differs from traditional entrepreneurship research, where institutions are largely silent. The aim of this conference is to discuss recent scientific contributions on issues related to NSE, the comparison of NSI with NSE, as well as institutional, legal, and national developments on entrepreneurship.
Boosting Academic Entrepreneurship
Enschede, the Netherlands, 10-12 December, 2014 The Technopolicy Network is thrilled about the upcoming 12th annual Academic Entrepreneurship Conference and Awards. For this Conference, 30 leading experts have already confirmed that they will present on how universities, incubators and regional governments can boost academic entrepreneurship together with businesses in their region. Regional innovation hotspots from Silicon Valley, Beijing, Boston, Skolkovo and Finland will be presented by their strategists.
Aalborg, Denmark, 21-23 January, 2015 The conference is open for all PhD students working within the broad field of economics and management of innovation, entrepreneurship and organizations. We invite papers aiming at enhancing our understanding of the dynamics of technological, structural and institutional change at the level of firms, industries, regions and nations. DRUID is the node for an open international network – new partners are most welcome. We encourage all PhD students to submit their research to the conference. Do not hesitate to apply even if you have not been in contact with DRUID previously.
2nd Doctoral Workshop in Econiomics of Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge
Turin, Italy, 29-30 January, 2015 The aim of the workshop is to bring together PhD students from all over the world working in the broad field of Economics of Innovation and Complexity. The workshop will provide participants with a great opportunity to network with peers researching on similar topics and to receive feedback from both junior and senior scholars. We invite PhD students in their 2nd and 3rd years to submit their extended abstracts.
CFP: The Global City, Past and Present
St. Andrews, Scotland, 14-15 May, 2015 This first Call for Papers invites submissions from scholars of all humanities and social science disciplines working on the issue of “Space” in the early modern colonial city and its modern descendants. At the intersection of empires, cultures, and economies, urban spaces and structures were, and continue to be, shaped by the cities’ global connections. Through an exploration of all aspects of the urban built environment, the workshop will start a conversation between scholars working on the spatial characteristics of those cities that first rose to prominence in the early modern imperial world.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.