IPL Webinar Series

Does Canada Have an Effective Innovation Policy?

March 16, 2023 | 11:00AM - 12:00PM
 | 
Online
Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School

This event is over

'Munk Centre For International Studies - 1 Devonshire Place
Since 2000 Canada has witnessed a proliferation of Innovation Strategies, including the 2017 Innovation and Skills Plan. Yet our innovation performance continued to deteriorate throughout this period. The 2022 Federal Budget began with the admission, “Our third pillar for growth is a plan to tackle the Achilles’ heel of the Canadian economy: productivity and innovation.” What factors best explain Canada’s dismal innovation performance over the past two decades? Join us for an IPL webinar with two of the most insightful analysts of Canadian innovation policy.
 
Moderator:
 
David A. Wolfe, Professor of Political Science and Co-Director,
Innovation Policy Lab
 
Panelists:
 
Shirley Anne Scharf, Ph.D.
Shirley Anne Scharf is Visiting Researcher with the CN-Paul M. Tellier Chair on Business and Public Policy, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa and has her Ph.D. in Public Administration, School of Political Studies at U of O. Her dissertation, “Canadian Innovation Policy: The Continuing Challenge” (2022) examines the key dimensions driving the gap between policy intent and impact, and the consequences for Canada’s innovation ecosystem.
 
Travis Southin, Ph.D.
Travis Southin is a postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration working with the Transition Accelerator on net-zero industrial policy. He completed his PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto in 2022. His dissertation, titled “Overcoming Barriers to Policy Change: The Politics of Canada’s Innovation Policy,” illuminates the political barriers constraining the Government of Canada’s ability to shift its innovation policy mix away from neutral/horizontal policy instruments towards more targeted innovation policy instruments.
This event is sponsored by the Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School.
Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School
Stacie Bellemare events.munk@utoronto.ca

Speakers

Headshot of David Wolfe
David A. Wolfe

Moderator
Professor of Political Science and Co-Director, Innovation Policy Lab

headshot of Shirley Anne Scharf
Shirley Anne Scharf, Ph.D.

Visiting Researcher, CN-Paul M. Tellier Chair on Business and Public Policy, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

headshot of Travis Southin
Travis Southin, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University