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
US government follows Canadian lead in fuel cell investment
The Bush administration is walking away from a $1.5 billion eight-year government-subsidized project to develop high-mileage gasoline-fueled vehicles. Instead it is throwing its support behind a plan that the Energy Department and the auto industry have devised to develop hydrogen-based fuel cells to power the cars of the future, reports the New York Times. The program will offer technology development incentives to U.S. universities and laboratories under advice from the Big Three automakers. This shift in investment follows the Canadian federal government’s announcement in June of last year to invest $2.7 million to help Fuel Cells Canada (FCC) develop six new research laboratories in Vancouver, a plan that will foster a fuel cell cluster in the region. Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems, which now supplies fuel cells to Ford, Daimler-Chrysler and other auto makers expects to benefit from the US program. For related websites to Canadian fuel cell initiatives visit Fuel Cells Canada and NRC’s Fuel Cell Program.
Winners announced in joint innovations challenge contest
The Liberty Village New Media Centre (LVNMC), in collaboration with the U of T Innovations Foundation, has announced the digital media winners of the Innovations Challenge business plan competition. First-place winner was The Business Source Corp., a provider of online summaries of best-selling business books. The runner-up prize went to Showcorp Canada Inc., a global B2B content management and video infrastructure company. Invert Media, a content production company with an aboriginal perspective, received honorable mention as a Most Promising Talent. The competition was created by LVNMC to provide learning and business opportunities for digital media entrepreneurs.
US Federal R&D Climbs to Record High of $103.7 Billion
For the first time, the federal investment in research and development (R&D) has exceeded $100 billion. Up 13.5% from 2001, the 2002 budget represents the largest dollar increase in history and the largest percentage increase in nearly 20 years. There are substantial increases for all major federal R&D agencies, in contrast to proposed cuts for most agencies in the Bush Administration’s April budget request. The National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and counter terrorism R&D are the main benefactors with latter nearly tripling over last year to $1.5 billion.
Editor's Pick
Clusters Of Innovation Initiative: Regional Foundations Of U.S. Competitiveness
M. E. Porter, Harvard University, Council on Competitiveness
This report examines the composition and performance of five American regional economies,analyzing how industry clusters develop and innovation arises, how clusters affect a region’s economic future, and how a region can establish a strategy and action program to drive its economy and clusters forward. Chapter 9, “Action Agendas for the Public and Private Sectors” distills from the studies the core action implications for three levels of government, universities and public research institutes, cluster-specific associations and private firms and presents them in a succinct list of recommendations. It is highly recommended for practitioners in all groups mentioned above. Data from the five regions – Atlanta, Pittsburgh, the Research Triangle in North Carolina, San Diego, and Wichita – is drawn from The Cluster Mapping Project, at Harvard’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, regional surveys, and interviews of business and government leaders in each region.
Innovation Policy
Papers and presentations from ONRIS’s London conference (December 2001) are now available for downloading. These include Peter Warrian and Celine Mulhern’s research of the steel cluster in Ontario, The New (Economy) Steel: Learning at the Regional and Firm Level“, and Meric Gertler’s paper Urban Economy and Society in Canada: Flows of People, Capital and Ideas. Also now available on the ONRIS website is Tod Rutherford’s paper Opportunities and Dilemmas: Labour and Regional Innovation, which was presented at the International Workshop on Innovation Clusters and Interregional Competition, 12. – 13. November 2001.
After the Bubble: Sustaining Economic Prosperity
In the tradition of benchmarking regional economic performance, this report examines the economic vitality of the San Francisco Bay Area and represents the third volume in the Bay Area Economic Profile series that began in 1996. As the title implies, the report also considers the impact of the current economic slowdown to the future prospects for continued economic success. The report finds that the Bay Area is indeed well positioned to return to a path of healthy and sustainable growth, though to reach its potential, the region will have to overcome several critical issues. The lack of affordable housing in particular and the high cost of living in general threaten, an insufficient transportation infrastructure, and an under-performing public school system are all problems that have been exacerbated by the recent economic bubble and are now being felt in a substantial way.
Workshop on emerging regional practices in support of SME innovation
R. Landry, N. Amara and M. Houpert, Université Laval
Here is a summary of a workshop organized by the Canada Economic Development Observatory on emerging regional practices in innovation held on May 8, 2001 in Montreal. The goal of the workshop was to draw attention to the importance of having, at the regional level, a portfolio of varied tools for effectively supporting innovation in SMEs in line with their capabilities and needs. Discussion focuses primarily on Quebec programs and policies with comparisons made with European initiatives.
Regional Innovation & Clusters
Here is the Canadian Government’s response to 18 recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in their fifth report tabled in the House of Commons on June 12, 2001. The document highlights the position taken by the Government on such topical issues as Canada’s innovation cluster strategy (Recommendation 12), intellectual property rights (Recommendation 15), and the commercialization of university research (Recommendation 17).
J. Wengel and G. Lay, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research
This paper compares modernization strategies of industrial enterprises in Germany with a similar set of firms from the State of Georgia in the United States. The authors find that in the modernization of production, the German and American firms focus on different aspects: the German enterprises prefer technology and innovation as well as adapting products to customer specifications as a strategy. The US firms are more inclined to prioritize product quality and a lower product price. These differences are reflected in differing production engineering and production organization approaches. The analysis is based on The Fraunhofer ISI Manufacturing Innovation Survey of 1999, which monitored innovation in production in Germany as a whole covering more than 1300 firms, and matching data from 232 US firms, representing a subset of the Georgia Tech 1999 Georgia Manufacturing Survey.
B. Tether, CRIC
This paper provides a critical assessment of the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS) in relation to the identification of innovation, and by extension of innovators and innovative behaviors. According to the author, the CIS has some significant flaws, suggesting that the data generated should be treated with considerably more caution than has hitherto been the case. In particular, the CIS effectively conflates a wide range of activities – from technology adoption through to ‘true innovation’ – into a single definition of innovation. This obscures important differences in behaviour between very different types of ‘innovators’.
Brain Circulation: How High-Skill Immigration Makes Everyone Better Off
In this article from Brookings Review, AnnaLee Saxenian discusses the merits of ‘brain circulation’. “Most people”, notes the author, “instinctively assume that the movement of skill and talent must benefit one country at the expense of another. But thanks to brain circulation, high-skilled immigration increasingly benefits both sides. Economically speaking, it is blessed to giveand to receive.”
New Website Small Business Research And Policy
The Small Business Policy Branch at Industry Canada has launched the Small Business Research and Policy website designed specifically for small business researchers and policy makers. The site includes more than 1500 research abstracts relating to small business and entrepreneurship, research reports on small business financing, key policy documents, and frequently asked questions on key statistics on small business topics.
Statistics
American Academic R&D Expenditures by State
Annual R&D expenditures at America’s academic institutions topped $30 billion for the first time, according to the early release tables from the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, Fiscal Year 2000. The final results of the latest annual survey reveals a nine percent increase over 1999 expenditures. [State Science and Technology Institute]
Events
CITO InnoTalk: An Intellectual Property Guide For Weathering The Downturn
Toronto, 16 January, 2002
This seminar will focus on a variety of cost-effective strategies for IP protection at a time when many intellectual property protection budgets have been cut back. The presenter for this half-day talk will be patent and trade-mark agent, Anthony de Fazekas, from Keyser Mason Ball.
ITAC Ontario Breakfast Meeting: Programs That Assist Exporting 
Toronto, 16 January, 2002
ITAC Ontario’s International Program will bring together representatives from organizations whose programs assist Canadian firms in exporting their goods and services. Obtaining export financing, utilizing government backed guarantees, and obtaining funding for partnerships in developing nations are examples of some of the assistance to be discussed. Organizations to be represented include Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), Export Development Corporation (EDC), Program for Export Market Development (PEMD) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The 5th World Congress on the Management of Intellectual Capital
Hamilton, 16-18 January, 2002
The McMaster World Congress will showcase presentations and panel discussions with worldwide e-commerce leaders and forward-thinking analysts, while providing opportunity for attendees to meet and network. This year’s themes include knowledge management, innovation management, intangible assets, organizational learning, management of new technology, and human capital. The Congress will also be hosting an e-commerce case competition for MBA students, special e-government track for both the knowledge management in government and e-learning in government, and a Ph.D. consortium.
2002 Incubation and New Ventures Conference: How Incubators Fit In
Calgary, 21 –22 January, 2002
This Conference Board of Canada event focuses on how incubators fit in with innovation, the economy, technology, regional cities, universities and colleges, research parks, the community, major corporations and entrepreneurship. The session topics discussed by the panels include: ‘Financing New Ventures, Angel Investors and the Role of Incubators’, ‘Incubators in Health, the Life Sciences and Biotechnology’, ‘Incubators in Rural Communities and Mid-Sized Cities’ and, ‘Making Incubation Work: Incubators, Research Parks and Regional Economic Development’.
Breakfast Lecture: e-Business means Better Business. Now.
Toronto, January 22, 2002
As the launch event for eBiz Toronto as an organization, Mr. Kilroy, CEO of IBM Canada, will deliver a dynamic lecture on the state of e-Business. eBiz Toronto was established out of a shared concern about Canada’s relatively slow pace of e-Business adoption.
Regional Governance in an Age of Globalization
Stuttgart, 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.
Sixth International Research Conference on Quality, Innovation and Knowledge Management
Kuala Lumpur, 17-20 February 2002
The theme of this conference is ‘Convergence in the Digital Economy’, a rubric that seeks to encompass the many new ideas relating to quality, innovation and knowledge management and the associated challenges in the rapidly developing digital economy of the 21st century. Papers will be presented in such areas as ‘Quality Management and Innovation’, ‘Quality and Innovation in Services’, ‘Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning’ and, ‘Human Capital, Intellectual Capital and Innovation’.
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.
16th International Conference on Business Incubation: Explore Your World, Enrich Your Community
Toronto, 28 April – 1 May, 2002
Sponsored by the National Business Incubation Association and the Toronto Business Development Centre this international conference brings together industry leaders from around the world for four days of knowledge sharing and networking. Along with pre-conference workshops, the conference includes three days of educational sessions and roundtable discussions covering incubation’s latest topics.
Innovation in an Evolving Economy
Ottawa, 6-7 May, 2002
Statistics Canada’s Economic Conference 2002 will be focusing on the investments required to meet the challenges of rapidly changing economic and social realities. The event will include several plenary sessions featuring invited guest speakers who are leading authorities in their fields. It will also include presentations in which participants will discuss research providing new perspectives on topics related to one of the following sub-themes: ‘Investing in a competitive Canada’, ‘Investing in the global context’, ‘Investing in infrastructure’ and, ‘Investing in an innovative work force’.
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.
Industrial Dynamics of the New and Old Economy – who is embracing whom?
Copenhagen, 6-8 June, 2002
DRUID’s Summer Conference for 2002 aims to contribute to a more satisfactory understanding of the economic and organizational mechanisms underlying the current ICT-based technological and entrepreneurial growth dynamics and to examine the interface and spillovers between the new and old sectors of the economy. Plenary sessions will be organized along four themes: Technical Change, Corporate Dynamics & Innovation, Production and Use of Knowledge in the Old & New Economy, New Competition Policies and Intellectual Property Rights, and Organisation of Internet Industry Dynamics. Both senior and junior scholars are invited to participate and contribute with a paper to one of the parallel sessions, which will be part of the conference. Deadline for receipt of abstracts: end of February.
Beyond The Boundaries: Challenges Of Leadership, Innovation, Integration, And Technology
Rome, 25-29 June, 2002
Co-hosted by St. John’s University and the Russian Academy of Sciences, this conference seeks to focus on unique perspectives on the critical issues related to multi-cultural, economic, technological, social, legal, and regulatory challenges public and private industries and organizations encounter. The Conference will include contributed paper sessions, invited and plenary presentations, case studies, round tables, panels, workshops and forums. Deadline for receipt of abstracts or papers: March 15, 2002.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.