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
Government of Canada Announces Investments in Research Innovation
The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) recently announced a significant investment by the Government of Canada in cutting-edge research infrastructure that will lead to more high-quality jobs in the knowledge and resource sectors. This investment also has the potential to result in new, innovative spin-off companies. The $44.5-million investment through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) supports 210 research projects across the country in areas of health, agriculture and education.
Government of Canada Invests in Research Excellence Across the Country
Top researchers at post-secondary institutions across Canada will continue to spur innovation thanks to a federal investment in the Canada Research Chairs program. These world-class researchers bring new perspectives and solutions to the critical issues facing Canadians today, addressing challenges across Canadian universities’ fields of research in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences. While speaking at the University of Toronto, the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), recently announced funding of $121.6 million in support of top researchers. In total, $121.6 million is being invested to support 155 newly awarded or renewed Canada Research Chairs. These chairholders will undertake new, cutting-edge research at 42 Canadian post-secondary institutions. This Government of Canada investment allows Canadian post-secondary institutions to strengthen their position as global leaders in research and development, bringing greater economic opportunities for Canadians.
Baxter International Inc. and MaRS Innovation, a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, have entered into a strategic partnership to commercialize early-stage technologies that present innovative methods in therapeutics and drug discovery technologies. The partnership’s shared vision for delivering novel, transformative therapeutic technologies will benefit Canadians and others around the world. Baxter and MaRS Innovation will identify investment opportunities emerging from well-validated scientific research discoveries within MaRS Innovation’s 16 member institutions, including the University of Toronto and its nine affiliated teaching hospitals. Baxter will provide up to U.S. $1 million in funding over a three-year period to support promising individual projects based on their positive due diligence, which will be leveraged with financial support from MaRS Innovation. This combined support will accelerate the development and validation of healthcare technologies within the largest academic cluster in Canada.
Editor's Pick
A Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economic Development
European Commission
Europe needs to reverse the declining role of industry in Europe for the 21st century. This is the only way to deliver sustainable growth, create high-value jobs and solve the societal challenges that we face. To achieve this, a comprehensive vision is needed, focusing on investment and on innovation, but also mobilizing all the levers available at EU level, notably the single market, trade policy, SME policy, competition policy, environmental and research policy supportive of European companies’ competitiveness. This Communication proposes a partnership between the EU, its Member States and industry to dramatically step up investment into new technologies and give Europe a competitive lead in the new industrial revolution. After an extensive public consultation, the Commission proposes to jointly focus investment and innovation on six priority action lines: advanced manufacturing technologies, key enabling technologies, bio-based products, sustainable industrial and construction policy and raw materials, clean vehicles, smart grids.
Innovation Policy
Tertiary Education: Developing Skills for Innovation and Long-Term Growth in Canada
Calista Cheung, Yvan Guillemette and Shahrzad Mobasher-Fard , OECD
The tertiary education system in Canada performs well in fostering a skilled workforce with generally good labour-market outcomes and is internationally recognized for its research contributions. Tertiary educational attainment is high, but participation rates will need to continue expanding to maintain the supply of highly skilled labour as the population ages and the needs of the knowledge-based economy rapidly evolve. This should be achieved by encouraging access to higher education for disadvantaged socio-economic groups, while enhancing the flexibility of the system to allow students with diverse needs to move between institutions more easily to meet their learning objectives. Immigration is another important source of skills that could be better utilized. The development of skills for innovation can be improved by increasing the integration of technical, business and communications skills training with practical industry experience within tertiary education programs. In an environment of government spending restraint, the quality of tertiary education could be strengthened by increasing the distinction between institutions that target research and those that emphasise teaching and re-evaluating tuition policies in provinces where public finances are stretched.
Meeting Global Challenges: U.S.-German Innovation Policy
Charles W. Wessner, Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP)
While nations have always competed for territory, mineral riches, water, and other physical assets, they compete most vigorously today for technology-based innovations and the value that flows from them. Much of this value is based on creating scientific knowledge and transforming it into new products and services for the market. This process of innovation is complex and interdisciplinary. Sometimes it draws on the genius of individuals, but even then it requires sustained collective effort, often underpinned by significant national investments. Capturing the value of these investments to spur domestic economic growth and employment is a challenge in a world where the outputs of innovation disseminate rapidly. Those equipped to understand, apply, and profit from new knowledge and technical advances are increasingly able to capture the long-term economic benefits of growth and employment. In response to this new, more distributed innovation paradigm, the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) convened leading academics, business leaders, and senior policymakers from Germany and the United States to examine the strengths and challenges of their innovation systems. More specifically, they met to compare their respective approaches to innovation, to learn from their counterparts about best practices and shared challenges, and to identify cooperative opportunities. The symposium was held in Berlin and organized jointly by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and the U.S. National Academies with support of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the American Embassy in Berlin.
Big Data: The Next Big Thing in Economic Development?
SSTI Weekly Digest
In 2012, Big Data has become one of the hottest topics in the news and the minds of both government and business leaders. Big Data is the collection and analysis of data that is too big, growing too fast or is too complex for existing information technology systems to handle. Proponents believe that Big Data provides business, government and other organizations (e.g., nonprofit and social enterprises) the potential to generate high quality insight that enable better decision making, increase productivity, reduce inefficiencies, create new products and services and spur economic growth.
Deloitte predicts the Big Data industry likely will experience accelerating growth and market penetration through the rest of 2012 due to government and private investments in R&D pilot projects. Although still its infancy as an industry, mostly dominated by publicly-and-privately-supported pilot projects, Big Data has come a long way over the last couple years according to the Deloitte white paper. In 2009, there were only a handful of publicly-and-privately-supported Big Data projects. However, Deloitte predicts by the end of 2012 approximately 90 percent of Fortune500 companies will have at least some initiative underway.
Over the last year, the Obama administration also increased funding for Big Data R&D pilot projects including $15 million in October for new Big Data research projects at universities across the country, and the unveiling of the $200 Million Big Data Initiative to help solve some the nation’s most pressing challenges, create a highly skilled S&T workforce and spur economic growth. Many state and local governments, such as the state of Massachusetts, also view Big Data as a potential answer to pressing social issues and a tool to spur development.
A report from the McKinsey Global Institute confirms the potential impact of Big Data on the national economy. However, the McKinsey researcher predicts the U.S. will need up to 190,000 skilled Big Data professionals with the proper education, training and analytical skills by 2018 to address the demand from business firms, government entities and other organizations to take advantage of the potential benefits of Big Data.
TechAmerica.org also recently released a report outlining a roadmap and providing policy recommendations for federal, state and local agencies to establish Big Data initiatives and build the workforce necessary to accommodate the potential demands of industry and government.
State Strategic Plans with a Science and Technology Focus: Mississippi, Oklahoma and Washington
SSTI Weekly Digest
Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi unveiled a comprehensive plan to capitalize on Mississippi’s energy strengths and bring more energy jobs and research to the state. Endowed with diverse energy resources and a strong energy sector, the plan highlights energy-related activities possess tremendous opportunity for job growth and economic development in Mississippi. The report highlights the importance of private-public partnerships in spurring energy related R&D, especially at institutions of higher education. The authors call for the state to encourage and reward public/private funding agreements for energy R&D at state universities. They call for the establishment of a public/private collaborative entity focused on energy technology commercialization. According to the report, the state also should establish new energy workforce development programs focused on STEM education to prepare and train a 21st century workforce that addresses specific needs of the energy industry by working with key industry leaders.
Gov. Mary Fallon released the OneOklahoma plan to the public that identifies strategies along with actions and resources needed for effective implementation with specific recommendations to enhance STEM and workforce, engage and leverage the foundational sciences and support core S&T industry sectors. Suffering from declines in key S&T indicators in recent years, Gov. Fallon tasked the Science and Technology Council with developing well-defined and measurable goals and provide recommendations to achieve these goals. The report highlights 18 recommendations that are the most effective use of public and private funds that include STEM education reforms, increasing public-private R&D/commercialization partnership and targeting key state clusters such as biotechnology and unmanned aircraft systems. The council estimates the total economic impact to the state would be almost over $4 million should it achieve the aforementioned goals.
The Washington Economic Development Commission (WEDC) released a draft of its strategic plan to build a world-class innovation ecosystem in the state by strengthening four interrelated pillars — talent and workforce, investment and entrepreneurship, infrastructure and regulations and international business. Reeling from economic effects of the Great Recession, the WEDC calls for a bottom-up approach to economic development driven by private sector jobs and fueled by public-private investment in innovation, new workforce skills, modern infrastructure and exports.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Moving our Region: Funding Transportation for Our Future
IMFG
This report looks at transportation funding in major city-regions such as Los Angeles, Vancouver, Chicago, and San Francisco. As citizens and policymakers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) begin a vital discussion about transportation investment, the report looks at other regions that have faced similar challenges and highlights some key lessons, including: Stable, dedicated, and regional revenue sources are critical in making long-term investments; investment campaigns must engage the public and key regional stakeholders around shared challenges and a community-wide vision; and taxes that are dedicated to investments that will reduce travel times can gain public support. The report distills the key lessons from the Moving our Region series of events held during 2011 and 2012. The series brought together transportation policymakers, practitioners, and academics from North American and Europe to discuss transportation issues that will profoundly influence the growth and prosperity of the GTHA.
Is Your Region Creative, Innovative, Productive or Just Populated?
Martin Prosperity Institute
Growth is a mantra that cities, as well as nations and states, everywhere quest after. A growing number of economists caution that growth for growth’s sake does not necessarily equate to higher living standards or increased happiness.This report looks at how regions contribute to four key categories of regional economic development — population, innovation, creativity, and economic output and calculates a metro’s share of the U.S. total for each of the four categories. Large metros not surprisingly exhibit the highest contributions to GDP, while Sun Belt metros contribute most to population. Innovation is highest in the Bay Area and other high-tech hot spots. One of the most promising trends shows substantial creative class contributions occurring not just in Washington, D.C., but in nearby Baltimore as well as Atlanta and Rust Belt metros of St. Louis and Pittsburgh. These four metros are home to leading research universities. The report also notes a phenomenon of “peripheral clustering,” which may encourage specialization in complimentary types of growth.
Transforming Regional Innovation Systems: From Old Legacies to New Development Paths
Franz Tödtling and Michaela Trippl
Over the past 20 years, the innovation system approach has significantly enhanced our understanding of the innovation process, stressing its non-linear, systemic, interactive and evolutionary character. The notion of regional innovation systems (RISs) highlights the regional dimension of new knowledge generation and exploitation and constitutes a powerful concept for explaining regional differences in innovation capacity. RISs can be conceptualized as the set of firms, organizations and institutions which influence the innovative behaviour and economic performance at the regional level. They are shaped by existing industry structures and technology paths, the set of knowledge organizations, and the prevailing institutions and networks. As a consequence, they exhibit a high degree of inertia. This may lead to phenomena of path dependency and lock in in particular regions and to a certain degree of stability in terms of regional disparities in innovation and economic development. Regions and their innovation systems, however, are not static entities. In fact, one can observe considerable changes of industry structures, innovation activities and patterns of networking in particular regions in the longer run, often reaching beyond the existing development paths. The authors find phenomena of innovation-driven catching up processes in lagging regions, restructuring processes in industrial regions leading to new industries and technology paths, as well as sometimes an erosion of innovation capacity and competitiveness in leading regions. Most research on RISs, however, has so far not dealt with such changes. The RIS literature suffers from a key weakness, that is, its static view brought about by a focus on existing structures and relations. As a consequence, the reconstruction of RISs and their evolution over time remains poorly understood. The aim of the paper is to enhance our understanding of how processes of RIS transformation take place. The paper identifieskey actors and drivers of path renewal and new path creation and seeks to find out to what extent such changes are related to the existing economic and institutional structures. Based on a discussion of relevant theories and a critical literature review it develops a conceptual frame for analysing RIS changes. Besides the RIS approach the paper uses ideas from evolutionary economic geography (EEG) which provides valuable insights into the long-run regional trajectories and sources of change in regional economies. lt also discusses empirical examples of such shifts based on evidence from Austria and other countries.
Statistics & Indicators
PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Partnership for New York City Inc.
This study includes 27 cities, which were select using three fundamental criteria: cities exemplify capital market centers, represent a broad geographic sampling, and comprise both mature and emerging economies. The cities are measured across 10 indicatorsconstructed with a robust sampling of 60 variables, each of which has been chosen because it is: relevant; consistent across the sample; publicly available and collectible; current; free of skewing from local nuances; and truly reflective of a city’s quality or power.
Communities in Boom: Canada’s Top Entrepreneurial Cities
Ted Mallett, Queenie Wong and Simon Gaudreault, Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)
Entrepreneurs and communities are intrinsically linked. Entrepreneurs build cities and cities enable entrepreneurship. Cities get their starts humbly enough from people working with their natural surroundings—a harbour, crossroad or resource deposit. But for a few communities the spark would endure, creating urban clusters that would serve regional, national or even world markets with their goods and services. Independent businesses and start-ups are the vital sources of energy on which communities grow and flourish. This year the CFIB’s fifth annual instalment of Communities in Boom identifies the large and mid-sized cities in Canada that have the strongest signs of entrepreneurial activity.
INFOREGIO – Regional Projects Interactive Map
INFOREGIO
A new interactive map showing a selection of projects that have received EU regional funding is now available on the European Commission’s Inforegio website. This includes information on major projects, recent finalists from the ‘RegioStars’ competition and detailed case studies. In addition to this European level map, several Managing Authorities have published interactive maps with detailed information about beneficiaries of EU regional funding in specific countries.
OECD Internet Economy Outlook 2012
OECD
The Internet is now a fundamental infrastructure supporting the economy and is firmly in its 2nd stage of development, having evolved from a data network connecting PCs with wires to a much broader network of new portable devices from mobile phones to tablet computers. It is also on the cusp of a much larger expansion to objects that typically did not have communications capabilities: the “Internet of things” is projected to have more connections than the people using them. This raises many important socio-economic and political issues for stakeholders to consider, as economies and societies become increasingly inter-meshed. Supported by time series data, this publication begins with an overview of trends and highlights how the Internet sector has proven to be resilient during the recent economic crisis. It then examines the various drivers and impacts of Internet use and deployment, as well as emerging technologies, e-health, digital content, security and privacy, and reflects on a methodology for measuring the Internet economy.
Policy Digest
Clustering for 21st Century Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium
Charles W. Wessner, Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP)
Responding to the challenges of fostering regional growth and employment in an increasingly competitive global economy, many U.S. states and regions have developed programs to attract and grow companies as well as attract the talent and resources necessary to develop regional innovation clusters. These state and regionally based initiatives have a broad range of goals and increasingly include larger resources commitments, often with a sectoral focus and often in partnership with foundations and universities. Recent studies, however, have pointed out that many of these efforts lack the scale and the steady commitment needed for success. This has prompted new initiatives to coordinate and concentrate investments from a variety of federal agencies to develop research parks, business incubators, and other strategies to encourage entrepreneurships and high-tech development in the nation’s regions. Understanding the nature of innovation clusters and public policies associated with successful cluster development is therefore of current relevance. This report identifies best practices with regard to goals, structures, instruments, modes of operation, synergies across private and public programs, funding mechanisms and levels, and evaluation efforts.
Project Context
Since 1991, the National Research Council, under the auspices of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy, has undertaken a program of activities to improve policymakers’ understandings of the interconnections of science, technology, and economic policy and their importance for the American economy and its international competitive position. The Board’s activities have corresponded with increased policy recognition of the importance of knowledge and technology to economic growth.
One important element of STEP’s analysis concerns the growth and impact of foreign technology programs. U.S. competitors have launched substantial programs to support new technologies, small firm development, and consortia among large and small firms to strengthen national and regional positions in stra- tegic sectors. Some governments overseas have chosen to provide public support to innovation to overcome the market imperfections apparent in their national innovation systems. They believe that the rising costs and risks associated with new potentially high-payoff technologies, and the growing global dispersal of technical expertise, underscore the need for national R&D programs to support new and existing high-technology firms within their borders.
Similarly, many state and local governments and regional entities in the United States are undertaking a variety of initiatives to enhance local economic development and employment through investment programs designed to attract knowledge-based industries and grow innovation clusters.4 These state and re- gional programs and associated policy measures are of great interest for their potential contributions to growth and U.S. competitiveness and for the “best practice” lessons they offer for other state and regional programs.
STEP’s project on State and Regional Innovation Initiatives is intended to generate a better understanding of the challenges associated with the transition of research into products, the practices associated with successful state and regional programs, and their interaction with federal programs and private initiatives. The study seeks to achieve this goal through a series of complementary assessments of state, regional, and federal initiatives; analyses of specific industries and technologies from the perspective of crafting supportive public policy at all three levels; and outreach to multiple stakeholders. The overall goal is to improve the operation of state and regional programs and, collectively, enhance their impact.
The Report
As the report of the STEP Board’s second workshop on innovation clusters, this volume deepens the committee’s review of policies to support innovation clus- ters. The first symposium explored, more generally, the role of clusters in promot- ing economic growth, drawing particular attention to the strategies of American states to promote cluster development.5 In complement, the second symposium focused more on the Obama Administration’s efforts to develop an integrated cluster initiative and on the role of research parks in promoting innovation and regional and national economic development. The second workshop also reviewed selected best practices in regional and cluster development from other countries.
This volume includes an introduction that provides an overview of the key issues raised at the second workshop as well as detailed summaries of each of the meeting’s presentations. This workshop summary has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the work- shop. The statements made are those of the rapporteur or individual workshop.
Events
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.
Triple Helix Workshop: Building the Entrepreneurial University
Stanford, CA, 12-16 November, 2012
T he Triple Helix Research Group at Stanford University’s Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute (H-STAR) announces a new initiative for 2012: the Triple Helix Workshop Series that starts with the five-day intensive workshop “Building the Entrepreneurial University”. The event is organized to meet a growing demand for learning about the university’s “third mission”, next to education in research – the involvement in economic development and growth creation at regional and national level. The workshop presents the experience of some of the most successful US entrepreneurial universities, including Stanford, MIT, Utah, Arizona State, Berkeley, CalTech, Boston, University of Southern California. We are also discussing various innovation initiatives at the university-industry-government interface, US federal and state policies and mechanisms to support them, the successful trajectory of some high-tech companies emerging from university research, and the role of venture capital and business angel investments in this effort.
London, UK, 23 November, 2012
One of the major impacts of the current economic crisis is the way it is deepening territorial inequalities at a time when the scope for public intervention to tackle inequality is being diminished as a result of widespread austerity measures. These developments pose many challenges for the analysis and management of territorial development strategies, particularly at the scale of cities and regions. Some of the many challenges centre on which regions and industries will suffer and which will show greater capacity to adapt and thrive in an uncertain political and economic environment. How will extant (and classic) forms of urban and regional development policy be affected? Will the current crises expose the failures of these policies or demonstrate their strengths? What alternative models of territorial development are there? Should any of these alternative models be considered, that is, are they likely to redress some of the structural inequalities reinforced in the current context? To address these issues future research is needed interpreting regional inequality trends, combined with an analysis of their impact in particular places. This should take into account both macro-processes and local dynamics as this will be crucial in deepening our understandings of how an international financial crisis and the politics of ‘expansionary austerity’ affect the prospects of cities and regions. We also need to evaluate the opportunities and challenges ahead, reflect on the usefulness of previous approaches, and explore the potential of alternative territorial development strategies. In vogue concepts such as ‘city regions’ and ‘creative places’ need to be re-evaluated while emerging notions of ‘shrinking cities’ and ‘smart specialization’ must be carefully evaluated. Equally, the notion of managing decline, both economic and environmental, is likely to become more relevant as opportunities for significant public investment are reduced.
Madrid, Spain, 10-12 April, 2013
The Conference aims to encourage dialogue betweens academics and practitioners to improve innovation policy design, implementation and evaluation. The conference will offer keynote speeches, parallel thematic sessions, roundtable discussions, special activities for young researchers and ample space for all participants to interact. Visits to research and innovation centres both in public and private institutions will be offered after the conference.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.