The IPL newsletter: Volume 25, Issue 505

May 1, 2024

News from the IPL

RESEARCH

Shauna Brail and Tara Vinodrai, Intergovernmental Committee for Economic and Labour Force Development (ICE)
This report by IPL affiliated faculty members Tara Vinodrai and Shauna Brail was commissioned by the Intergovernmental Committee for Economic and Labour Force Development (ICE). The ICE Committee was established in 1997 by officials in the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario, and the City of Toronto to coordinate the economic and labour force development activities of the three governments (and the various departments and ministries within each government) in Toronto. The study analyzes the impacts of remote work on productivity, implications for the future of the city, and best practices in planning for recovery.

Urban Mobility: How the iPhone, COVID, and Climate Changed Everything

Edited by Shauna Brail and Betsy Donald, University of Toronto Press
This forthcoming edited volume by IPL affiliated faculty member Shauna Brail and IPL Affiliate Betsy Donald is now available for pre-order. The book explores the profound changes associated with technological innovation, pandemic-induced impacts on travel behaviour, and the urgent need for mobility to meaningfully respond to the climate crisis. Featuring contributions from leading Canadian and American scholars and researchers, this edited collection traverses disciplines including geography, engineering, management, policy studies, political science, and urban planning. Chapters illuminate novel research findings related to a variety of modes of mobility, including public transit, e-scooters, bike sharing, ride hailing, and autonomous vehicles. Contributors draw out the connections between urban challenges, technological change, societal need, and governance mechanisms. The collection demonstrates why the smart phone, COVID-19, and climate present a crucial lens through which to understand the present and future of urban mobility. The way we move in cities has been disrupted and altered because of technological innovation, the lingering impacts of COVID-19, and efforts to reduce transport-related emissions. Urban Mobility concludes that the path forward requires good public policy from all levels of government, working in partnership with the private sector and non-profits to direct and address the best urban mobility framework for Canadian cities.

Editor's Pick

Canada’s housing obsession is cannibalizing productivity

Charles St-Arnaud, Alberta Central
This report by Alberta Central Chief Economist Charles St-Arnaud finds that investment in machinery, equipment and intellectual property as a share of GDP has been consistently lower in Canada than in the US and Australia. Moreover, while this type of investment increased as a share of GDP in the US since the late 2000s, Canada’s measure declined to about half of that of the US (5% vs 10%). In contrast, residential investment has diverged from that of the US and Australia since the late 2000s, reaching 8.5% of GDP. This is more than double the comparative figure in the US and more than 3 percentage points higher than in Australia. Most of this increase in Canada is attributable to a rise in renovation and homeownership transfer costs (i.e. housing market churn). As a result, Canadians now spend as much per year as a share of GDP on renovations and homeownership transfer costs as they spend on machinery, equipment and intellectual property. In other words, Canada is investing more in less productive investments than improving the stock of capital. This shortfall contributes to Canada's overall under performance in labour productivity, which is 30% below the US, Sweden and Denmark, 40% below Norway, and 5% below Australia, falling to 22nd in the OECD from 6th in 1970.

Cities & Regions

Honda to Build Canada’s First Comprehensive Electric Vehicle Supply Chain, Creating Thousands of New Jobs in Ontario

Office of the Premier
This page summarizes a recent announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford welcoming Honda Canada’s milestone investment of approximately $15 billion to create Canada’s first comprehensive electric vehicle supply chain, located in Ontario. This large-scale project will see four new manufacturing plants in Ontario. Honda will build an innovative and world-class electric vehicle assembly plant – the first of its kind for Honda Motor Co. Ltd. – as well as a new stand-alone battery manufacturing plant at Honda’s facilities in Alliston, Ontario. To complete the supply chain, Honda will also build a cathode active material and precursor (CAM/pCAM) processing plant through a joint venture partnership with POSCO Future M Co., Ltd. and a separator plant through a joint venture partnership with Asahi Kasei Corporation. Once fully operational in 2028, the new assembly plant will produce up to 240,000 vehicles per year. It is estimated that Honda’s new investments in eligible EV supply chain segments could benefit from federal support in the range of $2.5 billion through the proposed EV Supply Chain investment tax credit and the proposed Clean Technology Manufacturing investment tax credit. In addition, the Government of Ontario will provide support of up to $2.5 billion for these segments through various direct and indirect incentives. In the last four years, automotive and battery makers have announced more than $31 billion in investments in electric vehicle manufacturing across Canada. Also see this Globe and Mail article expanding on the reasons why Honda Canada chose Ontario for this investment.

Statistics

Multifactor productivity growth estimates and industry productivity database, 2022

Statistics Canada
Multifactor productivity, measured as output per unit of combined labour and capital inputs, increased 0.6% in the Canadian business sector in 2022, following a decline of 2.2% in 2021. The increase in multifactor productivity in 2022 reflected a 4.4% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and a 3.8% growth in the combined inputs of capital and labour. Multifactor productivity measures the extent of efficiency in the use of inputs in the production process. Growth in multifactor productivity is often associated with technological change, organizational change or economies of scale. Overall, multifactor productivity declined slightly from 2019 to 2022, by 0.1% per year. Investment in capital, a main contributor to the growth in labour productivity in the business sector in Canada, declined following the collapse of commodity prices that started in 2014.

2024 Innovation Report Card: Benchmarking Canada’s Innovation Performance

The Conference Board of Canada
Innovation is the process through which economic or social value is extracted from knowledge –by creating, diffusing, and transforming ideas – to produce new or improved products, services, and processes. This year’s Report Card assesses 21 indicators of Canada’s innovation performance. Overall, Canada ranks 15th when compared with 19 peer nations and earns a C rating. Currently, is Canada performing better or worse than in previous years? What are the country’s chances of recovery over the next few years? On which indicators does Canada score below average and on which indicators does it show strength? The 2024 Report Card identifies seven areas that potentially could improve Canada’s innovation performance. What constitutes those areas? Read the impact paper to get the full analysis.

Global EV Outlook 2024

IEA
The Global EV Outlook is an annual publication that identifies and assesses recent developments in electric mobility across the globe. It is developed with the support of members of the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI). Combining analysis of historical data with projections – now extended to 2035 – the report examines key areas of interest such as the deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, battery demand, investment trends, and related policy developments in major and emerging markets. It also considers what wider EV adoption means for electricity and oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The report includes analysis of lessons learned from leading markets, providing information for policy makers and stakeholders on policy frameworks and market systems that support electric vehicle uptake.

Innovation Policy

Assessing Canadian Innovation, Productivity, and Competitiveness

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF’s) Canadian Centre for Innovation and Competitiveness
This report—the first of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF’s) Canadian Centre for Innovation and Competitiveness—examines nature and causes of Canada’s struggling innovation, productivity, and competitiveness (IPC) performance. The report first clarifies the three concepts of IPC before presenting data on Canadian IPC, comparing performance with the United States and six other comparator nations (Australia, China, Germany, South Korea, Poland, and the United Kingdom). Finally, it lays out the following ten overarching principles we believe should guide future IPC policy efforts. See here for the video of the launch event.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Preliminary Terms with Micron to Onshore Leading-Edge Memory Chip Production in U.S. for First Time in Decades

The U.S. Department of Commerce
The U.S. Department of Commerce and Micron Technology have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide up to roughly $6.14 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to boost U.S. competitiveness in leading-edge memory semiconductor production. The proposed funding would support the construction of two leading-edge Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) fabs in New York, the first step in Micron’s two-decade vision to invest approximately $100 billion in New York and create roughly 13,500 facility and construction jobs. In addition, the proposed funding would unlock a $25 billion investment in a DRAM fab in Idaho, which will be co-located with Micron’s R&D facilities in Boise and create approximately 6,500 facility and construction jobs. Together, these investments would advance the company’s plans to onshore approximately 40% of their DRAM chip production over the next two decades.

Policy Digest

Transformative policies and anticipatory governance are key to optimising benefits and managing risks of new emerging technologies

OECD
This post summarizes the outputs from the recent ministerial-level of OECD science and technology ministers, highlighting the need for governments to develop co-ordinated approaches to harness the opportunities of new and emerging technologies, while better managing future risks. Participants in the OECD Science and Technology Policy Ministerial 2024 – which drew high-level representatives from more than 50 countries – agreed on the need for policies to foster the development of and adaptation to technologies such as neurotechnology, synthetic biology and quantum technology.

Outputs

In their final Declaration, Ministers called for transformative Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies to accelerate sustainability transitions and the embedding of shared values in international co-operation and technology governance, alongside policies to make STI more inclusive.

Ministers and high-level representatives from OECD countries, the European Union and partner economies welcomed a new OECD Framework for Anticipatory Governance of Emerging Technologies that promotes responsible innovation and offers tools to help governments identify and address the ethical, social, and legal implications for technological developments before they become entrenched. The Framework also offers governments and innovators pathways to promote and embed key values in technology development through upstream technology assessment, early deliberation and stakeholder engagement, agile regulatory approaches and international scientific co-operation.

They also welcomed a new Agenda for Transformative Science, Technology and Innovation Policies designed to drive responsible and equitable research, development and innovation. The Agenda offers practical guidance for policymakers to formulate and implement Science, Technology and Innovation reforms. It also outlines key policy actions, including accelerating the productivity of research through AI and automation in science, investing in building digital expertise and specialised skills, and aligning national Science, Technology and Innovation priorities and co-ordinate funding for research and innovation activities to address global challenges.

The Framework and the Agenda both draw on prior OECD work and legal instruments, and are designed to equip governments and other innovation actors to anticipate and get ahead of governance challenges and build longer-term capacities to shape innovation more effectively.

Next Steps

Ministers called on the OECD to develop tools for monitoring education and training to promote talent, inclusivity, mobility and careers in research and innovation, including through the launch of a new observatory on research and innovation careers. They also called for strengthening the evidence base for STI strategies and policies, through statistical improvements and strategic intelligence and foresight that will support the implementation and evaluation of both the transformative STI policy agenda and anticipatory governance framework.

Events

EVENTS

ISS2024

June 9-11, 2024, Gothenburg, Sweden
ISS2024 is the 20th biennial conference of The International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society. The conference takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden, between Sunday 9th June and Tuesday 11th June, 2024. The ISS2024 conference theme is "Transformation: Creative Accumulation and Creative Destruction in the Economy". The Deadline for submitting abstracts is Jan. 15th 2024.

2024 RSA Annual Conference: Global Challenges, Regional Collaboration and the Role of Places

11-14 June 2024, Florence, Italy
The Regional Studies Association’s Annual Conference 2024 #RSA24 is being held in partnership with the Department of Economics and Business Sciences and Department of Architecture, University of Florence, Italy. This four-day conference brings together academics and policymakers to exchange news, views and research findings from the fields of regional studies and science, regional and economic development, policy and planning.

2024 Industry Studies Association Annual Conference

June 13-15, 2024, Sacramento, CA, USA
This year's ISA conference is titled Empowering Community Wellbeing: Clean Energy, Sustainability and Industrial Strategy and will be held at California State University, Sacramento. In the heart of the world’s largest subnational economy, California, the Industry Studies Association proudly presents its annual conference with a theme that resonates with the future of our planet and communities. The conference will explore the dynamic interplay between California's pioneering efforts in clean energy and sustainability and their profound impacts on industrial strategy and community wellbeing around the world. Call for Paper and Panel Submissions

Technology Transfer Society Annual Meeting 2024

September 11-13, 2024, Brussels, Belgium
The conference theme is 'Blurring Boundaries and Ambiguous Roles: Universities and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.' The deadline for abstract submissions is February 15, 2024.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ikerbasque Research Fellows 2024

The Basque Foundation for Science is launching a new international call for 20 positions for promising young postdoctoral researchers to strengthen scientific research in the Basque Country. 5-YEAR POSITION: During the last year the researcher can be assessed to obtain a permanent position. PHD DEGREE: Between Jan 2013-Dec 2021. APPLICATIONS FROM WOMEN Are especially welcome.

Subscriptions & Comments

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This newsletter is prepared by Travis Southin.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe