News from the IPL
ANNOUNCEMENT
This is the final issue of the Innovation Policy Lab Newsletter. IPL Co-Director David Wolfe has overseen this bi-weekly newsletter since its first issue in 2000. Travis Southin has been the editor since 2019, producing every issue since taking over from previous editors Jen Nelles, Tijs Creutzberg and Matthew Lucas. The newsletter has been supported through its existence by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, in its various incarnations, the Office of the Vice President Research, Innovation and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Toronto and the Munk Chair of Innovation Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Throughout its 26 year life, the newsletter's mission has remained the same: to mobilize academic research and public policy analysis to support more effective innovation policy at the local, regional and national levels. This includes research from IPL affiliated faculty and students at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, as well as from external sources. We want to thank our loyal readership of innovation policy practitioners, scholars, and other experts. This project could not have been possible without your unwavering support throughout the years. We are truly appreciative of the opportunity to have contributed to such a vibrant community of scholars and practitioners.
We encourage our readers to keep up to date on all future IPL events and research directly through our website.
This issue features retrospective items from earlier issues for each of the newsletter's sections. All previous issues of the IPL Newsletter can be accessed here by hovering your cursor over the 'Newsletter' tab at the top of the page.
We are truly grateful for your continued support of the IPL Newsletter!
Feedback from our readers:
“I must say how continually impressed I am with the quality of the summaries, and the comprehensiveness of the articles, reports and events that are identified. For our research staff and executives, this is the go-to synopsis to keep us up to date on what is happening in Canada, and globally, on innovation policy. For many, many years it has been a mainstay of our policy capacity to advise government, academic and business clients. It is a terrific service from the Munk School and University of Toronto, and is very much appreciated.”
- Dave Watters, President, Global Advantage Consulting
"Congratulations on putting out your 500th issue of the Innovation Policy Lab newsletter! It is a testament to its usefulness that although I am retiring from my position as a senior policy advisor at the City of Toronto, I am resubscribing through my personal email in order to continue receiving this valuable resource. I look forward to reading the latest news from IPL in your next 500 issues! Best wishes"
- Susan Brown, Senior Policy Advisor, Economic Development and Culture, City of Toronto
"The Innovation Policy Lab Newsletter is a valuable tool for staying connected to innovation policy trends. It covers timely research that reflects the importance of rethinking innovation to tackle the major challenges of the 21st century."
- Bruno Arcand, PhD Candidate, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University
“The IPL newsletter plays a key role in helping us stay current with recent research, statistics, events and doings- congratulations to the team on reaching the 500th issue, and here is hoping for many future editions"
- Iain Stewart
“As someone who has been working on science, technology and innovation policy issues for almost 20 years, I am so pleased to learn of this milestone! Congratulations! Alerted to this excellent resource years ago through Nobina Robinson, former CEO of Polytechnics Canada, the IPL is a key resource for myself and our students. A particular strength lies in the wide range of sources provided such as statistics, policy announcements, and in-depth reports, coupled with its focus on innovation and public policy in Canada and beyond – an issue that touches across numerous sectors and areas, including national/regional economic development, housing, and sustainability.”
Alexandra Mallett, Associate Professor and Graduate Supervisor – Master of Public Policy in Sustainable Energy and the Environment (MPP-SEE), School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), Carleton University
EVENTS
Federal Budget 2025 - Implications for the Higher Education Sector
December 2, 2025 | Recording of online web broadcast.
The 2025 Federal Budget has profound implications for the direction for Canada’s economy and society at a time of heightened global uncertainty, fiscal constraint, and new national missions related to defence, housing, innovation, and productivity. These shifts will impact the higher education sector both directly and indirectly. Given the role of Canada’s universities in research, talent development, and innovation capacity, what are the implications of the budget for their role.
This session examined the following issues:
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The overall contours and priorities of the 2025 Federal Budget.
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Key shifts in spending priorities and how these reflect new government missions.
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The implications for Canadian universities in areas such as research funding, student recruitment and support, partnerships, and innovation policy.
This event was hosted by the Innovation Policy Lab (IPL), Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Institute for Collaborative Innovation (ICI) and Global Advantage Consulting (GA).
Speakers:
David Watters - President and Founder - Institute for Collaborative Innovation
Shannon Storey - President and COO - Global Advantage Consulting Group
Leah Cowen - Vice-President, Research, Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives, University of Toronto
Discussants:
Dan Breznitz -
Munk Chair of Innovation Studies and Co-Director, Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affaris & Public Policy, University of Toronto
David Wolfe - Chair - Co-Director, Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affaris & Public Policy, University of Toronto
RESEARCHERS
How Can Innovation Influence Ontario's Industrial Future? | The Rundown
This is a recording of IPL Co-Director David Wolfe's appearance on TVO's The Rundown to discuss industrial policy. Description of program: "The province has focused its industrial policy on automotive, EVs, nuclear, AI, and more. But could a formal industrial policy framework help us become more globally competitive? And could innovation be the thing to drive it?"
Editor's Pick
Expert Panel on Intellectual Property, Report to the Government of Ontario
This report was featured as the Policy Digest in issue #417 in 2020. It was selected for inclusion in this issue as an excellent illustration of the contribution members of the Innovation Policy Lab have made to Ontario's regional system of innovation. Innovation Policy Lab Affiliated Faculty Shiri M. Breznitz was one of the four other members of the expert panel, including Myra Tawfik, Dan Herman, and Natalie Raffoul. This report from the Expert Panel on Intellectual Property responds to the Government of Ontario’s request to “develop an action plan for the development of a provincial intellectual property framework that fully exploits the potential benefits of Ontario’s investments in research and development and maximizes the role that Ontario’s innovation intermediaries can play in supporting this framework.” Created in Spring 2019, the Expert Panel is part of the Government of Ontario’s efforts to “review, update and implement policy objectives that advance the prosperity of Ontario in the contemporary economy.”
Cities & Regions
Creating Digital Opportunity for Canada
David A. Wolfe, Co-Director Innovation Policy Lab
This report was originally featured in issue #380 in May 2018. It was selected because it represented the culmination of the findings from the third SSHRC Partnership Grant collaborative research network on innovation clusters led by IP Co-director David Wolfe. This report and all other reports and publications associated with the Creating Digital Opportunity project can be accessed here.
It is no longer possible to underestimate the importance of the digital economy. Not since the introduction of electricity have we seen an interconnected set of technologies with such potential to disrupt established industrial sectors and economic patterns and, in doing so, to generate new opportunities for future generations. The rise of platform firms is creating new opportunities for entrepreneurial start-ups to introduce dynamic new services that turn conventional business models on their heads, and are forcing established companies to follow suit. The result is that platform technologies and the digital networks that support them have become essential tools for businesses across the economy. Most important, the pace of innovation is accelerating, dramatically compressing the time it takes to disrupt established markets. As leading commentators have put it, we are living in an age of exponential growth where digital innovation constantly creates new economic opportunities, but also brings significant disruption. As Canada seeks to harness the unfolding digital revolution as a driver of future growth, three questions stand out:
• What are Canada’s competitive strengths in digital technology?
• Given those strengths, where do the best opportunities lie to grow Canadian companies to global scale?
• What role should government play in supporting the digital economy?
While this report focuses on the opportunities of the digital economy, we cannot ignore the threats. As the repeated examples of the new platform companies has made evident, virtually no sector of the economy is immune to disruption by the rapid spread of digital technologies. The continuing diffusion of cloud computing, social media, data-based technologies, the Internet of Things, and the immanent introduction of 5G mobile technology will only accelerate the trend. The challenge for Canada going forward is to ensure that it turns these potential threats into new opportunities.
Creating Digital Opportunity 5th Annual Conference Papers
In response to the issues identified in the paper above the Innovation Policy Lab established a research partnership to produce the knowledge required to move forward. The Research Partnership on the Digital Economy, including members from 16 universities and 12 partner organizations, has worked together with the goal of situating Canada’s digital opportunity in a global context. It’s fifth annual meeting included presentations from twenty participants on such themes as Canada’s role in East Asian GPNs; the evolving local context for digital firms; digital mining and oil and gas; smart and inclusive Canadian cities; platform economy disruption; global production networks; IT diffusion; and digital inclusion and intelligent communities.
Statistics
Science, Technology and Innovation In Canada: Tracking Our Evolution
Council of Canadian Academies
The Innovation Policy Lab newsletter has tracked the evolution of Canada’s science, technology and innovation (STI) evidence base by repeatedly featuring major Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) assessments — especially those that benchmark national performance, diagnose persistent gaps in Canadian innovation outcomes, and provide authoritative synthesis for federal decision-makers. These back issues featuring CCA’s landmark STI reports reflect the newsletter’s ongoing focus on using expert-panel assessments to frame national innovation policy debates and priorities:
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2006 – The featured report section of Volume 7, Issue 136 highlighted the CCA’s foundational benchmark assessment The State of Science and Technology in Canada, produced in response to a June 2006 federal request to identify Canada’s strengths, capacity, and emerging opportunities in science, technology, and infrastructure.
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2012 – The Editor’s Pick section of Volume 13, Issue 262 featured the CCA’s The State of Science and Technology in Canada, 2012, updating the 2006 benchmark and identifying the scientific disciplines and technological applications where Canada excels globally.
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2013 – The Announcements section of Volume 13, Issue 275 highlighted the CCA report Innovation Impacts: Measurement and Assessment, reflecting growing policy interest in how to measure and evaluate the socio-economic impacts of innovation investments.
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2013 – The Policy Digest section of Volume 14, Issue 281 featured the CCA’s The State of Industrial R&D in Canada, summarizing the expert panel’s assessment of Canada’s business R&D performance and the structural challenges underlying weak industrial innovation outcomes.
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2013 – The Editor’s Pick section of Volume 14, Issue 284 featured the CCA synthesis report Paradox Lost: Explaining Canada’s Research Strength and Innovation Weakness, bringing national attention to the “innovation paradox” and the factors preventing Canada’s research strength from translating into business innovation performance.
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2018 – The featured report/CCA item in Volume 19, Issue 379 highlighted Competing in a Global Innovation Economy: The Current State of R&D in Canada, a flagship assessment of Canada’s R&D and innovation performance in global context. IPL Co-Director David Wolfe served on the expert panel for this report.
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2019 – The Policy Digest section of Volume 20, Issue 406 featured the CCA report Building Excellence: Leading Practices for Transforming Canadian Science Through Infrastructure, emphasizing how research infrastructure governance and evaluation practices underpin long-term STI capacity.
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2023–2024 – The Research section of Volume 24, Issue 498 and Volume 24, Issue 499 highlighted the CCA expert panel report Quantum Potential: Responsible Adoption of Quantum Technologies, reflecting the emergence of quantum readiness and responsible technology adoption as frontier issues in Canadian innovation policy. IPL Affiliated Faculty member Darius Ornston served on the expert panel for this report.
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2025 – The Policy Digest section of Volume 26, Issue 538 featured the CCA’s The State of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Canada 2025, positioning it as the latest instalment in the CCA’s long-running flagship series assessing Canada’s STI performance, trends, and challenges.
Innovation analysis bulletin – Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
This report was featured in Issue #3 in May 2000. It was selected because it provides an interesting snapshot of the last period in Canadian history that Business Expenditure on R&D was streadily increasing each year. See the chart 'Industrial Research and Development, 1996-2000' on page 18 of the report. Since this time, BERD has steadily declined in Canada, while it has steadily increased for Canada's OECD peer countries.
The Innovation analysis bulletin focuses on trends in science, technology, and the information society. It includes updates on government science and technology activities, industrial research and development, intellectual property commercialization, advanced technologies and innovation, biotechnology, connectedness, telecommunications and broadcasting, and electronic commerce. The May 2000 issue contains articles on innovation in service industries, the deployment of science and technology skills, and research and development tax incentives.
Innovation Policy
Book Launch: Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World
Dan Breznitz, Co-Director Innovation Policy Lab
This event was featured in issue #442 in April 2021. In this video, IPL Co-director Dan Breznitz sits down to discuss his new book with The Economists’ US Technology Editor, Ludwig Siegele. For the last few decades, the dominant growth model has been to focus on technological innovation. Yet, while a small number of cities and regions have benefited, many other communities have struggled. In his latest book, Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World, Dan Breznitz sets out to challenge this model and sets out how these communities might succeed. He argues that by understanding the changed structure of the global system of production and then using those insights to enable communities to recognize their own advantages, cities and regions can foster surprising forms of specialized innovation.
Stepping Up: Skills and Opportunities in the Knowledge Economy
Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology
This report was featured in the very first issue of the IPL Newsletter in April 2000. This report was selected as it represents the longstanding and intersecting themes of innovation and skills in Canadian innovation policy. The Expert Panel on Skills, established by the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology, has released their final report, evaluating skill requirements for Canadians in the knowledge economy. The report provides a series of policy recommendations and actions to ensure Canada’s continued participation in the knowledge economy. To download a copy of the report, click here.
Policy Digest
The Innovation Policy Lab newsletter has chronicled the development of Canadian innovation policy in real time over its 25 year life. These back issues featuring key federal strategy documents reflect the newsletter’s ongoing focus on featuring federal innovation strategies as anchor points in the trajectory of Canadian innovation policy:
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2002 – The Editor’s Pick section of Volume 2, Issue 34 highlighted the Allan Rock-era launch of Canada’s Innovation Strategy through the federal reports Achieving Excellence: Investing in People, Knowledge and Opportunity and Knowledge Matters: Skills and Learning for Canadians, marking one of the earliest “keystone” innovation policy moments chronicled by the newsletter. (Industry Canada / HRDC).
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2007 – The Announcements section of Volume 8, Issue 159 referenced the Harper Government’s Science and Technology Strategy, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage, connecting it to institutional developments like the creation of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council and signalling a shift toward a more formalized federal STI strategy framework.
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2014 – The Policy Digest section of Volume 15, Issue 310 summarized the Harper Government’s Seizing Canada’s Moment in Science, Technology and Innovation, presenting it as a strategic update that built on the 2007 S&T Strategy and reinforcing the newsletter’s role in documenting successive federal STI strategy iterations. (Industry Canada).
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2019 – The Policy Digest section of Volume 19, Issue 396 summarized the Trudeau Government’s Building a Nation of Innovators report, framing it within Canada’s Innovation and Skills Plan. (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada). This issue was one of the first from IPL Newsletter Editor Travis Southin, whose 2022 PhD dissertation (supervised by David Wolfe) focused on the barriers to policy change encountered by the Trudeau government in implementing the Innovation and Skills Plan.
Events
Comments
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think will find it of value. If you have questions, please contact us at ipl.munkschool@utoronto.ca .
This newsletter is prepared by Travis Southin.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe