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
Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program: Addressing the Innovation Pre-Commercialization Gap
In the later stages of research and development, businesses face a challenge: How to move their innovations out of the laboratory and into the market. This transition, known as the pre-commercialization gap, can be particularly difficult for SMEs. To help innovative small businesses respond to this challenge, the Government of Canada has initiated the Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP). The program will award contracts to test pre-commercialized business innovations. The program will benefit innovators by providing them with an opportunity to sell pre-commercialized products and services to the Government of Canada through an open, transparent, competitive and fair procurement process. SMEs will have a chance to showcase their innovations to federal departments. Departments, in turn, will provide feedback on a product or service’s use in an operational setting. This will enable innovative SMEs to enter the marketplace with successfully tested products and services. The CICP, in demonstrating that there are options for pre-commercialization testing, will help encourage private sector investment in research and development in Canada.
anada’s Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) today announced it is launching DAIR – Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research, a research and development environment where Canadian firms can develop, test and demonstrate innovative information and communications technology (ICT) products, services and protocols. CANARIE’s DAIR Program will help small- and medium-sized ICT companies create new, complex, large-scale products, and demonstrate them to customers, without building a costly R & D infrastructure themselves. ICT researchers investigating next-generation Internet technologies will also benefit.
Biotech Partnership Forged with North Carolina
Agricultural technology insiders in Guelph have begun what they hope is a lasting and economically beneficial relationship with counterparts in the state of North Carolina. For the past 30 or so years, the southern state’s biotech sector has grown to become America’s third largest behind California and Massachusetts. The Guelph area is a leading centre for biotechnology in Canada, and the sector here shares much in common with the one in North Carolina. Gord Surgeoner is president of Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, a non-profit organization dedicated to utilizing technology to generate wealth and sustainability for the agricultural and food industries of Ontario. He said North Carolinian biotech insiders have reached out to local companies and experts in an effort to forge opportunities that are “a benefit to both parties.”
Canadian Universities Join the Start-Up Game
Canadian universities have launched a variety of support programs and incubators that are attempting to push the traditional concept of technology transfer and commercialization. The University of McMaster is launching two entrepreneurial programs that offer students outside the engineering faculty a chance to build a company. Other schools are using similar ideas. Ryerson University launched its Digital Media Zone, an incubation center for non-students, in April. The University of Waterloo’s VeloCity is a campus residence that acts like a boot camp and has expanded its programs into the summer. The OCAD University in Toronto recently opened the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, an incubator that will house four start-ups for a period of six months.
Editor's Pick
Creative Clusters and Innovation Report
NESTA
No one doubts the economic importance of the creative industries to the UK. At 6.2 per cent of the economy, and growing at twice the rate of other sectors, they are proportionately the largest of any in the world. But there is some evidence that the UK’s creative industries support innovation and growth in other parts of the economy too. The significance of these spillovers has only recently begun to be examined rigorously. And we know next to nothing about their geographical dimensions.This gap in our understanding is addressed in this new report, the outcome of a two-year collaboration with Birmingham and Cardiff Universities. The study adopts the concept of creative clusters as a starting point to examine the role that creative industries play in local and regional innovation systems. Its publication accompanies an online platform we have developed for users to examine creative industry concentrations at a fine level of detail in their localities.
Innovation Policy
Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy
Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)
This report argues that the U.S. must be at the forefront of energy technology to increase economic competiveness, protect the environment and improve national security. It outlines several recommendations that could position the U.S. at the forefront of energy innovation over the next decade. The administration should establish a national Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) process to coordinate federal agencies, the executive branch and congress. The QER would be developed not only by government entities, but also include representatives from industry, business, state and local governments, non-government organizations and the public. The report also recommends that federal investments in energy research, development, demonstration and deployment (RDD&D) increase to $16 billion per year. Due to the current economic climate, PCAST recommends an alternative funding approach to achieve the increase in RDD&D funding. Congress and the private sector should work to develop new revenue streams to fund $10 billion of the recommended increase. The U.S. should also focus on realigning current energy subsidies and incentives to advance energy innovation through U.S. government purchasing power and leveraging international collaborations.
Robert Atkinson and Merrilea Mayo, ITIF
Is the United States getting it wrong when it comes to educating tomorrow’s innovators in critical fields? We have known for years that the only way to compete globally in information technology, engineering, nanotechnology, robotics and other fields is to give American students the best educational opportunities possible. But does the US have a successful formula when it comes to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education? In this provocative new report the author’s challenge the US approach to STEM education and argue that reforms are urgently needed to better match the talents of students, the needs of employers, and its goals as a nation.
Public R&D Subsidies and Productivity: Evidence from Firm-Level Data in Quebec
Rufin Baghama, UNU-MERIT
This paper analyses empirically the impacts of public R&D grants on private R&D investments and on the productivity growth of the manufacturing firms in a context where fiscal incentives are present. Using n longitudinal data from Quebec they show that firms that use public grants for R&D in conjunction with tax credits for R&D perform better in terms of R&D input additionality than firms that use only tax credits for R&D. They then use a production function to assess the effectiveness of public R&D grants in the productivity growth of firms. The paper finds that for each additional dollar of public R&D grant, output increases by 0.134 dollars. It concludes that the additional return of direct subsidies is positive but lower than the return on the R&D financed by own funds or R&D tax credits
Creative Destruction: Placing Innovation at the Heart of Progressive Economics
Adam Lent and Matthew Lockwood, IPPR
The uniqueness of capitalism resides in its ability to turn the vast capacity of humans to innovate into massive wealth. Progressives are in a good position to recognize that capitalist innovation is a double-edged sword that offers the opportunity to address inequality and poverty by raising productivity and living standards but will also bring about obsolescence and so incur great human costs. The challenge facing progressives is to reduce the human impact of the ‘creative destruction’ process, without losing its benefits. This pamphlet, the first output of IPPR’s New Era Economics programme, argues that in light of new economic thinking and the mistakes of the past, contemporary economic policy needs to be centred on three core principles: it must be innovation-centred, pragmatic and aware.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
OECD
As the hubs of economic activity, cities drive the vast majority of the world’s energy use and are major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. Because they are home to major infrastructure and highly concentrated populations, cities are also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels, warmer temperatures and fiercer storms. At the same time, better urban planning and policies can reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and improve the resilience of urban infrastructure to climate change, thus shaping future trends. This book shows how city and metropolitan regional governments working in tandem with national governments can change the way we think about responding to climate change. The chapters analyze: trends in urbanization, economic growth, energy use and climate change; the economic benefits of climate action; the role of urban policies in reducing energy demand, improving resilience to climate change and complementing global climate policies; frameworks for multilevel governance of climate change including engagement with relevant stakeholders; and the contribution of cities to “green growth”, including the “greening” of fiscal policies, innovation and jobs. The book also explores policy tools and best practices from both OECD and some non-member countries. This book reveals the importance of addressing climate change across all levels of government. Local involvement through “climate-conscious” urban planning and management can help achieve national climate goals and minimise tradeoffs between environmental and economic priorities at local levels. The book will be relevant to policy makers, researchers, and others with an interest in learning more about urbanisation and climate change policy.
BAKBASEL
The overall OPENCities project, initiated by the British Council, aims to identify the links between migration and cities’ competitiveness, with particular emphasis on internationalization and population strategies that will pose migration as a competitive advantage for cities and, indirectly, help integration and cohesion agendas. The OPENCities Monitor allows cities to evaluate their openness and to compare themselves with other cities (city groups). The OPENCities Monitor offers practical examples and projects implemented in other cities and policy recommendations. The OPENCities Monitor includes 53 internationally comparable indicators aggregated into 11 areas for a currently 26 cities. The data has been collected in 2010 from the most up-to-date available sources.
Statistics & Indicators
UK Innovation Survey 2009: Science and Innovation Analysis
BIS
This report presents some results from the UK Innovation Survey 2009 (UK IS 2009) and aims to be a useful reference for policy and research purposes providing some insights into the innovation process including: the factors that determine why firms innovate and how they innovate; the information sources and partners they use; the methods they use to protect their innovations; and the barriers they come across.
Policy Digest
Global Metro Summit 2010: Delivering the Next Economy
The Brookings Institution
This Summit is the culmination of years of research devoted to uncovering the true potential of cities and metropolitan areas across the globe. It comes at an important moment in time as we continue to reel from the global economic crisis with the economies of entire nation states in transition and political leadership in turmoil. Yet, in the midst of this crisis a growing number of leaders are
rising above the pessimism to reinvent their metropolitan economies while challenging the policies that undermine the value of cities and metros. The Global Summit was designed to give cities and metros from different regions of the world, and in different stages of recovery, a place to share insights on their efforts to economically transform themselves during tumultuous times.
The London School of Economics explored how cities and metros that intentionally re-made themselves in the past have influenced their performance in the present. LSE conducted fine-grained research of four cities (Barcelona, Munich, Seoul, and Torino) that dedicated the last 15 to 20 years to transforming their economic base to meet changing global forces. This research has deciphered what it takes to get there: making the necessary commitment of time by staying the course, aligning national and state priorities and resources to local strategies, and establishing new intellectual and physical networks.
A joint effort between LSE, Brookings, and Deutsche Bank Research investigated how cities are faring in the present to offer new insights into the future. The partnership conducted new research that carefully analyzed and dissected thousands of pieces of data to understand the performance of 150 cities and metros in today’s global economy. Our findings confirm that the worldwide downturn and nascent recovery are shifting the metro map of economic growth away from European and U.S. cities toward cities in Asia and Latin America.
Lastly, the Brookings Metro Program focused on the future by suggesting how to deliver the next economy through metropolitan areas. The Metro Program has developed a national vision for the “next” American economy: driven by exports, powered by low carbon, fueled by innovation, rich with opportunity, and led by metropolitan areas. To stimulate transformative bottom-up approaches to this vision, Brookings worked in partnership with three U.S. regions (Cleveland-Northeast Ohio, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and theSeattle-Puget Sound area) to apply private sector “business planning” to these regional economies. The result is market driven analysis and catalytic strategies to position these metros for federal, state, and philanthropic investments and partnership.
The notion that it is no longer a world of nation-states but a network of cities, metropolitan areas, and regions— communicating, networking, advancing—is understood by a growing number of political, philanthropic, business, and academic leaders. Now is the time for leaders to re-think their individual agendas and invest in these areas in an effort to support and sustain economic recovery at the global scale.
Events
Managing the Art of Innovation: Turning Concepts into Reality
Quebec City, 12-15 December, 2010
Organized by ISPIM in collaboration with local partner INO, a leading non-profit R&D center in Optics/Photonics in Canada, 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 French Canadian culture.
2011 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference 
Atlanta, 4-7 January, 2011
This premier National Science Foundation (NSF) conference, sponsored by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), focuses on research and education across the Division’s programs. With an anticipated international attendance of 1,300 people from academe, industry, and government, the program for the January 2011 conference will be centered on the theme Engineering for Sustainability and Prosperity, and will emphasize the role civil, mechanical, industrial, and manufacturing engineers will be required to play in addressing the world’s growing challenges of using energy and natural resources in a sustainable manner.
Cities in the U.S. and Around the World: Getting Finances Right
Toronto, 6 January, 2011
This lecture will focus on the fiscal health of big cities. Professor Howard Chernick (Economics, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY) will discuss the mix of revenue sources, including taxes on business and commuters, the role of states (and provinces), and stability through the business cycle. While focused on the U.S., he will also use examples from Canada, Sweden, France, and India.
DRUID/DIME Academy Winter Conference
Aalborg, Denmark, 20-22 January, 2011
The conference is open for all PhD students working within the broad field of economics and management of innovation and organizational change. 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 always of interest (we of course encourage DRUID Academy PhD students and students connected to the ETIC PhD program to submit an abstract as well). Do not hesitate to apply even if you have not been in contact with DRUID previously.
CALL FOR PAPERS – Workshop on the Organization, Economics and Policy of Scientific Research
Torino, Italy, 18-19 February, 2011
Following the success of the three previous workshops held in Torino under the auspices of LEI & BRICK (University of Torino – Collegio Carlo Alberto) with the support of the DIME network of excellence, we are organising a new workshop in collaboration with the COST Action on “Science and Technology Research in a Knowledge-based Economy – STRIKE”. The aim of the workshop is to bring together a small group of scholars interested in the analysis of the production and diffusion of scientific research from an economics, historical, organizational and policy perspective.
CALL FOR PAPERS – What Future for Cohesion Policy? An Academic and Policy Debate
Sava Hoteli Bled, Slovenia, 16-18 March, 2011
This conference, co-organized by DG Regio (European Commission, the Regional Studies Association adn the Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy, Slovenia will involve a number of invited plenary presentations, and workshop or other small group discussions.
Woods Hole, MA, 15-18 May, 2011
Applications are sought from teachers and researchers who are interested in moving beyond their current disciplinary and academic boundaries to explore concepts and practices that help us work in the arena bordered on one side by critical interpretation of the directions taken by scientific and technological research and application and on the other side by organizing social movements so as to influence those directions. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to submit a manuscript or sketch related to the workshop topic that would be read by others before the workshop and be subject to focused discussion during the workshop. There is also room for participants to develop–either before or during the workshop–activities or interactive presentations to engage the other participants.
ICIM 2011: International Conference on Innovation and Management
Tokyo, Japan, 25-27 May, 2011
The International Conference on Innovation and Management aims to bring together academic scientists, leading engineers, industry researchers and scholar students to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Innovation and Management, and discuss the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.
Copenhagen, Denmark, 15-17 June, 2011
DRUID 2011 intends to map theoretical, empirical and methodological advances, contribute with novel insights and stimulate a lively debate about how technologies, economic systems and organizations evolve and co-evolve. The conference will include targeted plenary debates where internationally merited scholars take stands on contemporary issues within the overall conference theme.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.