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
MaRS announces JOLT: New Technology Accelorator
MaRS recently announced the creation of JOLT, a new technology accelerator dedicated to building high-growth web and mobile companies that promise to transform the way consumers and enterprises connect, work and play. Housed in the MaRS Commons, JOLT will select up to 15 high-potential startups annually, providing them with space, seed financing and mentorship, as well as access to partners and some of the top angel and venture capital investors in the industry. The goal of the program is to accelerate market validation and, in turn, help these companies secure the capital and talent necessary to scale efficiently. To help support and guide startups to market entry, JOLT has attracted more than 70 experienced entrepreneurs and executives from many of Canada’s leading startups, and venture capital, technology and entertainment companies, including: Polar Mobile, Spark59, Virgin Gaming, Google, Zynga, Kobo, and more.
Toronto’s Ryerson Digital Media Zone Expands to 32 Startups
Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone, located in the heart of Toronto at Yonge and Dundas Square, is now incubating 32 startups and has had 41 occupy space in the zone in just two years. They will also launch internationally in May by offering fellowships to young entrepreneurs from India. As well, the Zone has expanded to over 16,000 square feet—tripling in size since it first opened. Much of the latest focus has been on social and mobile media middleware; useful tools to navigate through increasingly complex and cluttered social and mobile worlds.
Connecticut Innovations Launces Technology Talent Bridge Program
Connecticut Innovations (CI), the state’s quasi-public authority responsible for technology-based innovation and economic development, today announced that it has launched the Technology Talent Bridge Program, a technology workforce development initiative. The program’s mission is to provide experiential learning activities for Connecticut university and college students (bachelor degree candidates and above) through mentored internships at small, technology-based businesses in the state. Under this program, eligible companies must engage a student or team of students to work on a project involving a technological challenge or problem that can be solved within three to nine months. The first internships are expected to begin in the summer/fall of 2012 and continue into the fall/winter months.
Editor's Pick
Stimulating Innovation: Is Canada Pursuing the Right Policies?
Marcel Cote and Roger Miller
Based on a global survey of over 800 innovative firms, a new framework has been developed by the authors to understand innovation. Using the perspective of the innovators to explain the diversity of the strategies behind business innovation, they identified six broad patterns called games of innovation around which innovations are structured. The article points out that this framework raises significant issues about the effectiveness of current Canadian innovation policies. In light of the productivity challenges that Canada faces, which appear to be largely related to innovation, the framework also provides useful insights into future directions for public policies.
Innovation Policy
The Future of Manufacturing: Opportunities to Drive Economic Growth
World Economic Forum Report
This report singles out talented human capital as the most critical resource differentiating the prosperity of countries and companies in the manufacturing sector. Even as unemployment remains high across the globe, about 10 million jobs cannot be filled because of a growing skills gap. Experts say the problem is likely to worsen as more skilled workers retire. The report highlights key trends that will define manufacturing competition over the next 20 years.So what is being done and what can be done to remedy the talent shortage? The authors points to recent efforts in China and India to reduce brain drain and develop local talent. China implemented a series of incentives such as granting special privileges to graduates from foreign universities, offering special promotions to high-salaried positions, and facilitating visa documents for domestic and international travel. In India, the government has engaged private industry and mobilized a new organization called the National Skill Development Corporation to identify and fund vocational education businesses. Efforts in other nations, including the U.S., include collaboration among corporations, academia and private organizations such as customized education and training in high-schools and community colleges. Some of the other key differentiators identified in the report include the ability to innovate, increased competition between nations to attract foreign direct investment, growing materials resource competition, and the infrastructure to enable manufacturing to flourish.
Tantalus Unbound: Government Policy and Innovation in Canada
Jeffrey G. MacIntosh, SPP University of Calgary
The future of the western industrialized economies, including Canada, depends on healthy and innovative high-tech sectors. In 2010, this realization spurred the Canadian government to commission a blue-ribbon panel charged with assessing the state of programs designed to support business and commercially oriented research and development. The resultant Jenkins Report contains many useful recommendations aimed at consolidating disparate offerings, measuring existing initiatives’ performance and fostering federal-provincial cooperation to improve programs’ impact on the tech sector. However, the Report erred in overlooking the squandering of government resources on tax subsidies to investors in Labour-Sponsored Venture Capital Corporations (LSVCCs) — union-sponsored specialized mutual funds meant to promote the development of high-growth small and mediums-sized businesses — which are far outperformed by the private sector and often waste capital better used elsewhere. It is also unduly harsh on the federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit, which is critical to the early-stage start-ups that give rise to high-tech giants.This paper assess the Jenkins Report’s recommendations and offering alternatives, this paper serves as a much-needed corrective, offering policy makers clear guidance in securing Canada’s economic future.
Orienting International Science Cooperation to Meet Global “Grand Challenges”
Michael Keenan et al., Science and Public Policy
Over the coming decades, science will play a key role in society’s response to emerging global ‘grand challenges’. The agenda-setting, coordination and conduct of science, and the ways in which scientific knowledge is diffused and used, are therefore critical. Increasingly, such issues need to be framed at a global level, reflecting both the international nature of science itself and the scale of the challenges it seeks to address. Longer-term perspectives must also be incorporated to reflect the time horizons of key global challenges and the uncertainties involved in future global governance regimes. Foresight offers a means to explore these dimensions of science. The International Council for Science (ICSU) has been applying foresight as a central component of its strategic planning. This paper describes the most recent ICSU exercise, which has explored how over two decades international collaboration in science could foster progress in science and address global challenges.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Urban America: U.S. Cities in the Global Economy
McKinsey Global Institute
The overwhelming role that cities play as home to the vast majority of Americans but also as a dominant driver of US and global economic growth argues for a keen focus on their prospects. MGI sheds new light on the role cities play in the US economy and gauges how large they loom in the urban world overall. Other highlights of the research include The United States has a broader base of large cities than any other region, and that explains their greater economic clout; Of the 600 cities that MGI expects will account for 60 percent of global GDP growth by 2025, nearly 1 in 7 is in the United States; Today, the metropolitan areas of New York and Los Angeles are the world’s second and sixth largest, respectively, by GDP; A considerable swath of middleweight cities enjoy relatively high incomes that help explain the great overall importance of cities in the US economy. The country has just over 255 middleweight cities, and the top 28 cities, after New York and Los Angeles, contribute more than 35 percent of US GDP. Still, US cities face turbulent times ahead as the economy strives to recover from deep recession. Policy makers must also confront the dampening impact of deleveraging on economic activity, cope with persistently high pockets of unemployment, and manage an aging population over time. Business and government leaders need to find ways through these difficulties if cities are to play their part in the US economy’s growth and renewal. In the past, diverse US cities found many different ways to expand and become more prosperous. Although there is no single recipe for success, starting from a robust platform of economic clout will provide advantages.
Statistics & Indicators
The Creative Class and the Crisis
Todd Gabe, Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander, CESIS
The economic crisis contributed to sharp increases in U.S. unemployment rates for all three of the major socio-economic classes. Results from regression models using individual-level data from the 2006-2011 U.S. Current Population Surveys indicate that members of the Creative Class had a lower probability of being unemployed over this period than individuals in the Service and Working Classes, and that the impact of having a creative occupation became more beneficial in the two years following the recession. These patterns, if they continue, are suggestive of a structural change occurring in the U.S. economy—one that favors knowledge-based creative activities.
Redefining Urban: A New Way to Measure Metropolitan Areas
OECD
This report compares urbanization trends in OECD countries on the basis of a newly defined OECD methodology which enables cross-country comparison of the socio-econimic and environmental performance of metropolitan areas in OECD countries. The methodology is presented and results from its application to 27 OECD countries are discussed together with policy implication both on national growth and governance of cities. The report also includes three original papers that present the urbanization dynamics and prospects in China and South Africa and the governance challenges resulting from the new policy agenda on cities in the United Kingdom.
Arts and Culture at the Digital Crossroads
Stratford Institute for Digital Media
The Stratford Declaration, adopted by the Canada 3.0 Conference in 2009, embodied the commitment of the participants to help Canada succeed in the rapidly changing, highly competitive global economic environment. it is clear that mobile, digital media is transforming the way in which organizations, families and governments interact and communicate in an information rich, technology enabled society. in this environment, the challenges are global. Knowledge workers, industries and innovation can thrive anywhere. Canada 3.0 emphasized and has reiterated that success will depend on an unprecedented level of collaboration across government, education and the private sector. All agree but implementation remains fraught and elusive. To help track Canada’s evolution towards an inclusive digital society, the Stratford institute has again compiled the Stratford index of key indicators and measures in iCT. These are taken from various national and international studies. individually they suggest trends and cumulatively and wherever possible year over year, they present a striking portrait of Canada’s standing in the digital world. in a review of 138 countries, the World economic Forum documents Canada’s gradual decline: in global competitiveness, from 9th in 2009 to 12th in 2011; in overall networked readiness from 7th in 2010 to 8th in 2011; and in capacity for innovation 24th! echoing the WeF, the Conference board of Canada rated Canada’s innovation 14th out of 17 peer countries.
Policy Digest
Tom Zizys, Intergovernmental Committee for Economic and Labour Force Development (ICE)
A number of recent studies and reports have emphasized the need for a more coordinated approach to economic development in the Toronto region. This report draws on a literature review and a series of interviews to identify best practices in regional coordination and determine the barriers to and opportunities for coordination in the Toronto region. Based on these findings, the report suggests ways to enhance such regional coordination.
Context
Regional economic development policy, particularly the imperative of regional coordination, has changed significantly in the last two decades due in large part to changing business practices and changing expectations relating to the role and style of government. Local economic development has shifted from attracting new businesses to growing local enterprises and clusters, and from
initiatives aimed at economically-distressed areas to broader support for innovation. These shifts have transformed the practice of local economic development, expanding its range of functions and stretching its reach to encompass regional approaches.
In large part, it is necessary to adopt a regional lens to advance innovation and clusters that cross municipal boundaries, but other supporting features, such as workforce development, are also more appropriately implemented at a regional scale. These new functions shift the geographic lens from what each local municipality might do separately to a regional approach that aligns the activities of numerous players, including local governments across municipal boundaries, other orders of governments, and the many other actors who contribute to the local economy such as employers, post-secondary institutions, research bodies, training facilities, and civic, sectoral and advocacy intermediaries.
Best Practices in Regional Coordination
This need for a regional approach puts the function of coordination front and centre. The most effective mechanism to coordinate economic development is a broadly-inclusive, deliberative process that leads to a common, collaboratively-developed economic development vision for an area. Consensus around such a vision allows the various independent actors to align their strategies
and activities to ensure that the greater portion of efforts is pushing in the same direction. A literature review of best practices shows that coordination comes in many forms. As an activity, coordination can be light (ex. simple exchange of information) or it can be intense (ex. highly structured, regular interactions). It can also range from informal (ex. understandings between players about roles and functions) to formal arrangements (ex. creating a new entity to manage relationships). Moreover, coordination can be driven by governments or emerge bottom-up from local organizations that identify a need and fashion a response.
Governments can encourage greater coordination in regional economic development through funding criteria in their programs, through contracts between different orders of government, by creating or supporting new structures (ex. intermediary organizations that develop and implement regional economic development strategies), or by reconfiguring political structures. Tracking outcomes using relevant data is essential to ensure accountability on the part of all participants to the goals and objectives agreed upon.
The Current Situation in the Toronto Region
There are a number of key actors relevant to any discussion of an economic development strategy for the Toronto region, including the many GTA municipalities, the Province of Ontario, the federal government, plus a number of civic, business and economic development organizations. Currently, there is no economic development strategy for the Toronto region. Rather, the various actors involved in economic development generally work independently of one another due to their unique mandates, objectives, and/or priorities. As a result, a number of observers have judged local economic development activities to be fragmented, duplicated and sometimes even working towards cross-purposes.
Interview participants pointed to several factors to explain the present situation, including the dependence of municipal governments on property tax as a source of revenue, a lack of consensus on the functions that constitute economic development, and the overlap of organizational mandates. A poor history of collaboration on regional issues and the absence of a single political entity for the GTA also do not help.
Where to Go from Here?
Interviews with a number of key players in local economic development reveal some consensus and grounds for moving forward. There is broad agreement that the senior orders of government can and should play a supporting, facilitative role (though not a directing role), as well as about which economic development functions warrant a more regional approach (including the development of a regional vision) and which are better undertaken by local municipal bodies. Moreover, a large number of informants supported the principle of a comprehensive regional economic development agency (although there remains less consensus regarding how what that entity might look like, how it would be funded, what its authority would be, how it would relate to existing entities, what its authority would be, and so on). Perhaps most importantly, a number of key informants suggested
that a continued lack of action would actually make the fragmentation and underperformance of the
Toronto region worse.
Moving forward toward regional coordination requires some basic pre-requisites. First, regional coordination needs champions among politicians, government staff, the private sector and related agencies; coordination requires a network of supporters, each of whom can mobilize the support of the numerous constituencies who have a stake in this issue. Second, senior orders of government need to signal their willingness to participate, including support for convening the necessary players as well as support in principle to help implement the proposed strategy. Third, the specific content of a regionally coordinated economic development strategy must be worked out through a deliberative process, both to ensure that all parties participate in developing the content as well as to generate the greatest degree of buy-in to whatever emerges. Finally, some preparatory work is required to flesh out the options to put a regional economic development vision into practice. These options fall across a spectrum, ranging from incremental change through formalized structures
In numerous studies, Canada, Ontario and the Toronto region have all been cited as jurisdictions with considerable assets yet which ‘punch below their weight’ economically. The presence of a diverse and well-educated population, a sound financial system and a supportive business climate, among other attractive features, sits incongruously with a poor record in GDP growth, productivity
growth, R&D investment and many other indicators of economic performance. There is a sense that other comparable regions worldwide are surpassing Toronto, and that the explanation lies in Toronto’s inability to capitalize on its strengths.
In short, the Toronto region’s institutional structures have not risen to the challenge of its economic development needs. There are several options for moving forward, as the literature on this topic attests, and the relevant stakeholders can design and implement a strategy that best suits the interests and needs of the Toronto region. What has been lacking to date has been the political initiative and will, together with a commitment on the part of the majority of the players.
Events
Delft, Netherlands, 13-16 May, 2012
Regions and cities are increasingly interdependent; economically, socially and environmentally. They are, for example, becoming more reliant on interregional flows of trade, labour and resources. Patterns of interactions between regions are experiencing rapid changes as a result of dramatic shifts in production and consumption patterns, advances in communication technologies and the development of transport infrastructure. These changes pose many challenges for the analysis and management of regions. They are also leading to new patterns of activities and relationships and new forms of clustering and networking between regions. At the same time, regions are becoming increasingly fragmented in many ways; economically, socially, environmentally and also politically. Classic forms of government based on clear cut arrangements between administrative levels, policy sectors and the public and private domain are no longer sufficient. The governance of regions faces multi-level, multi-actor and multi-sectoral challenges. New spatial interactions at new scales demand new approaches for consultation and coordination. More flexible (‘softer’) forms of governance are beginning to emerge which seek to work around traditional governmental arrangements.The result is a complex pattern of overlapping governance and fuzzy boundaries, not just in a territorial sense but also in terms of the role of both public and private actors. These new arrangements pose many as yet unresolved dilemmas concerning the transparency, accountability and legitimacy of decision-making. The 2012 RSA conference in Delft provides a timely opportunity for participants to come together and reflect on the various strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities of networked cities and regions within these different contexts of fragmentation.
Towards Transformative Governance? Responses to Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy Paradigms
Karlsruhe, Germany, 12-13 June, 2012
The Lund Declaration, which was handed to the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union by 400 prominent researchers and politicians in 2009, states that “European research must focus on the Grand Challenges of our time moving beyond current rigid thematic approaches. This calls for a new deal among European institutions and Member States, in which European and national instruments are well aligned and cooperation builds on transparency and trust.” The declaration thus asks EU institutions to play a crucial role in bringing the relevant public and private actors together, and helping to build more cooperation and trust in order to address the overarching policy objectives.This declaration has taken up and reinforced a development in the past few years in which governments and the European Union have adopted a new strategic rhetoric for their research and innovation policy priorities which addresses the major societal challenges of our time. This is evolving into the third major policy rationale besides economic growth and competitiveness. It is not yet clear whether and how any transformative effects from this new mission-oriented approach can already be identified. The conference aims to attract papers that discuss possible transformative effects at different levels, i.e. on the actors performing research, innovation processes, scientific fields and technological sectors, the institutional funding and research landscape, society, the demand and user/beneficiary side, research and innovation policy and financing, and national and European political framework conditions. It also invites contributions that critically discuss methodological issues, conceptual developments and novel normative challenges around innovation and R&D policy triggered by the – alleged – mission oriented turn.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Networks
Faro, Portugal, 14-16 June, 2012
Following the tradition established by the previous symposia, starting in 1998, the symposium is designed to bring together leading-edge views of senior academic scholars and mix them with the critical and creative views of postdocs and PhD students engaged in their thesis work. We welcome researchers from various fields, such as economic geography, economic history, entrepreneurship,
international business, management, political science, regional economics, small business economics, sociology and urban and regional planning. The objectives of the fifteenth Uddevalla Symposium 2012 are: i) to provide a unique opportunity for scholars including senior and junior researchers to discuss path-breaking concepts, ideas, frameworks and theories in plenary key-note sessions and parallel competitive paper sessions, and ii) to facilitate the development and synthesis of important contributions into cohesive and integrated collections for potential publication. Therefore, unpublished complete papers are invited for presentation and feedback from other scholars. A selected list of these papers will be subjected to review and development for publication in scholarly venue.
Copehagen, Denmark, 19 June, 2012
Conference highlights include keynotes offered by Gautam Ahuja, Melissa Schilling and Joel Baum as well as three plenary debates: 1. Support Paul Stoneman and Otto Toivanen or Giovanni Dosi and Sid Winter wrestling over the merits of neoclassical economy in innovation studies. 2. Join the debate on the value of the exploration/exploitation trade-off with John Cantwell and Ram Mudambi pitched against Marco Giarratana and Lori Rosenkopf. 3. Enlist in the dispute over the current IPR-regime effects on growth with Eric von Hippel and Georg Von Krogh against Vincenzo Denicolo‘ and Scott Stern.
CALL FOR PAPERS – XXIII ISPIM Conference: Action for Innovation: Innovating from Experience
Barcelona, Spain, 17- 20 June, 2012
The plea for innovation is universal. Managers and politicians have understood that innovation is needed on an everyday-basis to strengthen the competitiveness of organisations, regions and countries. Innovation, however, requires more than good ideas and intentions. Leadership, foresight, courage, investment, inspiration and perspiration are needed to turn intentions and ideas into effective action. Even with these elements in place, not every initiative is successful. However, every action and each experience provide new insights into the causes of failed and successful innovation. Successful innovators, be they individuals, organisations, intermediaries or policy makers, must therefore overcome the paradox of building on experience, and yet breaking away from the status quo, with a permanent innovation mindset. These challenges of “Action for Innovation” are the core focus of this conference.
CALL FOR PAPERS – Sustaining Regional Futures
Beijing, China, 24-26 June, 2012
The Conference will address some of the biggest issues facing regions and sub-national areas around the world, gateways are being organised on the causes and implications of different patterns of regional development. The gateways are dedicated to assessing the forms and successes of regional policies in managing regional disparities; establishing basic public services; supporting endogenous growth and the comparative advantages of regions; promoting regional competitiveness and sustaining harmony between the economy, society and the environment. Papers on each of these themes are encouraged – on different countries’ and regions’ experiences, and on comparative studies.
Science and Technology Policy in Global Context 
Waterville, NH, 5-10 August, 2012
The global context for science and technology policies is changing quickly. Knowledge is flowing around the world ever more freely. International collaboration is growing in every field. Economies that have traditionally grown through innovation face new competition from rising economic powers. Intellectual property regimes are in flux and under attack. Scientists and engineers trained in Europe and North America are returning to their regions of origins more often. Science and technology are embroiled in global regulatory issues like the ground rules for nanotechnology and synthetic biology, renewable and nuclear energy, and access to essential medicines. The 2012 Gordon Research Conference on Science and Technology Policy will delve deeply into this range of issues, asking how the questions and answers of science and technology policy need to change in response to international developments. The program will tap the best recent research on the global dimensions of research, innovation, human resource, and regulatory policies, as well as perspectives from S&T policy practitioners from around the world.
13th International CINet Conference: Continuous Innovation Across Boundaries
Rome, Italy, 16-18 September, 2012
The Continuous Innovation Network (CINet) is a global network set up to bring together researchers and industrialists working in the field of Continuous Innovation. The mission of CINet is to develop into a school of thought on Continuous Innovation. Consistent with this mission, CINet organises an annual conference. This announcement concerns the 13th CINet conference, which will take place in Rome, Italy, on 16-18 September 2012. Furthermore, CINet promotes a PhD Network to foster research collaboration among PhD students and their institutions on innovation in the widest sense of the word. As part of that initiative, a PhD workshop is organised just prior to the 13th CINet conference, on 14-15 September. Besides that a CIYA Workshop will be organized, aimed at young academics working in the field of continuous innovation.
Leuven, Belgium, 27-28 September, 2012
The EPIP (European Policy for Intellectual Property) association will hold its 7th Annual Conference on September 27-28, 2012 in Leuven (Belgium). Scholars and practitioners interested in the economic, legal, political and managerial aspects of intellectual property (IP) rights are encouraged to attend the conference with or without paper presentation. The conference aims to explore and stimulate debate regarding open innovation and creation, and to examine the interaction between open innovation and proprietary IP mechanisms. Is the IP rationale under pressure in view of these changing innovation dynamics? Are IP strategies ‘in motion’ in response to these emerging trends of increased openness?
The Governance of a Complex World
Nice, France, 1-3 November, 2012
In a period of crisis – according to many commentators the most important one since the Great Depression – the governance of an ever increasingly complex world is a major challenge to economics and social sciences, especially in the current stage where no clear consensus has emerged so far in our scientific communities. The aim of the 2012 International Conference on “The Governance of a Complex World” is the identification of major propositions of political economy for a new society, grounded on structural, technological and institutional change. We encourage submissions dealing with different levels of governance (countries, industries, firms, individuals), where innovation is viewed as a key driver to stir our complex world out of the crisis. We especially welcome analyses in the field of knowledge dynamics, industrial evolution and economic development, dealing with key issues of the emergence and persistence of innovation, entrepreneurship, growth of firms, corporate governance and performance, agglomeration/dispersion of industrial activities, skills dynamics, economics of science and innovation, environment as a driver of innovation.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.