The IPL newsletter: Volume 2, Issue 29

New high performance computing facility positions Ontario as an international leader in computing research

A consortium of four universities – Queen’s University, the Royal Military College of Canada, the University of Ottawa and Carleton University – has unveiled the new High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory (HPCVL), a showcase of leading-edge high performance computing technology.  According to Executive Director Dr. Ken Edgecombe, “HPCVL provides researchers with an enormously powerful and secure virtual research environment,” and will enable “geographically dispersed researchers in fields as diverse as engineering, medicine, science, and the arts to tackle large and complex problems they could not before.”  Supporters of the initiative include Sun Microsystems and the federal and Ontario provincial governments who have underwritten HPCVL with $17.5 million in grants. [www.kingstoncanada.com]

Atlantic innovation fund generates $1.5 billion in proposals

The first Request for Project Proposals under the $300 million Atlantic Innovation Fund has generated an overwhelming response from the region’s research institutions and business community. The Honourable Robert G. Thibault, Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), confirmed that the Agency has received 195 proposals seeking a total of $810 million toward total project costs of $1.5 billion. Of the submitted proposals, 120 are from non-commercial institutions or organizations seeking a total of $587 million in funding, and 75 are from commercial enterprises requesting a total of $223 million in funding.

Three Decades of Venture Capital Investment in the U.S. Yields 7.6 Million Jobs and $1.3 Trillion in Revenue

Final results of an economic impact study released by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) reveals that venture capital invested between 1970 and 2000 created 7.6 million U.S. jobs and more than $1.3 trillion in revenue as of the end of 2000. The research, conducted by DRI-WEFA, formerly Wharton Econometrics, and commissioned by the NVCA, shows that $273.3 billion of venture capital created companies that were responsible for 5.9% of the nation’s jobs and 13.1% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2000. Venture investment led to job and revenue creation most frequently in the computer, consumer, and medical health sectors industry sectors followed by the communications, industrial energy, electronics and biotech.

R&D Propensity and Productivity Performance of Foreign-Controlled Firms in Canada

J. Tang and S. Rao, Industry Canada

Using firm-level data, this paper examines the R&D propensity of Canadian-controlled and foreign-controlled firms in Canada. The empirical results suggest that foreign-controlled firms in Canada, after accounting for other factors, spend significantly less on R&D than Canadian-controlled firms. But, foreign-controlled firms increased their R&D propensity at the same pace as Canadian-controlled firms during the 1985-94 period. In the two groups of firms, R&D propensity is higher in high-technology and export-oriented firms, and lower in large and medium-size firms. In addition, the paper shows that foreign-controlled firms are actively adopting advanced technology (including other intangible assets) from their parents. This may explain why foreign-controlled firms are more productive than Canadian-controlled firms.

Building a New Foundation for Innovation: Results of a Workshop for the National Science Foundation

This report summarizes the results of the National Science Foundation’s workshop, Partnerships: Building a New Foundation for Innovation, held June 18-19, 2001 in Arlington, Virginia.  Most of the workshop discussions focused on the steps involved in establishing partnerships that can bring an innovation into the commercial world. The commercial link was in many respects viewed as the most critical link.  The main challenge was considered as simply identifying potential strategic partners. The workshop also addressed the sorts of infrastructure that can sustain and nurture the spread of innovative activity over the long-term.

Innovation and Technology Transfer

Here is the September issue of Innovation and Technology Transfer, a publication by the European Commission that includes articles, policy reviews and case studies pertaining to European industry and research.  Topics of articles include the coordination of cancer research in the EU, analysis on the EU’s new copyright directive, and new a financing agreement between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) that will open the way for active cooperation for complementary funding of research and innovation.

Flash Eurobarometer: Innovation – experience and priorities of European managers

Here are the results of a European survey of some 3000 managers whose objective was to sound out their opinions on the role of European integration in facilitating the access to advanced technologies, the mobilization of human resources, the protection and sharing of knowledge, access to funding for innovations, and customer acceptance of innovations. Among the findings are that innovation is widespread but developing slowly. For business leaders, the competitive advantage of being the first to the market with new products and services ensures a far better protection of intellectual property rights and know-how than do legal tools and procedures.  To access new technologies, the survey found that business leaders rely firstly on the purchase of new equipment, and then count on active collaboration with their customers and suppliers.

The Location of Higher Value-Added Activities

S. Globerman, Western Washington University

This paper seeks to identify and assess the implications of industrial clustering for the future location of technology- or knowledge-intensive activities in North America. A related purpose is to identify and discuss potential initiatives that might be pursued in Canada to blunt or reverse the advantages that specific regions in the United States enjoy as a consequence of hosting already established clusters of innovative firms and skilled and entrepreneurial individuals.  The paper concludes with the argument that governments should focus less on industrial policy, whereby they target “desirable” industries or “national champions,” and instead encourage clusters by promoting conditions within regions that contribute to the realization of external economies.

New Growth Theory, Technology and Learning: A Practitioner’s Guide

J. Cortright, on behalf of U.S Economic Development Administration

Targeted towards economic development practitioners, this paper provides a very good overview of recent developments in economic thinking on growth theory, emphasizing the importance of institutions, history and place in understanding economic growth.  The paper concludes with a section on lessons for economic development policy.

‘Brain Drain’ in Wisconsin and Michigan

Here are two papers that look at the migration of talent in two U.S. states.  ‘Draining Away – Who Is Leaving The State? Where Are They Going? by J. Brannon, and M. Mcgee looks at Wisconsin andAttracting & Retaining The Best Talent To Michigan by The Michigan Economic Development Corporation, looks at college migration patterns at Michigan public universities.

2001 Innovation Conference: Investing In Innovation

Montreal, 19-20 November, 2001

This Conference Board of Canada event focuses on the critical necessity to increase investment for innovation, presenting helpful tools and lessons learned from practitioners, and discussing what it means for the country, organizations and individuals. The conference will help executives, managers and entrepreneurs in any organization to create the kind of culture that encourages the constant effort to find and invest in new answers, new ideas and new products. Stakeholders for this event include the business community, the financial community, the education system and all levels of government.

Knowledge Management for R&D Organisations 

Surajkund, (India) 19-23 November 2001

Organized by the National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, this ‘orientation program’ for managers of science and technology focuses on how to revitalize the organizational arrangements for generation and application of knowledge for enhancement of competitive advantage.  The program has been designed borrowing heavily from the global study, ‘Benchmarking the best practices for strengthening the capabilities of Research and Technology Organisations’, a study has been coordinated by WAITRO with financial support from IDRC Canada, and DANIDA, Denmark.

Building Canada’s National Innovation Infrastructure

Toronto, 27-29 November, 2001

CANARIE’s 7th Annual Advanced Networks Workshop will explore how community broadband networks, provincial networking initiatives and next generation optical networks,  like the proposedCA*net 4, will contribute to the building of Canada’s National Innovation Infrastructure. The workshop will also explore the new types of applications and services that such an infrastructure will support.  Keynote speakers include Dr. Spyros Konidaris, Acting Director, Information Society Technologies Programme, European Commission and Ian Angus, President, Angus TeleManagement Group and Senior Editor of Telemanagement.

5th Annual ‘European Network on Industrial Policy’ (EUNIP) Conference

Vienna, 29 November – 1 December, 2001

This EUNIP Conference will focus on the cutting edge topics in industrial and structural policy, including policies promoting growth, competitiveness and employment. Topics include industrial economics and policy, innovation policy and theory and, regulatory issues in network industries.  A special session will focus on industrial policy in a knowledge-based economy.

Creating and Applying Vision in the Regions: Towards Agile and Networked Regions through Foresight

Dublin, 13 December 2001

This EC Conference focuses on regional foresight and seeks to explain how such activities may help regional policies achieve their major objectives (e.g. improvement of competitiveness, job creation, sustainable development). It will examine what good practice is in Foresight, and will unveil a practical guide for regional foresight developed through the FOREN initiative. FOREN is an EC-supported network, under the STRATA program, which has brought researchers and policymakers together to share experiences in regional foresight and to learn from each other. The conference will also showcase keynote speeches and in-depth presentations by leading figures in regional futures thinking and action.

Regional Governance in an Age of Globalization

Stuttgart, Germany, 8-9 March, 2002

This conference aims to examine and advance theories and practices in understanding regional governance in an age of globalization. The focus will be on globalization and its impact on subnational governments around the world with a particular interest in the intersection of the international with the local and regional and how this phenomenon is affecting the development of international and transnational relations on the one hand, and governance internationally, nationally, and subnationally on the other. The influence of unprecedented technological change on globalization and governance is also of interest to the conference organizers.

Rethinking Science Policy: Analytical Frameworks for Evidence-based Policy

Brighton, 21-23 March, 2002

This conference focuses on new models for science policy, exploring the European context where traditional foundations for science policy have been increasingly questioned during the last few decades of science policy research as policymakers search for new methods of harnessing scientific investigation.  Twenty-six new papers, including eight invited papers by leading authorities in the field of science policy, will be presented.  Final date for acceptance of abstractsNovember 1, 2001.

2002 International Symposium on Technology and Society: Social Implications of Information and Communication Technology

Raleigh, (North Carolina), 6-8 June, 2002

In an effort to establish a critical dialogue on the social and ethical dimensions of ICT, ISTAS’02 will bring together ICT professionals, computer science and engineering educators, scholars in the humanities and social sciences, students and policymakers to discuss several important and topical themes. These include electronic publishing, ICT and democratic processes, intellectual property rights in the digital era, social implications of wireless technology and gender issues in ICT.  Among the plenary session speakers will be Dr. Lucy Suchman from the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University. Proposal deadline for sessions, panels, or individual papers is December 13, 2001.