News from the IPL
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dan Breznitz awarded Donner Prize
IPL Co-director and University of Toronto University Professor Dan Breznitz has been awarded the Donner Prize for the best public policy book by a Canadian for his latest book, Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World, published by Oxford University Press.
Dan Breznitz awarded Balsillie Prize for Public Policy
IPL Co-director and University of Toronto University Professor Dan Breznitz has been awarded the Balsille Prize for Public Policy by the Writers’ Trust of Canada for his latest book, Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World, published by Oxford University Press.
David Wolfe nominated to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Council of Canadian Academies
IPL Co-director David Wolfe was recently nominated to serve on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Council of Canadian Academies. The role of the Scientific Advisory Committee is to advise the CCA’s Board on assessment topics, expert panel composition, and peer review.
RESEARCH
Shiri M. Breznitz, Helen Lawton Smith, & Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, Regional Studies
This intro to a recent Regional Studies special issue is co-authored by IPL affiliated faculty member Shiri M. Breznitz. The role of universities in regional development has grown significantly over the past two decades. One strand of analysis has been that of the university in regional innovation systems (RIS). However, the contribution of university students has largely been neglected. This special issue contributes to the RIS literature by unpacking the RIS concept through exploring this specific aspect of university engagement in regional economies. The nine papers collectively offer an understanding of the effects of student activity upon the knowledge, skill and entrepreneurial bases of regions. The papers provide evidence and analysis from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.
Breaking Canada’s Innovation Inertia
Dan Munro, Darius Ornston, David A. Wolfe, IRPP Policy Options
Discussions about Canada’s innovation performance have followed a familiar narrative for decades. We are among the world’s leading countries for educational attainment and we produce science and ideas on pace with advanced economic peers. But our productivity and economic growth have stalled due to weak innovation among Canadian firms. Business investment in research and development. In this article, IPL researchers Dan Munro, Darius Ornston, and David Wolfe argue that if the measures in the 2022 federal budget create a firmer and more consistent foundation for experimentation, it represents a valuable step in the right direction.
The pandemic forced Canadian business out of a tech lethargy. What happens next?
Daniel Munro, Creig Lamb, IRPP Policy Options
This IRPP Policy Options article presents findings co-authored by IPL Fellow and Director Policy Projects Daniel Munro. The article asserts that Canadian businesses need a fundamental shift to adopt and invest in new technology more quickly and keep up with other countries. The findings draw from the author’s Shift Insights report titled ‘Canada’s Digital Imperative: Enabling Innovation and Growth Through Technology Adoption.’
The Platform Economy and Competition Policy: Options for Canada
David A. Wolfe and Mdu Mhlanga, IPL Working Paper 2022-2
The report examines some of the new policy perspectives that have emerged from the academic and policy-oriented literature to deal with the challenge posed by the dominance of platform firms, with a particular focus on the limitations of existing competition policy authorities to deal with the full dimensions of the current challenge. It considers a set of alternative recommendations currently being advanced and the need for a ‘whole of government’ approach to deal with the issue. Policy approaches recently adopted or currently under consideration in other jurisdictions, especially the EU, UK and US are examined, and the implications of this trend for policy development in Canada are considered. The report concludes with a preliminary set of recommendations for the most effective policy approach for Canada, considering its position as a small, open trading country in the global economy and its traditional role as a technology taker, not technology setter.
Into the Scale-up-verse: Exploring the landscape of Canada’s high-performing firms
Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and The Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship
Scale-ups, or high-growth firms, are responsible for the vast majority of productivity growth in Canada, making them an immensely powerful tool in the pursuit of Canada’s long-term economic stability and prosperity. However, only 1 in 100 young firms reach scale-up status within their first ten years. How can we harness, support, and amplify the power of scale-ups and their contributions to the Canadian economy? A collaboration between the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and The Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, this new study, Into the Scale-up-verse, takes the first step toward better equipping policymakers to support the success of Canadian firms by unpacking the complexity and nuance in Canada’s diverse scale-up universe. The research was initiated and funded by Delvinia in partnership with Mitacs and the IPL, and conducted jointly with BII&E. The report analyzes the most recent and detailed data set concerning Canadian business dynamics to provide a novel and comprehensive guide for those in a position—such as academic researchers, industry players, and government policymakers—to design supportive economic policy and facilitate productive conversations about Canada’s scale-ups.
Elena Goracinova, Patrick Galvin, David A. Wolfe, Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
The adoption of the USMCA (the United States-Mexico-Canada) trade agreement and the transition to electric and autonomous vehicles has created uncertainty for automotive companies. In response, the need for government efforts to position traditional automotive regions as a source of high-quality, green vehicles is pressing. The policy mix is changing rapidly as the public sector and firms cope with the challenges associated with new trade confrontations and disruptive technologies. The article captures this evolving policy landscape through a comparative analysis of automotive policy with respect to BEVs in the US and Germany. It examines how innovation policies help the sector navigate the current technological transition. We find that theories grounded in traditional comparative political science do not provide an adequate framework to explain the observed similarities and differences in policy trajectories in the two countries. The article adopts insights from the networked industrial policy perspective to better understand the repertoire of policy instruments adopted to manage the changing impact of alternative energy technologies in the automotive industry.
Keywords: automotive; electrification; US; Germany; comparative politics; technological transformation.
Editor's Pick
SDTC presents Canada’s Sustainability Changemakers 2022
Sustainable Development Technology Canada
This new distinction awarded by SDTC is the first “made-in Canada” list recognizing homegrown innovation. The 10 companies were awarded the distinction during SDTC’s Annual Leadership Summit in Ottawa. The companies chosen as Canada’s Sustainability Changemakers for 2022 have been selected following a rigorous evaluation process consisting of five criteria: Steady annual revenues of over $10M; A compound annual growth rate of 20% or more over the last three years; Significant sustainable benefits and impact measured per SDTC’s proprietary methods of quantifying environmental benefits; Global footprint; and Canadian presence and contribution to the local economy: at least 50% of the workforce and significant operations must be Canada-based and the company must demonstrate job growth.
Cities & Regions
The European Commission
The Commission announced the 63 regions, seven cities and four Member States selected in the pilot project for Partnerships for Regional Innovation, an initiative developed together with the Committee of the Regions. These Partnerships will feed into the new Innovation Agenda for Europe. Participants in the pilot action are open to share good practices and to co-develop and test tools to mobilise multiple sources of funding and policies, and connect regional and national programmes to EU initiatives for the green and digital transformations. The participants in the pilot project will explore the new Partnerships for Regional Innovation based on the ‘Partnerships for Regional Innovation Playbook’, an initial guidance document published recently by the Joint Research Centre.
Statistics
Jobs and Skills in the Transition to a Net-Zero Economy: A Foresight Exercise
Ted Rogers School of Management’s Diversity Institute
This report presents a foresight exercise that models the jobs and skills that would be required in a net-zero economy across a set of distinct futures. There are many ways that Canada could reach net-zero emissions. This report considers three pathways: A lower-carbon-intensity pathway with high rates of fuel switching in favour of end-use electrification; A higher-carbon-intensity pathway that relies less on fuel switching and more on carbon capture or direct air capture (DAC) technologies; A middle-ground that contains elements of both and a greater reliance on carbon offsets.
Innovation Policy
Goda Naujokaitytė, Science | Business
This post by Science|Business summarizes a leaked draft of the upcoming European Innovation Agenda that outlines the European Commission’s five major initiatives to make the EU a global innovation leader. The Agenda aims to make Europe a deep tech start-up leader. The Commission hopes to adopt it in July.
HHS.gov U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra recently announced the formal establishment of the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as an independent entity within the National Institutes of Health and the appointment of Adam H. Russell, D.Phil., as acting deputy director.
A plan for achieving gender equality in the research and innovation system
The European Commission
Despite a long history of scientific achievements, women remain acutely under-represented in scientific research and academia. By promoting the use of Gender Equality Plans, the EU-funded SUPERA project aimed to address the inequalities, stereotypes and discrimination that contribute to this shortfall. According to the recent She Figures report commissioned by the European Commission, women outnumber men as students and graduates, yet they represent only one third of researchers, and only a quarter of full professorship positions are held by women.
European Innovation Council launches the Scale up 100 call
The European Innovation Council
To bolster EU competitiveness in the world where tech and disruptive innovations are growing in relevance, the European Innovation Council (EIC) has launched the EIC Scale-Up 100 call (coordination and support action), which is now open for applications. The goal of this new initiative is to identify, promote, and support the growth of 100 promising deep tech companies that show the potential to become ‘unicorns’ (with a value of over €1 billion). The winning entity or consortia will receive European Commission’s funding to help companies develop their corporate and leadership strategies, reach strategic investors and partners, expand internationally and obtain access to other scale-up support programmes.
Policy Digest
The contribution of RTOs to socio-economic recovery, resilience and transitions
Philippe Larrue and Orestas Strauka , OECD
This paper analyses the evolution of the funding, governance and policy context of research and technology organisations (RTOs) over the last ten years, and the implications of these changes on their ability to achieve their mission. It shows that their contribution to solving societal challenges is now tightly intertwined with their historical mission of supporting innovation in industry and public administrations. Delivering on this increasingly demanding mission in evolving and sometimes unstable funding frameworks has led them to experiment with new internal organisational structures, business models and partnerships. The paper also draws implications for policy makers who play a key role in setting the environment in which RTOs operate and that determines in part their ability to deliver on the twin imperatives of strengthening economic competitiveness and tackling societal challenges.
The study also proposes a typology of RTOs. Four types are distinguished: i) Network-based RTOs; ii) Application sector-focused RTOs; iii) Technology-focused RTOs and; iv) Medium to large integrated RTOs.
Implications for policy
The fieldwork, analysis and consultations conducted in the context of this study,
call for:
- Launching a pilot study with a few countries to measure the specific contributions of RTOs to their national policies, paving the way toward a more systematic recognition of RTOs in national classifications;
- Reviewing and benchmarking RTOs’ national basic funding schemes to enable them to best contribute to societal challenges with the adequate time horizons, scale and scope;
- Enabling the structural changes of RTOs and network of RTOs;
- Improving the specific framework conditions at national and supranational levels to ensure a fair and homogenous treatment of RTOs;
- Ensuring the funding of the experimentation of novel sociotechnical solutions, including through the support to the development and maintenance of technology infrastructures;
- Conducting a reflection on how to strengthen European networks of RTOs with unique expertise and infrastructures in key technology areas to gain scale and increase capabilities;
- Reviewing and improving the various collaborative incentives and funding
Links to recent IPL webinars
The Politics of Decarbonization
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
The transition to a post-carbon energy and economic paradigm is a stated priority for all the signatories to the Paris Accord, including Canada. Success in achieving this objective will depend on a complex mix of policy experimentation and coalition building in support of that objective, cutting across virtually every sector of the economy. This panel will explore some of the dimensions of that process and the prospects for success in achieving that objective.
Moderator: David A. Wolfe is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Co-Director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Panelists:
- Brendan Haley is Policy Research Director at Efficiency Canada, a research and advocacy organization based at Carleton University. He has a PhD in Public Policy from Carleton University and was awarded a Banting postdoctoral fellowship where his work examined Canadian energy transitions from political economy and technological innovation perspectives.
- Sara Hastings-Simon is macro energy system researcher and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary where she directs the Masters of Science in Sustainable Energy Development.
- Nathan Lemphers is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smart Prosperity Institute where he researched the regional political economy of electric vehicles. Sponsored by the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
National Governments & Innovation Policy: Where – and What – Is Utopia?
This is a recording of a January 10 panel focused on national governments and Innovation policy. Canada, the Nordics, Taiwan? In this webinar, panelists examined the diverse roles played by national governments in setting the stage for innovation, as well as the key elements that ought to be considered in formulation of innovation policy in Canada and elsewhere.
Speakers:
- Susana Borras, Professor, Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen Denmark
- Dan Breznitz, University Professor and Munk Chair of Innovation Studies; Co-Director, Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School; Clifford Clark Visiting Economist, Department of Finance, Government of Canada
- Darius Ornston, Associate Professor, Munk School
- Joseph Wong, Vice-President, International, University of Toronto; Roz and Ralph Halbert Professor of Innovation, Munk School; Professor, Department of Political Science
Moderator:
- Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor, Financial Times, and Global Economic Analyst, CNN
From Science to Entrepreneurship
This is a recording of the Nov. 15th, 2021 webinar. There is a plethora of research on university commercialization and technology transfer. However, there is less of a discussion on the skillset and technical capabilities that allow a scientist to become an entrepreneur. In this webinar we will focus on these skills and programs that induce entrepreneurship. Moving from the scientist’s lab, to entrepreneurship courses, to forming a startup, to growing the firm within an incubator or accelerator.
Speakers:
- Fabiano Armellini, Associate Professor Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal
- Shiri M. Breznitz, Director, Master of Global Affairs Program; Associate Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto
- Elicia Maine, W.J. VanDusen Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Academic Director, Invention to Innovation (i2I); Special Advisor on Innovation to the VPRI, Simon Fraser University
- Sophie Veilleux, Professor, Department of Management of the Faculty of Business Administration at Université Laval
- Sarah Lubik (moderator), Director of Entrepreneurship; Co-Champion, Technology Entrepreneurship@SFU Lecturer, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University
Canada’s Quantum Internet: Prospects and Perils
This is a recording of the April 20, 2021 webinar that together experts to discuss the political, economic, and scientific implications of quantum communications, for Canada and the world .Speakers: Francesco Bova, Associate Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Anne Broadbent, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; Jon Lindsay, Assistant Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and Department of Political Science, University of Toronto; Christoph Simon, Professor and Associate Head, Research, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary; & Dan Patterson (moderator), Technology Reporter, CBS News
Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship in Canada
This is a recording of the March 23rd 2021 webinar focused on the importance of IP protection for entrepreneurship, the intellectual property environment in Canada, and existing support for firms. Panelists discussed issues relating to their firm’s ability to secure IP especially as it relates to IP education and the role of government in supporting IP protection. Speakers: Seray Çiçek, Ryan Hubbard, Graeme Moffat, Moderator: Shiri Breznitz
Events
Global Conference on Economic Geography 2022
June 7-10, Dublin, Ireland
Under the umbrella topic “Territorial Development”, Trinity College Dublin & University College Dublin invites you to participate in the sixth Global Conference on Economic Geography 2022 to be held in Dublin, Ireland. The conference is organized into 13 session themes – see list below which also provides a link to the detailed theme description. All session theme leaders welcome submissions to their respective themes via the submission portal. In addition, there is also a long list of Special Sessions that are associated with these themes – see list further below which again provides a link for a detailed description for each of these. All Special Session organizers welcome submissions again via the submission portal.
Subscriptions & Comments
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This newsletter is prepared by Travis Southin.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe