News from the IPL
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Waterloo, Technion Partner to Advance Research, Commercialization
University of Waterloo
Two of the world’s top innovation universities hope to accelerate breakthroughs in research and commercialization with a new agreement signed recently during a joint conference in Israel. The agreement between the University of Waterloo and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology brings together some of the top minds in quantum information science, nanotechnology and water for pure and applied research. The new partnership agreement will connect students and faculty from both institutions with global markets through technology transfer and commercialization opportunities with industrial partners in Canada and in Israel.
Government of Canada Pilot Program Positions Canadian SMEs to Move Products, Services to Market Faster
NRC
The Government of Canada recently announced a new program that will help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) access the business and technical services they need to get innovative products and services to market faster. The Business Innovation Access Program, a $20-million investment, will leverage the extensive networks and knowledge within NRC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) to connect SMEs with universities, colleges and other research institutions to address and resolve barriers to the commercialization of ideas, products and services. The support available through the program can involve external business services such as planning and marketing as well as technical services such as specialized testing, product prototyping and process development. The Business Innovation Access Program follows from a series of recommendations made by the independent Research and Development Review Expert Panel lead by Tom Jenkins in 2010-11 to better focus federal investments while maximizing innovation and economic benefit for Canadians.
Editor's Pick
Toward a Toronto Region Economic Strategy
Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity & The Toronto Board of Trade
This is a critical year for the Toronto region, as voters head to the polls in municipal and likely provincial elections. This compelled the Toronto Region Board of Trade to partner with the Institute to create a strategic framework that will initiate a public dialogue on how to enhance the region’s economic strength. Through an analysis of the region’s clusters, as well as performance on various key economic indicators, the report examines where Toronto excels, faces challenges, and outlines opportunities for the region to not only to become more economically productive, but also to be a more liveable and prosperous region.
Innovation Policy
Technology Transfer: Industry-Funded Academic Inventions Boost Innovation
Brian D. Wright et. al., Nature
Corporate-sponsored research resulted in licenses and patents much more frequently than federally sponsored projects at the campuses of the University of California system between 1990 and 2010. While federally funded research produced licenses in 22 percent of cases, 29 percent of industry-supported projects led to licenses. Federally supported projects led to licenses 26 percent of the time, while corporate research did so in 29 percent of cases. Corporate sponsorship also led to more citations in future patents. This was true across technology fields. The authors found that inventions with both types of support were even more likely to commercialize technologies. While the authors anticipated that corporations were more likely to fund applied research that could be quickly brought to market, they also hypothesized that industry research would more often lead to discoveries that were locked down with exclusive licenses or be so narrow as to limit their number of future citations. The latter two predictions turned out to be false. Though the study is restricted to the University of California system, these campuses accounted for 9 percent of total U.S. academic research expenditure during the period of the study. The system includes nine campuses and three national laboratories.
How to Persistently Finance Innovation: A Panel-Data Study on Exporting Firms in Sweden
Hans Loof and Pardis Nabavi, CESIS
The authors of this paper examine the fluctuation in innovation for exporting manufacturing firms in Sweden over the volatile time period of 1997-2010. They present evidence of the changes in innovative activities over the business cycle and relate these variations to the capital structure of exporting firms in Sweden. They find that there is a significant difference in cash flow sensitivity between firms in metropolitan areas and those located in other places.
ICT Skills Action Plan: Government, Education and Industry Working Together to Make Ireland a Global Leader in ICT Talent
Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ireland
There are few drivers which will be more important to global job creation in the coming years than the development of ICT skills. Ireland already has huge strengths in this area: a thriving ICT enterprise base, both indigenous and multinational, the quality and responsiveness of our education system and the talent and flexibility of our workforce; all poised to develop the opportunities opened up by new technologies. But we also recognise that Ireland is part of a global race for talent and that we are increasingly competing for inward investment and export opportunities on the basis of the quality of our workforce. This Action Plan builds on those strengths and is intended to meet the Government’s ambition, set out in the Action Plan for Jobs that Ireland will become the most attractive location in the world for ICT Skills availability. In developing this new Plan we have worked extensively with industry, including a Ministerial consultation with industry representatives and the education sector, and have heard first-hand the opportunities and challenges in the sector. This Plan is also informed by the detailed work of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
A Bottom-Up Approach tp Strengthening a Life Science Cluster
SSTI
This interview with Susan Windham-Bannister, of thte Massachussetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), begins with a description of the MLSC mission, which is to strengthen the life sciences cluster and turn it into an innovation ecosystem. MLSC engages stakeholders in industry and academia to accomplish their mission with a focus on five life sciences sectors. A bottom-up approach to investing has proven effective for helping fill the gaps that hinder the pace and success of innovation, Susan adds. Through a competitive awards process, MLSC targets translational research, proof-of-concept funding, workforce development, infrastructure, and collaborative projects. Susan speaks to the value of engaging experts in the life sciences community to guide investments. Four important lessons learned are shared during the interview, which include: A bottom-up approach is consistent with the way innovation occurs; Investing in a pipeline of early-stage companies is critical; There is great value in making the program competitive; and, Engagement of experts in the community is key.
What Should Determine Where Start-Ups Choose to Locate? The Five Cs of Place Surplus
Sami Mahroum and Elizabeth Scott, INSEAD
This paper examines the factors that underlie location decisions made by entrepreneurs that have established successful hi-tech endeavours in non-traditional places. The paper considers the cases of Skype in Estonia and SoundCloud in Berlin. Lessons are drawn from the cases and a theoretical framework proposed entitled “the Five Cs framework” in reference to the elements of Cost, Calibre, Convenience, Creativity, and Community that are used to capture the utility of a location. A new rationale is offered to explain what entrepreneurs who succeed consider and are influenced by when choosing a location for their ventures.
Statistics & Indicators
Global Value Chains and the Productivity of Canadian Manufacturing Firms
John Baldwin and Beiling Yan, Statistics Canada
The paper examines whether the integration of Canadian manufacturing firms into a global value chain (GVC) improves their productivity. To control for the self-selection effect (more productive firms self-select to join a GVC), propensity-score matching and difference-in-difference methods are used. Becoming part of a GVC can enhance firms’ productivity, both immediately and over time. The magnitude and timing of the effects vary by industrial sector, internationalization process, and import-source/export-destination country in a way that suggests the most substantial advantages of GVC participation are derived from technological improvements.
Policy Digest
The Development of U.S. Policies Directed at Stimulating Innovation and Entrepreneurship
European Commission
This report explores how US federal institutions fund and influence innovation in the knowledge economy context and if particular innovation policies could be replicated in other countries. Three key US agencies are identified as having significantly contributed to innovation and growth: (1) the Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR), (2) the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and (3) the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA). How these agencies have advanced US innovation is explained in detail.
U.S Model Innovation Policies
Parts A and B of the report describe US innovation policies and instruments and discuss the rationale for policies directed at stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship. The report demonstrates the important role of public policies, including public-private partnerships and nonprofit organizations, in enhancing entrepreneurship. These public policies reduce or at least compensate for market failures in the process of commercialization of ideas and conversion of inventions into commercial innovations. The authors argue that by encouraging university scientists and other knowledge workers to commercialize their products through starting new firms and facilitating this process, innovation policy can effectively generate spillovers and the commercialization of knowledge.
The impact of public policy on innovation extends beyond the firms. Indeed, there are indications that public policy can influence the cognitive process by which university scientists and other knowledge workers reach the decision to commercialize their research by starting a new firm and entering into entrepreneurship. This would suggest that public policies such at the ATP and the SBIR make an important contribution to enhancing and augmenting entrepreneurship. These policies can and do influence the career trajectories of university scientists by facilitating their decision to start companies and become entrepreneurs in order to commercialize their research and ideas.
The ATP awards help bridge a funding gap left by venture capitalists and foster knowledge spillovers, leading ATP-funded projects to produce not only firm-specific benefits but broad national economic benefit as well. DARPA was created as an institutional response to the space race with the Soviet Union in 1958. Over the past fifty years, the agency is widely regarded as having enabled development of computer networking, and many other technologies.
SBIR: The Potential for Replication in Other Contexts
The main example of innovation policy in the United States discussed in this report is the SBIR. The reason for this focus is because Horizon 2020, the new European program for research and innovation that will start in 2014 and run for seven years, includes a new SME instrument, building on the SBIR model. The SBIR was created to provide early stage funding and enable firms to cross what has become known as the “Valley of Death”, or the financing constraints typically confronting new and young firms, especially in knowledge-based and high-technology industries.
In Phase I of the SBIR, SMEs receive funding to explore the feasibility and commercial potential of a new idea (proof of concept). In Phase II, R&D is supported with a particular focus on demonstration activities (testing, prototype, scale-up studies, design, piloting innovative processes, products and services, performance verification etc.) and market replication.
Phase III of the SBIR is about commercialization though it does not provide direct funding. The agencies which contribute to SBIR funding do not usually offer funding for Phase III awards. The exceptions are NASA and the Department of Defense which may selectively offer small Phase III awards. The primary purpose of Phase III is simply to serve as a signal that the SBIR awardee has successfully completed Phases I and II and is therefore potentially ready for private sector funding.
The report examines the implementation of SBIR policies and also their possible adoption in other countries. The report discusses in some detail the often-misunderstood role of government procurement under SBIR. The US federal procurement rules are very rigid and cost intensive; they impose on new firms high compliance costs which give incumbent firms an advantage when bidding for federal contracts.
While completed Phase II projects have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of their innovative product (with a total potential SBIR Phase I and II funding of up to $1,150,000 per project), it can be difficult to acquire Phase III funding from private venture capitalists due to the fact that the product is not large enough to attract sufficient venture capital. The problem of crossing the Valley of Death remains for some firms, even after a successful Phase II. SBIR firms tend to be dependent on governmental SBIR funding and therefore lack the private venture capital network needed to attract large investments for large-scale production. Due to the lack of private venture capital interactions, private markets have a more difficult time appropriating the potential value of the product. Moreover, private venture capital markets are more likely to avoid funding innovative firms which are heavily funded by SBIR due to the relatively higher regulatory burden and contract costs.
Just as venture capital markets are averse to governmental procurement (regulation) transaction costs in the US, one could expect them to be equally averse to procurement costs in other countries. A second problematic aspect for potential Phase III firms in other countries is venture capital regional specialization. Just as most venture capital for IT and Biotech can be found in Silicon Valley or Route 128 in the US, this same sort of specialization is also found in other countries. These regional differences may make it more difficult for Phase III firms to find the necessary funding for product production.
Conclusions
To conclude, Part C of the report identifies US policies which could conceivably be replicated in other countries. Most notably, the authors argue that spurring innovation from European universities, with the help of an SBIR-like institution, may offer considerable help in transforming European ideas into innovations. The report concludes that the SBIR offered significant aid to innovative firms in the US and its replication by Horizon 2020 could also offer significant advantages for commercialization of inventions and ideas. However, the report points out several potential problems in a adopting an SBIR-like program in other countries, mainly related to Phase III and to procurement.
Events
Cities Consortium – Comptitiveness, Liveability and Creative Economy of Cities Conference
Toronto, 18-19 April, 2014
The conference is a forum for young faculty, emerging students and scholars who are engaged in research related to the competitiveness, liveability and creative economy of cities in India. The conference brings together individuals from around the world to share and discuss their research. In particular, the small and focused setting provides participants with the opportunity to present their work, receive feedback, refine and develop research methods and joing an ongoing network of collaboration and exchange.
Budget 2014: Re-balancing Innovation Support Programs
Ottawa, 22-23 April, 2014
The 13th annual RE$EARCH MONEY conference continues our examination of the implications of recent federal budgets for business innovation support. This year, we will look at how Budget 2014 builds on the last two budgets, in particular the extent to which the government is changing the balance between indirect and direct support of firms and the balance between supporting basic and applied research in academia and academic-industrial research collaboration. We’ll also look at implications of the anticipated update to the federal government’s science and technology strategy, should it be released with the 2014 budget or before, and examine progress being made with the federal government’s new VC fund and its support for accelerators and other innovation intermediaries. In smaller breakout sessions we’ll dig deeper into specific opportunities being pursued in Canada in the digital economy, new industries based on genomics and quantum computing and new sources of funding such as crowdfunding, impact investing.
Smart to Future Cities 2014
London, 29-30 April, 2014
At Smart to Future Cities 2013, the emphasis was on how the market is at an inflection point between talking about what “smart city” means and understanding how to implement it. The evidence of the shift was in the increasing maturity of the demand side, the development of standards, and the arrival of investment in the form of stimulus funding from government, sovereign wealth funds, and venture capital. In 2014 we will be looking at the move of Smart Cities into the mainstream as we see governments commit finance and policy to smart city development, deployments of smart city protocols and operating platforms and acceptance of smart technologies as the norm in transport, energy, development, assisted living and security in cities.
GCIF Global Cities Summit
Toronto, 15-16 May, 2014
The GCIF Global Cities Summit will take place May 15th and 16th, 2014 in Toronto, Canada. Leaders from GCIF’s network of cities, business leaders, senior government officials, scholars, and planning & design professionals will participate in this global event.
CFP – The Organization, Economics and Policy of Scientific Research
Torino, Italy, 19-20 May, 2014
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. As in previous years, we aim to attract contributions from both junior and senior scholars; a minimum number of slots are reserved for junior researchers (PhD students or postdoc scholars who obtained their PhD in 2011 or later). The workshop aims at including papers form various streams of research developed in recent years in and around the area of public and private scientific research.
CFP – Second International ZEW Conference on the Dynamics of Entrepreneurship (CoDE II)
Mannheim, Germany, 22-23 May, 2014
The formation, growth and exit of firms are crucial for innovation, employment and structural change in modern economies. The aim of this conference is to discuss recent scientific contributions on the interdependencies between finance, human capital, innovation activities and investment activities of young firms. Papers introducing recent theoretical, econometric and policy-oriented studies from all areas of the entrepreneurship research management are invited.
Industry Studies Association Annual Conference
Portland, Oregon, 27-30 May, 2014
The Industry Studies Annual Conference draws scholars from a wide range of disciplines who present findings from research at the cutting edge of the academic literature in their areas of specialization. Research presented at the conferences very often focuses on issues of immediate interest to industry and public policy.
Photonics North 2014
Montreal, 28-30 May, 2014
This year’s conference sessions include: Green photonics, energy and related technologies; Optical communications; Optoelectronics and integrated optics; Photonic materials; Nonlinear optics, nanophotonics and quantum optics; Photonic sensors and biomedical optics and more.
CFP – Mapping Culture: Communities, Sites and Stories
Cimbra, Portugal, 28-30 May, 2014
The Centre for Social Studies (Centro de Estudos Sociais – CES), a State Associate Laboratory at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, is calling for the submission of papers and panel/workshop proposals from academics, researchers, public administrators, architects, planners and artists for an international conference and symposium. The CES is committed to questions of public interest, including those involving relationships between scientific knowledge and citizens’ participation.
Business Innovation Summit 2014: Accelerating Corporate Innovation and Commercialization
Toronto, 28-29 May, 2014
The objective of this conference is to help companies of all sizes across Canada harness the power of innovation, and accelerate their innovation and commercialization results. The Summit is exploring the real-life challenges and opportunities of innovation within firms, and is featuring tangible solutions that work. We are assembling an outstanding lineup of Canadian and international speakers to share best practices and unique insights on how to implement effective processes and build innovative organizations for the 21st century.
RSA Workshop on the Evaluations of EU Cohesion Policy in 2014+
Prague, 10 June, 2014
In recent years, we have witnessed a significant increase in the use of rigorous research methods in the evaluations of the EU Cohesion Policy. The main objective is to identify the actual impacts and how to increase policy efficiency. The rationale behind a workshop on evaluations is the need to assemble academics investigating the issues’ effectiveness, impacts and added value of EU Cohesion Policy as well as practitioners working with this policy. The goal of the workshop is to improve knowledge and the application of evaluation results in practice. It will achieve this objective through the sharing of experience with evaluations, methods and the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as the application of theory-based evaluations. At the beginning of the new policy cycle 2014-2020, many questions arise regarding the reformed Cohesion Policy. This workshop, hosted jointly by the University of Economics and the Czech Evaluation Society at the Charles University and organized in collaboration with the partner institutions of the RSA Research Network on EU Cohesion Policy, will provide a forum for debating some of the most salient and burning of those questions.
Creative City Summit 2014: Love Your City – Transforming Communities Through Culture
Hamilton, Ontario, 11-13 June, 2014
Through interactive sessions, case studies and keynote addresses, experts will share real world projects that are transforming cities across the country. The 2014 Summit theme focuses on communities that are creating conditions in which culture can thrive. Presenters will explore how leadership, innovative thinking, partnership building, and simply doing things differently can lead to a creative community. Delegates will gain insight into integrating culture within other local planning initiatives; encouraging and stimulating “eventful” cities; planning community wide participatory events; initiating creative placemaking projects; and creating cultural hubs in their community.
DRUID Society Conference 2014: Entrepreneurship-Organization-Innovation
Copenhagen, Denmark, 16-18 June. 2014
he conference will include a number of distinguished plenary presenters and intends to map theoretical, empirical and methodological advances, contribute with novel insights, clarify and develop intellectual positions and help identify common grounds and lines of division in selected current scientific controversies within the field. In 2014, the DRUID Special Flavor will be on Food Innovation. During the last decade, the food industry has seen notable innovation and entrepreneurship throughout its value chain, including, for example, search for original raw materials, adaption of advanced process technologies, exploration of new cooking methods and development of unique restaurant models. DRUID2014 will feature scientific as well as social activities reflecting Food Innovation, including paper sessions on innovation and entrepreneurship in the food industry, talks by leading chefs, and samples of innovative food and drink. With its New Nordic Cuisine, a burst of new Michelin-starred restaurants, and capturing the World’s Best Restaurant as well as Bocuse d’Or awards for several consecutive years, Copenhagen has established itself at the heart of food innovation. In addition, there is a broader movement around the notions of regional and modernist cuisine. The DRUID Society will of course take advantage of its local connections to present conference participants with samples of just how innovative the local food scene can be.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.