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
Ontario’s Economy Depends on its Digital Corridor, Researcher Tells Waterloo Conference
The Waterloo Region Record
The future of Ontario’s economy, the biggest generator of wealth in the country, depends on the research and innovation in the corridors linking Waterloo Region, Toronto and Hamilton, a leading researcher told the CityAge conference Friday. David Wolfe, the co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab in the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, said the key to Ontario’s future prosperity is found in three sectors — advanced manufacturing, biomedicine and information-communications-technology. Wolfe said the biggest nodes in Ontario for research, innovation and technology commercialization are found in Toronto, Waterloo Region and Hamilton, in that order.
SBA to Fund Regional Innovation Clusters in NM, WI, Ozarks and the Gulf Coast
SSTI Weekly Digest
The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced four new Regional Innovation Clusters that will be included among its portfolio of high-performing regional networks. Awardee clusters will receive $500,000-$550,000 for mentoring, counseling, pitch development and other small business support programs. The new members of SBA’s cluster portfolio include Milwaukee’s Water Technology Cluster, Southeastern New Mexico’s Autonomous and Unmanned Systems Cluster, a Retail, Supply Chain and Food Processing Cluster spanning the Ozarks region and a Marine Industries Cluster in several Gulf Coast states.
DOD to Award More than US$100M to Establish an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute
SSTI Weekly Digest
In celebration of National Manufacturing Day, the Obama Administration announced it will release a new competition to award more than $100 million to launch a new Institute for Manufacturing Innovation (IMI) focused on Integrated Photonics. The proposed Integrated Photonics Institute will assist in developing an end-to-end photonics ‘ecosystem’ in the U.S. and support research and development efforts across the country on domestic foundry access, integrated design tools, automated packaging, assembly and test, and workforce development in the research area related to photonics. Administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the formal request for proposal (RFP) should be released in early November.
Editor's Pick
OECD Regional Outlook 2014: Regions and Cities – Where Policies and People Meet
OECD
Regions and cities are on the front lines of many challenges faced by OECD countries today, from education and jobs to health care and quality of life. Getting regions and cities “right”, adapting policies to the specificities of where people live and work, is vital to improving citizens’ well-being. This second edition of the OECD Regional Outlook aims to help countries do just that. Part I describes the main trends and challenges today. Part II has a special focus on cities, looking at public investment, urban framework policies, and rural-urban issues. Part III presents a Policy Forum on the future of cities, with five contributions from distinguished authors and policy makers. Part IV offers profiles of regional development in all 34 OECD countries.
Innovation Policy
Science, Innovation and National Growth
Thomas Brenner, University of Marburg
This paper studies the effects of public research (publications) and innovation output (patents) on national economic growth with the help of a GMM panel regression including 114 countries. Effects on productivity growth and capital and labor inputs are distinguished. Furthermore, different time lags are examined for the various analyzed effects and two time periods as well as less and more developed countries are studied separately. The results confirm the effect of innovation output on productivity for more developed countries. Simultaneously, innovation output is found to have negative impacts on capital and labor inputs, while public research is found to have positive impacts on labor inputs.
Universities, Funding Systems and the Renewel of the Industrial Knowledge Base: UNI Project Findings
Terttu Luukkonen, ETLA
An important prerequisite for the renewal of Finland’s industrial and economic base is the ability of the universities to promote the renewal of the knowledge base. The UNI project studied ways in which changes in external funding mechanisms and recent governance changes in Finnish universities have changed the framework conditions influencing innovativeness and innovation in university research. Innovation here refers to novel approaches and potentially, breakthrough research, requiring risk-taking. The UK provided a comparative perspective for the study. This report reprints four separate policy briefs and reports that the UNI project has produced and provides an overall concluding chapter for them. A major conclusion of the study is that, so far, there has not been much impact from the recent policy changes on intellectual innovation in research in Finland. University governance influences research content very indirectly and is mediated by multiple other factors, meaning that policy changes are not, at least in the short run, translated into changed research content.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
How’s Life in Your Region? Measuring Regional and Local Well-Being for Policy Making
OECD
How’s life? The answer can depend on the region in which you live. Many factors that influence people’s well-being are local issues, such as employment, access to health services, pollution and security. Policies that take into account regional differences beyond national averages can therefore have a greater impact on improving well-being for the country as a whole. This report presents the OECD analytical framework for measuring well-being at the regional level, as well as internationally comparable indicators on 9 well-being dimensions for 362 regions across 34 OECD countries. It also sets out guidance for all levels of government in using well-being measures to better target policies at the specific needs of different communities. Drawing on a variety of practical experiences from OECD regions and cities, the report discusses methodological and political solutions for selecting regional well-being outcome indicators, monitoring the progress of regional well-being performance over time, and implementing a process of multi-stakeholder engagement to promote social change.
Statistics & Indicators
A Newer Geography of Jobs: Where Workers with Advanced Degrees are Concentrating the Fastest
Richey Piiparinen, Jim Russell and Charles Post, Cleveland State University
If a concentration of highly skilled workers is an important leading indicator to more widespread economic growth, which regions are leading the way? Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to compare the educational attainment rates of the nation’s largest labor forces from 2005 to 2013, this report determines where America’s highest-skilled jobs are clustering. In ranking the percentage of labor force with a graduate or professional degree in 2013, the list of top five regions is perhaps unsurprising: Washington, D.C., San Jose, Boston, San Francisco, and New York – considered first-tier metros by nearly all accounts. In assessing the percent point change between the percentage of workers with an advanced degree in 2005 and in 2013, however, “second-tier” metros begin to emerge as leaders.
The CohnReznick Middle Market Equity Capital Report
CohnReznick
The United States is heading for its highest Initial Public Offering (IPO) activity since 2000, according to this new report. The report indicates that 2014 IPO activity is on track to surpass 2013 figures, with 230 IPOs taking place during the first three quarters of the year, compared with 180 for the same time period in 2013. CohnReznick anticipates IPO activity for the year will exceed 315 deals, marking the highest level since 2000. If the strong market activity keeps pace through the end of the year, new IPOs can be credited with injecting an estimated 250,000 new jobs into the U.S. economy.
Research and Innovation Performance in the EU: Innovation Union Progress at the Country Level
European Commission
Europe’s ecosystem for research and innovation has improved significantly in recent years, but more efforts are needed to establish a knowledge-oriented and innovation-driven economy. The report presents a straightforward analysis of the R&I performance of 33 individual countries. It provides policy-makers and stakeholders with a concise and comparative overview which allows for transparent comparisons of progress country by country. This analysis is important as EU Member States should make sure that investments in R&I are matched by an increase in their quality in order to get the most value for every Euro invested.
Policy Digest
What Should the Role of the Federal Government Be in Supporting Innovation Districts?
Bruce Katz, The Brookings Institution
Innovation districts are springing up in cities across the country. Unlike traditional science parks and suburban innovation corridors, these districts cluster cutting edge research institutions, R&D intensive companies, entrepreneurial firms and business incubators in small geographic areas that are livable, walkable, bike-able, and transit connected. They incorporate both the new collaborative workings of the “open innovation” economy as well as new market and demographic preferences for quality places. In analyzing this growing movement, researchers tend to focus on the role that local actors have played in the development of these areas. For this reason, the federal government should not attempt to lead the development of innovation districts. Successful districts do not emerge from a federal program like empowerment zones but rather from the collaborative efforts of local institutions and leaders and organic market dynamics. In addition, the emerging districts around the country differ markedly in their leadership structure, sector orientation, and existing economic, physical and networking assets—obviating any one “one size fits all” response. Still, the federal government clearly has a role to play and should focus its support on three main inputs to successful innovation districts: (1) Basic and applied research; (2) skilled workers; (3) infrastructure and housing.
Basic and Applied Research
While the most advanced districts around the country are created by networks of regional stakeholders—local governments, universities, private businesses, entrepreneurs, real estate developers, and civic institutions—the federal government provides a strong foundation through its funding of basic and applied research. Many innovation districts are centered around a major anchor institution, which tend to rely heavily on federal dollars to support their research. MIT, for example, relies on the federal government for roughly 70 percent of its research funding—$466 million in 2013. This federally-backed research creates a platform for commercialization, which spurs job creation and entrepreneurial growth and brings technological advances to our businesses and homes. However, in recent years, federal support for basic research has begun to slip, and the growth trajectory of R&D spending has suffered. At a time when sequestration cuts and budget pressures further threaten the U.S. R&D base, federal leaders must recommit to funding this basic research.
Skilled Workers
Innovation districts—and the innovation economy more broadly—rely upon a technically skilled workforce, specifically those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. The federal government can do a number of things to support this. By implementing something akin to the Race to the Shop proposal (a version of which is currently being developed by Delaware Sen. Chris Coons) the federal government could encourage a more robust school-to-work pipeline for sub-baccalaureate workers. Given the proximity of innovation districts to low-income neighborhoods (and, in some cities, public and affordable housing developments), there is the demand for targeted federal efforts to underwrite STEM-oriented schools that offer apprenticeship opportunities.
The trend toward locating community colleges amid burgeoning Innovation Districts (e.g., Houston Community College at the Texas Medical Center Baltimore Community College at University of Maryland BioPark) offers the mutual benefit of connecting sub-baccalaureate students with real-world training and connections to potential future employers. At a more macro level, reforming the nation’s immigration system, particularly in attracting and retaining highly skilled foreigners, should also be a top priority.
Housing and Infrastructure
Unlike traditional science parks and suburban innovation corridors, innovation districts, like the cities and urban communities that house them, need effective transit systems, adequate mixed-income housing and mixed-use development to succeed. Many innovation districts have already used a variety of federal resources for these purposes to great effect. After years of budget cuts and legislative drift, the primary imperative is to reestablish the federal government as a reliable, consistent, and flexible partner in these arenas, both with regard to tax incentives (e.g., the New Markets Tax Credit) and discretionary and credit enhancement programs around housing, transportation, and sustainable development.
A Stronger Federal Role
In summary, the federal government did not start the rise of innovation districts but it could help accelerate this encouraging dynamic and broaden the impact on innovative growth, urban revitalization, and social opportunity. It should do so in a humble way – doing what cities and metro areas can’t (e.g., providing a strong national platform for research and innovation) and providing support that is respectful of local variation and supportive of local networks and ecosystems. At a time when the nation still needs more and better jobs, smart federal action would spur not only high levels of job growth, business formation, and commercialization but also urban regeneration that works for local residents and communities. It would also test a new form of federalism, where cities and metro areas lead and the federal government follows. It would even make the federal government more efficient by providing a higher level of market and social return on discrete federal investments and integrating the otherwise fragmented flow of federal resources. All of this could amount to what former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros called a “two-plus-two-equals-five” effect.
Events
European Cluster Conference 2014
Brussels, Belgium, 20-21 October, 2014
The prosperity of the European Union relies on its ability to provide SMEs and industry with a favourable business environment and customised support to unlock growth opportunities. Stimulating cross-sectoral cooperation and innovation as well as helping SMEs to access finance, new industrial value chains and to go international are seen as key drivers. The potential of clusters and cluster organisations, notably in emerging industries, need to be better exploited to achieve this objective. The question of how to do this and how to team up with others will be at the core of this conference. Conference sessions will include plenary speeches, panel discussions and innovative participatory group discussions and priority setting by the audience. It will be an inspiring event not to be missed and ensure that the cluster community actively contributes to the design of excellent cluster policies and better SME support.
Creating Shared Value Through Clusters for a Sustainable Future
Monterrey, Mexico, 10-13 November, 2014
The agenda will focus on the potential of clusters to contribute to the creation of value for a sustainable and viable future, with over 80 international practitioners and academics sharing their latest work and research around this topic. The conference offers a unique opportunity to meet your peers from around the world and exchange good practices.
CFP – National Systems of Entrepreneurship
Mannheim, Germany, 20-21 November, 2014
National Systems of Entrepreneurship (NSE) are fundamental resource allocation systems driven by opportunity pursuit of individuals through the creation of new ventures. In contrast to the institutional emphasis of the National Systems of Innovation (NSI) frameworks, NSE are driven by individuals who act within and interact with an institutional frame. This approach differs from traditional entrepreneurship research, where institutions are largely silent. The aim of this conference is to discuss recent scientific contributions on issues related to NSE, the comparison of NSI with NSE, as well as institutional, legal, and national developments on entrepreneurship.
Boosting Academic Entrepreneurship 
Enschede, the Netherlands, 10-12 December, 2014
The Technopolicy Network is thrilled about the upcoming 12th annual Academic Entrepreneurship Conference and Awards. For this Conference, 30 leading experts have already confirmed that they will present on how universities, incubators and regional governments can boost academic entrepreneurship together with businesses in their region. Regional innovation hotspots from Silicon Valley, Beijing, Boston, Skolkovo and Finland will be presented by their strategists.
Aalborg, Denmark, 21-23 January, 2015
The conference is open for all PhD students working within the broad field of economics and management of innovation, entrepreneurship and organizations. We invite papers aiming at enhancing our understanding of the dynamics of technological, structural and institutional change at the level of firms, industries, regions and nations. DRUID is the node for an open international network – new partners are most welcome. We encourage all PhD students to submit their research to the conference. Do not hesitate to apply even if you have not been in contact with DRUID previously.
2nd Doctoral Workshop in Econiomics of Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge
Turin, Italy, 29-30 January, 2015
The aim of the workshop is to bring together PhD students from all over the world working in the broad field of Economics of Innovation and Complexity. The workshop will provide participants with a great opporunity to network with peers researching on similar topics and to receive feedback from both junior and senior scholars. We invite PhD students in their 2nd and 3rd years to submit their extended abstracts.
CFP: The Global City, Past and Present
St. Andrews, Scotland, 14-15 May, 2015
This first Call for Papers invites submissions from scholars of all humanities and social science disciplines working on the issue of “Space” in the early modern colonial city and its modern descendants. At the intersection of empires, cultures, and economies, urban spaces and structures were, and continue to be, shaped by the cities’ global connections. Through an exploration of all aspects of the urban built environment, the workshop will start a conversation between scholars working on the spatial characteristics of those cities that first rose to prominence in the early modern imperial world.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.