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
Civic Engagement and Economic Development in Canadian Cities
Toronto, April 27, 2011
This one-day conference presented by the RBC Chair in Public and Economic Policy and the RBC Chair in Applied Social Work at the University of Toronto addresses civic engagement and economic development in Canadian cities. President and CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada, Gord Nixon is the keynote speaker and will reflect on the theme of civic leadership. Other speakers include Doug Henton, Chairman and CEO of Collaborative Economics Inc. speaking on regional stewards and economic innovation. Neil Bradford, Associate Professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario will address the social dynamics of economic governance in Canadian city-regions. Caroline Andrew, Professor at the School of Political Studies and Director of the Centre for Governance at the University of Ottawa will address civic governance and social inclusion in Ottawa. Finally, David Wolfe, Professor of political science and RBC Chair in Public and Economic Policy at the University of Toronto will speak about civic engagement and leadership in Toronto’s future. Registration.
Ontario-China Research and Innovation Fund Created
The Ontario Government and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), People’s Republic of China, have signed an agreement on Research and Innovation Cooperation – creating an alliance to support science and technology research and commercialization ventures. In 2011, Ontario and China will each invest $1 million to provide $2 million in overall funding for innovative bilateral projects.
New R&D Dashboard Tracks Federal Science Agency Investments
A new prototype website allows users to track R&D grants and awards from federal agencies. The current version provides publicly reported federal agency data from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health from 2001 to 2010. It also provides output data on patents, patent application and publication. Future updates will integrate the site with all federal agency databases and additional output data.
25 Member States Proceed with a Common System for Registering European Patents
Ministers from 25 member states have decided to go ahead with plans to introduce a common system for registering patents that would save European businesses millions of euros each year. Meanwhile, Italy and Spain are still refusing to join in, and difficult legal issues remain unresolved. These two countries have chosen to exclude themselves from the process, because they refuse to accept the proposed rules regarding the choice of official language.
First Technology Innovation Centre Announced
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable announced details of the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) for High Value Manufacturing yesterday afternoon, during a visit to Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. Over a decade, the TICs are expected to generate about £2bn of additional manufacturing R&D and create 3,000 new engineering jobs across the seven institutions that make up the TIC consortium. The consortium is formed by the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the Nuclear AMRC, the Advanced Forming Research Centre in Glasgow, the Centre for Process Innovation in Teesside, the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry, the National Composites Centre in Bristol and the Warwick Manufacturing Group. These are already recognized as centres of excellence in a wide range of manufacturing processes, from machining to intelligent automation.
Editor's Pick
Investing in Better Places: International Perspectives
Edited by Sharon Chisholm
This report – by leading urban policy experts and practitioners from the UK, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands – concludes that lace making is critical to improving the well being and competiveness of cities and city regions and is even more important during a period of fiscal austerity. Typically discussions of urban economic development policies focus on what cities can do to improve the quality and variety of human capital within places, and the capacity of firms to innovate, and indeed imitate, effectively. Across the OECD countries, however, the past decade has seen a growing recognition of how locally fixed systems such as planning, land markets, housing and infrastructure provision can influence growth and development. This volume, unusually, touches upon using infrastructure investment to shape better places. In Ch. 2, Neil Bradford highlights innovation in policy thought and governing practices across OECD countries and brings Canada into the international conversation.
Innovation Policy
Jobs and Amenities: Modeling Talent Mobility and Regional Satisfaction
Brian Hracs and Kevin Stolarick, Martin Prosperity Institute
While it is generally agreed upon that talent is a key driver of economic growth, there is a fierce debate surrounding the optimal set of factors that help to attract and retain individuals with high levels of human capital (‘talent’) and mobility. One camp argues that good quality jobs must be present before talent will migrate while another camp argues that talented individuals are attracted to locations that offer a rich mix of amenities such as theatre, musical venues, restaurants, and other opportunities for recreation. In reality, however, the nature of work and what constitutes a ‘job’ is changing and preferences for work are differentiated by occupation, gender, ethnicity, life cycle, and past experience. As a result, understanding the conditions that attract and ultimately retain talent requires a multi-stage analysis. To move beyond the aforementioned jobs vs. amenities binary this report develops a conceptual model that includes different stages and allows for the expectations and preferences of individuals to evolve over time while taking into account the draw of both jobs and amenities.
Skills for Innovation and Research
OECD
Innovation holds the key to ongoing improvements in living standards, as well as to solving pressing social challenges. Skilled people play a crucial role in innovation through the new knowledge they generate, how they adopt and develop existing ideas, and through their ability to learn new competencies and adapt to a changing environment. This book seeks to increase understanding of the links between skills and innovation. It explores the wide range of skills required, ranging from technical to “soft”, and the ability to learn; it presents data and evidence on countries’ stocks and flows of skills and the links between skill inputs and innovation outputs. Given the importance of meeting the demands of knowledge-based economic activity, the book investigates the issues of skill supply, education, workplace training and work organization. It highlights the importance of enabling individuals to acquire appropriate skills and of optimizing these at work.
Better Policies to Support Eco-Innovation
OECD
Eco-innovation is more important than ever on the public policy agenda. It is a major driver for green growth and contributes to the environmental performance and economic development of OECD and developing countries alike. This report takes a pragmatic approach to policies that support the development and diffusion of eco-innovation. Building on the OECD Innovation Strategy, it argues that eco-innovation is not merely about technological developments: non-technical innovations matter as well. It acknowledges that policies do not operate in a vacuum and that they must take account of the contexts that influence the development and diffusion of eco-innovation, such as market structures. It explores links between eco-innovation policies and related fields such as industry, competition, and international cooperation. This work builds on an OECD inventory of eco-innovation policies in OECD countries and in China. It also draws on studies of select environment-friendly innovations, highlighting different patterns of development across countries. It also incorporates extensive international consultation on the topics of eco-innovation and green growth.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Toronto as a Global City: Scorecard on Prosperity 2011
Toronto Board of Trade
The Board proudly launched our third edition of Scorecard On Prosperity 2011. This scorecard benchmarks the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) against 23 other metropolitan areas around the world, on issues related to the economy and labour attractiveness. What emerges from this year’s study is a clearer sense of the direction the region must take to position itself for long-term, sustainable, economic growth. In short, it needs a coordinated strategy that leverages its economic strengths and potential.
Scorecard on Prosperity Responses and Press:
Discussion: What’s Holding Canadian Cities Back?
The Globe and Mail
Over the next week, the Globe will be examining some of our cities’ key challenges in competing with other world cities. Recently, the newspaper’s urban affairs reporter Siri Agrell and Carol Wilding, president and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade, participated in a live discussion with readers, tackling the question: What’s holding Canadian cities back?
Needed: National Urban Strategy
Carol Wilding and Merv Hillier, The Globe and Mail
Canada’s economic future depends on the strength of its cities. And in today’s global economy, it’s cities – not countries – that are competing for talent and investment on a global stage. Companies are increasingly choosing between Toronto and Boston, rather than between Canada and the United States. This article argues that Canada has to do better and requires and national urban strategy to remain competitive.
Why Canada is Late to the Tech Party
Siri Agrell, Dave Ebner, Nathan Vanderklippe, and Les Perreaux, The Globe and Mail
This spring, rolls of high-speed fibre optic broadband cable will be snaked beneath Toronto’s waterfront, wiring the area with Internet capability usually made available only to the world’s most advanced research institutions. It is part of an effort to entice a new breed of tech-focused companies to the city’s waterfront, and one of a variety of measures Canadian cities are taking, from tax breaks to venture capital experiments, to build economies based on innovation and ideas. This article shows that Canadian cities lag relative to their international competitors.
Q&A: Toronto’s Faltering Prosperity Report Card
Natalie Alcoba, National Post
Toronto slipped four spots to eighth in the Toronto Board of Trade’s annual report card that measures prosperity among 24 leading cities around the world. While still boasting high marks among indicators that make Toronto a desirable place to live, the region is marked by a “mediocre economic performance” and “crippling congestion.” In an effort to learn something from our neighbours, the scorecard took a closer look at Boston, a city comparable in size in Toronto that continues to excel. The Post’s Natalie Alcoba chatted with Board of Trade president Carol Wilding about some of the findings.
Statistics & Indicators
State Higher Education Finance FY2010
State Higher Education Executive Officers
This latest study finds that state and local per student spending fell to its lowest point in 25 years last year. Rising enrollment and stagnant appropriations contributed to the decrease in per student spending. Between 2008 and 2010, state appropriations for higher education remained level, mostly due to federal stimulus funding directed to colleges. An enrollment increase of six percent from 2009, however, lead to a seven percent drop in per student spending in 2010.
Policy Digest
Innovation Next: Leading Canada to Greater Productivity, Competitiveness and Resilience
Public Policy Forum
To help address the innovation challenge, the Public Policy Forum engaged hundreds of leaders across Canada. Seeking to better understand and address the issues, the Forum convened leaders in all parts of Canada to seek the collective wisdom of those involved in innovation. These leaders – from public, private, academic and not-for-profit organizations – all contributed to the key points contained in this report.
An emerging consensus
A strong consensus emerged from the event. With a sense of urgency, Canada needed to aim for gold, to invest in people, to better connect internationally, and to publicly communicate the importance of innovation. Above all, to advance Canada’s efforts to foster innovation, participants emphasized that leadership in each sector and collaboration across all sectors are essential. At the conclusion of the discussion, several important questions remained, notably:
• How can the broader community of innovators build a stronger culture of collaboration between and within sectors?
• What must we do to encourage more commitment to innovation, especially R&D, in the private sector?
The role of leaders
It’s clear Canada has the opportunity to advance as an innovation nation. This will require leadership from all sectors, each of which has an important role to play. Specifically, the Public Policy Forum has concluded that the following leadership initiatives can and must be launched now:
All leaders acknowledge the broader reality of innovation; it is as much a social phenomenon as it is economic, requiring investment in, attention to and opportunity for people in all sectors who have a passion for putting novel ideas to use.
Private sector leaders develop clear sector-specific innovation strategies, with a particular emphasis in areas where Canada’s economy is established and developing, including: natural resources, life sciences and information and communication
technologies.
The academic community commits to more open collaboration with all sectors on a range of issues, from discovery to commercialization to the development of the skilled personnel needed to build and sustain Canada’s leadership in key sectors.
Governments at all levels ensure that support of small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship are the cornerstone of all innovation policy.
Major recommendations
These significant leadership actions are necessary to support our four major recommendations:
1. Convene a first ministers’ conference within the next 12 months with the goal of agreeing on an innovation policy framework for Canada;
2. Create a national productivity and innovation council to benchmark Canadian enterprises to best practices among competitor countries on a sector-by-sector basis;
3. Nurture and develop the next generation of Canadian innovators by providing more entrepreneurial learning and growth opportunities for K-12 students;
4. Establish and aggressively promote a series of major Canadian awards – the equivalent of the Nobel Prizes for innovators – recognizing achiements in innovation globally.
Acting boldly upon these recommendations will help develop a deeper culture and better practice of innovation in Canada. The result will be the clear articulation of a Canadian innovation brand, bolstering stronger communities, a more productive economy and sustained prosperity for Canadians.
Events
Regional Development and Policy – Challenges, Choices and Recipients
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 17-20 April, 2011
The challenges for regional development are intensifying. Long-term factors shaping the prospects for cities and regions include the effects of climate change and new demands on energy, water and food systems. Cities also face significant demographic shifts. Rapid technological changes – captured in the notion of an emerging Knowledge Economy – will also affect cities and regions. Moreover, we are witnessing significant changes in international political economy – encapsulated by the term globalization – but increasingly understood as incorporating the rise of new economic powers, such as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and, above all, China). The immediate context for thinking about these questions in many parts of the world is the aftermath of a severe economic crisis and a new politics of austerity. Local, regional, national and international actors continue to search for new policy solutions at a time when traditional forms of governance are being tested and new forms of regional politics are emerging. In many parts of the world regional disparities are growing as more economic activity becomes concentrated in global city regions, posing questions about the future of cities and regions beyond the metropolis. In these austere times, some voices question the need for regional policy itself and public policy debates increasingly focus on these dilemmas.
Civic Engagement and Economic Development in Canadian Cities 
Toronto, April 27, 2011
This one-day conference presented by the RBC Chair in Public and Economic Policy and the RBC Chair in Applied Social Work at the University of Toronto addresses civic engagement and economic development in Canadian cities. President and CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada, Gord Nixon is the keynote speaker and will reflect on the theme of civic leadership. Other speakers include Doug Henton, Chairman and CEO of Collaborative Economics Inc. speaking on regional stewards and economic innovation. Neil Bradford, Associate Professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario will address the social dynamics of economic governance in Canadian city-regions. Caroline Andrew, Professor at the School of Political Studies and Director of the Centre for Governance at the University of Ottawa will address civic governance and social inclusion in Ottawa. Finally, David Wolfe, Professor of political science and RBC Chair in Public and Economic Policy at the University of Toronto will speak about civic engagement and leadership in Toronto’s future. Registration.
Congestion Rising – Understanding the Consequences of the New Geography of Office Employment
Toronto, 29 April, 2011
The Toronto region has enjoyed unprecedented employment growth throughout the first decade of the 21st Century that has seen the creation of 32 million square feet of new office – most of which is located in the 905. A combination of disruptive differentials in tax rates between 416 and 905, stark differences across the region in terms of land use policy, and decades of under-investment in public transit have created a new geography of office location. The cumulative result of these trends is growing congestion on the region’s highways, an issue that is already resonating among corporate decision-makers. There is a growing concern that current plans to invest in higher order transit are unlikely to make a significant dent in this problem – more than 50% (100 million sq ft) of the region’s office space is beyond the reach of higher order transit – and will stay that way even after new transit has been built. What can be done to support the continued strength of the financial services sector, slow employment sprawl, make suburban office clusters more inviting and pedestrian-friendly? Is the future competitiveness of the GTA office market at risk, and if so, what can be done and who should take responsibility for tackling the problem?
Public Administration, Technology and Innovation
Tallinn, Estonia, 6-7 May, 2011
Technological developments of the last decades have brought the co-evolutionary linkages between technology and public sector institutions into the center of both economics and public administration research. Technologies can, arguably, make public administration more effective, efficient, transparent and more accountable; but they can also cause problems with privacy, sustainability, legality, and equality, to name just a few examples. Recent public sector austerity measures (and attempts at lean government in general) may thwart socio-political efforts to foster technological innovation; but they can at the same time lead to greater willingness of governments to adopt new technologies and management principles based, directly or indirectly, on technological innovations. The challenge to public administration research is not only to trace and understand these linkages, but to find working solutions to these apparent trade-offs, and even to investigate the nature and permutations of the techno-administrative interface generally. We are inviting papers dealing with theoretical or empirical topics looking at either side of the co-evolution perspective of technological and institutional development; the role of public administration in technological progress and innovation; and the role of technology and innovation in the trajectories of public administration.
Open Spaces for Changing Science and Society – New England Workshop on Science and Social Change
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.
Ontario Centres of Excellence: Discovery 11
Toronto, 18-19 May, 2011
Discovery is Canada’s leading innovation-to-commercialization conference. Hosted by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), Discovery brings together key players from industry, academia, government, the investment community as well as entrepreneurs and students to pursue collaboration opportunities. Garnering close to 2,500 attendees and more than 325 exhibitors, Discovery is a showcase of leading-edge technologies, best practices and research from sectors such as health, manufacturing, digital media and cleantech, including energy, environment and water. Renowned keynote speakers and panels ignite discussion, knowledge-sharing and new perspectives. Networking opportunities feature key influencers from government, academia, industry and leading sectors. Discovery facilitates the exchange of ideas and encourages new ways to collaborate and push the boundaries of research and innovation through to demonstration and development. Creating a strong innovation economy is key to Ontario’s futur
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.
CALL FOR PAPERS – Regional Studies Association – Third Global Conference on Economic Geography
Seoul, Korea, 28 June – July 2, 2011
In the wake of the economic downturn of 2007-, the debate about the causes of the crisis and recession has focused upon the unbalanced nature of its economic models and geographies. Explanations have been concerned with the imbalances in international trade and currency flows, sectoral structures between especially financial and other services and manufacturing, the relative sizes and roles of the public and private sectors, the composition of demand between consumption and production as well as its domestic or external orientation, and its socially and spatially uneven geographies. Following this diagnosis of the problems, debate about recovery has focused upon the idea of ‘rebalancing’ as a means of rebuilding new economic models that somehow correct the problematic and disruptive imbalances that generated the crisis. ‘Rebalancing’ has become an international concern for high-income economies such as Australia, UK and Japan, middle-income economies such as Portugal and South Korea as well as emerging economies such as Brazil and China. Yet it is not clear what ‘rebalancing’ might mean, whether and how it can be achieved and how it relates to currently dominant ‘new economic geographical’ models promoting greater spatial agglomeration and concentration of economic activities. These sessions will engage this debate on rebalancing regional and national economies.
CALL FOR PAPERS – 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.
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.
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.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.