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
A New Partnership Forms to Save Detroit
A new partnership between the Kauffman Foundation and the New Economy Initiative (NEI) for Southeast Michigan is focused on the hard-hit area — aiming to create 400 new companies per year over three years. The three-year economic recovery initiative will help the region transition to new industries through entrepreneurship counsel and proven programs such as FastTrac and the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership.
Ontario Launches a New Fund for Genomics Research
Ontario is launching a new fund to attract and retain world-leading genomics researchers in the province. The $100-million Global Leadership Round in Genomics and Life Sciences will support globally-significant, collaborative research projects that are headquartered in Ontario. This fund will create high-skilled jobs in research and technology, and brings Ontario’s commitment to funding science since 2003 to a historic high of $1.4 billion.
The Federal Government Delivers Nuclear Research Funding to Canadian Universities
As a result of an investment by the Government of Canada, 23 research projects at universities across the country will receive funding to develop advanced nuclear energy systems. These projects will encourage technology innovation, create jobs and boost Canada’s economy. Natural Resources Canada, in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and in collaboration with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), will provide almost $6 million in grants over the next three years to fund the 23 Generation IV (Gen IV) research projects at universities from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.
Editor's Pick
Micheal Kitson, Jeremy Howelles, Richard Braham, and Stian Westlake, NESTA
The UK’s universities are precious national assets, regularly leading the world in the quality of their research and discoveries. But for decades, policymakers have wrestled with the question of how to turn academic excellence into economic impact. With the collapse of the UK’s financial services sector, this issue has become urgent. The innovative businesses that our universities create and support will be essential to allowing us to emerge strongly from the recession. This report asks how we can make this a reality. It begins by examining the multifaceted contribution that universities make to the economy, highlighting their importance as sources of knowledge, and also their role as sources of skilled employees and as the centres for regional economic clusters.
Innovation Policy
Shoring up the Competitive Posture of Canadian Manufacturers: What are the Policy Levers?
James A. Bronx and Jeremy Leonard, IRPP
The most important high-level driver of productivity is innovation, which is itself the result of complex and poorly understood interactions between research and development, education, investment and a host of other factors. The goal of this project is to examine the channels by which efforts to improve Canada’s innovation performance can result in productivity improvements.
Policy Responses to the Economic Crisis: Stimulus Packages, Innovation and Long-Term Growth
OECD
The OECD is developing a strategic response to the crisis focusing on two priority areas: finance, competition and governance; and restoring long-term growth. As part of this strategic response, the OECD is identifying and analysing policy responses of its member countries. This document sets out initial results of this stocktaking. The first section sets out the broad characteristics of the economic stimulus packages (i.e. their size and main features). The second section then discusses measures relating to innovation and long-term growth – the focus of this paper. The third section discusses project selection, co-ordination, oversight and evaluation of these measures related to innovation and long-term growth. The objective of this paper is to compare OECD policy responses in specific areas and to provide a vehicle for exchanges on agreed measures, their effective design, implementation and impacts.
Innovation and US Competitiveness: Reevaluating the Contributors to Growth
The Conference Board
The United States has enjoyed almost a decade of strong economic growth that has been fuelled by huge productivity gains, increased competitiveness in manufacturing, high employment growth in services, and solid wage gains. Innovation, when cautiously measured as improvements in skills, investments in information and communication technologies, and such intangible items as research and development and organizational competencies, probably accounted for more than half of the improvement in labour productivity growth between 1973-1995 and 1995-2005. The innovation sector will continue to be an important source of the products and services needed to move the economy forward. This report takes stock of the innovation capabilities of the U.S. economy, including hurdles to maintaining the nation’s leadership position, and recommends some means and methods of overcoming those obstacles.
Powering Ideas: An Innovation Agenda for the 21st Century
Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
Innovation is the key to making Australia more productive and more competitive. It is the key to answering the challenge of climate change, the challenge of national security, the age-old challenges of disease and want. It is the key to creating a future that is better than the past. Investing in innovation is also one of the most effective ways to cushion Australia against the effects of the global downturn and accelerate recovery. It will simultaneously keep people in work today and generate jobs for the future. Released in May, this document outlines the framework that will guide the development of Australia’s innovation system over the next ten years.
France: Innovation System and Innovation Policy
Emmanuel Muller, Andrea Zenker, and Jean-Alain Heraud, Fraunhofer ISI
This contribution provides an overview of the innovation system and focuses on current innovation policies in France. Following a presentation of the French innovation system it explores major recent developments (section 2) and reviews innovation policy instruments (section 3). The specific issue of multi-level and multi-actor governance is addressed in section 4. The last section draws a general conclusion.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
The Halifax Sound: Live Music and the Economic Development of Halifax
Jill Grant, Jeff Haggett, and Jesse Morton, ISRN
An unexpected but important finding of the Halifax case study has highlighted the role of the live music scene in attracting talented and creative young people to the city-region. The Halifax music scene thus contributes to creating a cultural ambience with significant implications for the city-region’s ability to maintain and improve its economic performance. However, a decline in the music scene could undermine the attractiveness of Halifax and Nova Scotia to potential post-secondary students, and could hamper efforts to retain talented and creative workers in research and high technology sectors. The province of Nova Scotia has adopted forward-thinking strategies and funding programs to support and develop the music industry in the province; Halifax Regional Municipality should follow suit to ensure that the city-region continues to provide a welcoming and positive environment for a creative, diverse, and supportive music scene.
The Greater Philadelphia Life Science Cluster 2009: An Economic and Comparative Assessment
The Milken Institute
The life sciences industry – which includes biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, life sciences R&D, medical devices and health-care services – has been highly sought by economic development agencies for its high-paying jobs and tremendous growth potential. The report compares Greater Philadelphia to 10 other metropolitan areas considered to be the leading life sciences clusters in the U.S. and ranks them based on employment, research and development capacity, output, work force, investment and dozens of other measures.
Statistics & Indicators
Taking the Pulse of Bioscience Education in America: A State by State Analysis
BIO, Battelle and the Biotechnology Institute
This report finds that student achievement in biosciences varies widely between and within states. It also finds that many states lag behind in programmatic efforts to improve bioscience education, even as the life science industry grows in stature as a common priority for TBED initiatives. The report argues that state education systems across the country must improve to make the U.S. competitive in biotechnology. On average, only 28 percent of students taking the ACT obtained a score indicating readiness for college-level biology. Only 52 percent of 12th graders were at or about a basic level of achievement in the sciences. Science achievement among twelfth graders actually declined between 1995 and 2005 nationwide, though this was not true for all states. Several states are singled out in the report for their leadership in incorporating bioscience into their standards and improving student performance. The high-achieving states, in alphabetical order, include Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin. Even in these states, however, gaps exist between science achievement for lower-income and higher-income students.
Beyond Borders: Global Biotechnology Report 2009
Ernst & Young
How has the global financial crisis affected the biotech industry? This report presents comprehensive data on the industry’s financial performance in 2008, including financial results, financing, M&As, strategic alliances, product approvals and pipeline growth. Learn how the crisis is impacting leading biotech markets in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Policy Digest
Generating Local Wealth, Opportunity, and Sustainability Through Clusters
Regional Technology Strategies, Inc.
This report is part of a larger effort supported by the Ford Foundation that includes three additional streams of analysis focused on rural areas. The first is entrepreneurial activity, the second is rationalizing value chains that reach rural areas, and the third is delivering financial and technical assistance to small rural businesses. This document draws primarily from the discussions that took place at a workshop of 20 experts and practitioners in September 2008, from background papers prepared by participants, from summaries of 50 rural clusters compiled for this project, and, selectively, from the literature on clusters, rural development, and sustainability. It addresses the following five questions: What types of businesses function as clusters in less populated regions today, and how are they faring? How has a “flatter, warmer, and more crowded” world affected the location, structure, and prospects of rural clusters? What clusters have been best and least able to address triple bottom line outcomes, and why? What forms of cluster interventions have been most successful in meeting triple bottom line goals? What cluster strategies and local policies can most effectively address triple bottom line outcomes, and what conditions are necessary?
This report argues that clusters in rural areas have certain assets upon which to build, liabilities to overome and investment opportunities:
Assets
While urban areas seem to hold the right cards and the highest growth clusters, rural areas have decided advantages for certain clusters and people. Some people prefer the lifestyle and amenities associated with smaller cities, and some clusters require the resources or assets of, or simply prefer, a location in less populated areas. For these individuals and clusters, the nature of the experience tells the story. Some of the advantages to which rural clusters can aspire are as follows:
- Natural Resources: Rural areas, being more dependent on their natural resources, are more apt to want to preserve and sustain them.
- Community Colleges: have become critical resources for rural clusters. They are valued as accessible and affordable sources of postsecondary education, for their worker and management training and technical expertise, and as community centers. The colleges play crucial roles in many rural clusters, either as a response to business demandor as a catalyst to help shape a cluster;
- Distinctiveness and Sense of Place: Small communities, which lack the scale of amenities that citiescan provide, have more reason to find a distinguishing brand that sets them apart from other places.
- Closer Relationship to Land and Environment: A direct relationship with the land provides obvious opportunities in traditional resource-based businesses, and this fact applies even with regard to new technologies.Wind farms, for example, seem to be more efficient as communities—or clusters—of small farm-based units, with several small installations making better use of wind power than one large installation;
- Gemeinschaft: Relationships are more important in rural communities, where individuals appear to be just as oriented to large associations as they are to their own self-interests;
- Relationship to Urban Areas: With expanding urbanization, more of rural America, or rural Europe, finds itself within an easy drive of a metropolitan area but with certain advantages in land availability, costs, and lifestyle. This could enable an urban cluster to develop a rural satellite. Urban clusters also may extend their boundaries to include more distant firms;
- Lower Costs: have been used for decades to attract businesses to rural areas on the assumption that low-wage work is better than lower incomes and subsistence living, and clusters have formed around these labor markets.Wage growth has happened through entrepreneurship or through education and transition into higher skilled occupations and higher wage clusters.
- Increasing Social Responsibility: A set of business champions for triple bottom line goals may be able to influence clusters in ways that nonprofits and governments cannot.
Liabilities
Scale: It is more difficult to reach critical mass that attracts specialized services without significantly extending the cluster boundaries.
Outmigration of youth: Most rural places will have to concede the loss of large numbers of their brightest youth and concentrate on attracting them back as they begin to raise families. Rural communities also may need to find replacements among immigrants and dissatisfied urban dwellers.
External ownership of resources: The consequences of external or absentee ownership are well known in rural areas, visible in the obliterated mountaintops of West Virginia or the boarded-up manufacturing plants in South Carolina.
Distrust of newcomers: The same more stable and homogeneous nature of rural communities that creates gemeinschaft, also makes it more difficult for outsiders to be accepted;
Preoccupation with megapolitan regions: The rise of the knowledge economy has been accompanied by a shift in attention from the public sector to large urban areas, perceived to be the sources of innovation, at least when measured by patents per capita, and magnets for talent;
Political conservatism: Rural areas are more likely to be “red” and cities, “blue.” Political conservatism, even where populist, has a basic distrust of big government and regulations as well as big business;
Regional insularity: Poor regions and small companies all too often have limited access to these benchmark practices, innovations, and markets.Without wider access, companies are limited to learning only within their regional borders.
Investments that are Needed:
- Amenities: Communities are beginning to recognize that a historic and distinctive downtown is more important than a big box retailer to potential investors and residents;
- Education and Training: The need for additional education and training resources is greatest in places that have had a history of low educational attainment and with large immigrant populations;
- Cluster initiatives aimed a supporting the triple bottom line: Existing cluster-based services, where they exist, are quite traditional, focusing on technology, business, and training. Except in those instances where the cluster itself addresses the environment, there are few cluster initiatives that address either equity or environmental issues. In some places, it will be up to community- based organizations to fill the gap, but they’ll need support to encourage businesses to take risks associated with new approaches to achieve TBL outcomes;
- Technical and business assistance: Less populated areas are less likely to be served by the government or private services that depend on scale for their sustainability;
- Venture and working capital: The availability of both types depends on the presence of financial institutions that are specifically geared towards serving the needs of lower-wealth regions;
- Eco-services
- Opportunities to benchmark and partner: Rural communities need resources to overcome isolation barriers, to be able to observe benchmark companies and clusters, find new markets, hear about new ideas, observe how other place are addressing issues like the environment and social inclusion, and build working partnerships with other similar clusters.
Events
The Innovation Economy: Getting New Ideas, New Partners and New Growth for the Global Economy
Brussels, 2 June, 2009
This international policy dialogue will be held on June 2, 2009 in Brussels. Topics to be discussed include: high-growth entrepreneurship, university research, international R&D collaboration, the innovation agenda of the next European commission, open innovation, joint programming of research.
Madrid, Spain, 4-6 June, 2009
The European Urban Research Association (EURA) and the Urban Affairs Association (UAA) hold their second Joint Conference on City Futures in 2009. By building on the success of the first such conference, held in Chicago in 2004, the conference aims to focus sharply on international exchange. Urban scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have created a five-track structure for this forward-looking conference: Climate change, resource use and urban adaptation; Knowledge and technology in urban development; Community development, migration and integration in urban areas; Urban governance and city planning in an international era; Architecture and the design of the public realm.
Canada 3.0: Shape Canada’s Digital Future
Stratford, Ontario, 8-9 June, 2009
Join industry leaders, policy makers and researchers in the discussion about making Canada the place for digital media in the world! Canada 3.0 isn’t your typical forum. You will be an active part of the discussion – panel sessions with open mikes and roundtables where you share your experience, your passion and determine where we go next. Engage with your peers, industry experts, analysts and influencers from across the country and around the world.
Marketing and Mobilizing Your Technology
Ottawa, 17-18 June, 2009
Research findings resulting from Canada’s large investments in Science and Technology / Research and Development must translate into economic development, public policy and social programs. It is all about Turning research into action – enabling the Canadian economy to be competitive and productive and ensuring the quality of life of Canadians by creating a safe, healthy and secure environment that is energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. Join the thought leaders, network and connect with senior executives, practitioners and experts in the field to discuss and learn the latest in increasing the value of technology transfer practices and turning research results into action for your organization.
Glasgow, Scotland, 17-19 June, 2009
Triple Helix VII offers a multi-disciplinary forum for experts from universities, industry and government. The Conference is designed to attract leading authorities from across the world who will share their knowledge and experience, drawing a link between research, policy, and practice in sustainable development. The Conference will bring together policy-makers, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, and key representatives from business and industry. The theme for Triple Helix VII – “The role of Triple Helix in the Global Agenda of Innovation, Competitiveness and Sustainability” – reflects the interaction between academia, the private and the public sector.
Innovation, Strategy and Knowledge: 2009 DRUID Summer Conference
Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 June, 2009
The DRUID Summer Conference 2009 intends to map theoretical, empirical and methodological advances, further contribute with novel insights and stimulate civilized controversies in industrial dynamics. The conference will include targeted plenary debates where internationally merited scholars take stands on contemporary issues within the overall conference theme. This year’s conference will bring together researchers from around the world to exchange research results and to address open issues. The plenary program will include, among others, contributions from Juan Alcacer, William Barnet, Adam Brandenburger, Russell Coff, Wes Cohen, Massimo Colombo, Phil Cooke, Giovanni Dosi, Jan Fagerberg, Andrea Fosfuri, Tim Foxon, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Michael Jacobides, / /Rene Kemp, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Mike Lenox, Dan Levinthal, Will Mitchell, Paul Nightingale, Laszlo Poloz, Laura Poppo, Michael Ryall, Dan Snow, Bart Verspagen, Sidney Winter
Experience the Creative Economy
Toronto, 23-25 June, 2009
This is a unique conference which allows scholars new in their careers to experience notions of the creative economy in a small and focused setting. This conference will bring together up to 25 individuals with similar research interests to share their work, receive feedback, foster the development of effective research methods and to establish an ongoing framework of collaborative learning and mutual exchange for years to come.
TEKPOL: 3rd International Conference on Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Economics
Ankara, Turkey, 24-26 June, 2009
The main objective of this workshop is to bring together researchers and policy makers from new member states and candidate counties in order to discuss the following topics: links between innovation, R&D and economic performance; innovation and technology diffusion; knowledge management and learning in organizations; systemic nature of innovation (national, sectoral and local); science, technology and innovation policies; issues concerning developing countries and technological change; economic impact of new technologies.
Global Science and the Economics of Knowledge Sharing Institutions
Torino, Italy, 28-30 June, 2009
This conference – held within the context of the EU-funded project COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain – aims to bring together leading people from a number of international scientific research communities, social science researchers and science, technology and innovation policy analysts, to discuss the rationale, policy support and practical feasibility of arrangements designed to emulate key public domain conditions for collaborative research. Initiatives and policies have been proposed that go beyond “open access” to published research findings by aiming to facilitate more effective and extensive (global) sharing of not only data and information, but research facilities, tools, and materials. There is thus a need to examine a number of these proposals’ conceptual foundations from the economic and legal perspectives and to analyze the roles of the public domain and contractually constructed commons in facilitating sharing of scientific and technical data, information and materials. But it is equally important to examine the available evidence about actual experience with concrete organizational initiatives in different areas of scientific and technological research, and to devise appropriate, contextually relevant methods of assessing effectiveness and identifying likely unintended and dysfunctional outcomes.
12th Annual Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation – ICTPI09
Porto, Portugal, 13-14 July, 2009
The theme and motto of the 12th ICTPI Conference – Science, Technology and Knowledge Networks – long term growth strategies to face the financial crisis – will seek to challenge the participants in developing strategic responses to the crisis that integrate long-term concerns, by involving research and development, higher-education and science-based innovation.
Research and Entrepreneurship in the Knowledge-Based Economy
Milan, Italy, 7-8 September, 2009
Knowledge creation and management has been widely recognized as the main driving force for the economic growth of advanced economies. In the knowledge-based economy, learning, knowledge, research and human capital are key variables in the development of firms, sectors and countries. The increasing importance of the knowledge-based economy leads to a growing number of challenges for the actors involved: the need to integrate and coordinate research, a better definition of actions and the search for the right instruments to tackle the cognitive and management aspects of the processes and to evaluate outcomes and effects. Within this framework, the conference aims to create an opportunity for presentation of current research in the field and to open a space for debating on the impact of investments in research and human capital on firms, sectors and countries in the knowledge-based economy, and on the role for public policy. Keynote speakers include: Giovanni Dosi, Dominique Foray, Franco Malerba, Pascal Petit and Rehinilde Veuglers.
4th European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Antwerp, Belgium, 10-11 September, 2009
n the light of the European Lisbon goals, the importance of the conference topics cannot be underestimated. Entrepreneurship and innovation should be the driving force in the transition of the Western economies towards knowledge-intensive economies – a necessity to maintain our current living standards. Knowledge creation and dissemination to society are indispensable to advance into the next era. The conference welcomes academics, researchers and industrial delegates to join this innovative program.
Atlanta, 2-3 Oct, 2009
Science and innovation are aimed at change—new knowledge, new techniques, and fresh approaches to addressing the major challenges facing humanity. The 2009 Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation policy will focus on ways that science and innovation policies can shape the future by setting goals such as safety, economic security, improved health, and environmental quality and by designing programs to reach these goals.
Learning Clusters: 12th TCI Annual Global Conference
Jyvaskyla, Finland, 12-16 October, 2009
Can clusters be learning organizations? How can learning clusters promote competitiveness for businesses and the regional economy in times of constant change? What are the disciplines of successful and dynamic clusters in the knowledge economy and network society? The 12th TCI Annual Global Conference aims to raise awareness and stimulate discussion of these issues in order to inspire sustainable clustering actions and better futures in clusters, businesses and regions.
Stimulating Recovery: The Role of Innovation Management
New York, 6-9 December, 2009
Organised by ISPIM and hosted by The Fashion Institute of Technology this symposium will bring together academics, business leaders, consultants and other professionals involved in innovation management. The symposium format will include facilitated themed sessions for academic and practitioner presentations together with interactive workshops and discussion panels. Additionally, the symposium will provide excellent networking opportunities together with a taste of local New York culture.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.