The IPL newsletter: Volume 3, Issue 39

Networking Canada’s Innovation Networks

Here is the summary report from a meeting, co-hosted by The Conference Board of Canada and the Canadian Technology Network of the National Research Council in September 2001, that examined Canada’s innovation networks. The meeting discussed several aspects of networking including networking models that could lead to increasing the performance and international competitiveness of Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises, future steps to develop innovation networks in a global environment, and the strengthening of the relationships among key innovation networks in Canada.

New Economy, New Recession?

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

This article examines the 2001 recession by comparing it with previous recessions and investigating whether an added degree of resilience and flexibility is evident in the economy. The evidence demonstrates that the U.S. economy has become more stable as illustrated by the relative mildness of the most recent recession. The IT sector has not been an important direct contributor to the economy’s improved cyclical performance. However, the fact that much of the economy’s increased stability has originated in the inventory investment and consumer durables sectors suggests that the widespread application of new information technologies to inventory control and consumer lending has played a role in reducing the economy’s fluctuations.

Indicators of Technology-based Competitiveness

D. Roessner et al., Georgia Institute of Technology

Here is collection of papers on the viability and reliability of various indicators for evaluating high-technology competitiveness. Topics include the use of non-manufacturing industries in the definition of “high tech” and in lead indicators (by D. Roessner), incorporating emerging or leading-edge technologies (by A. Porter), using patent data as indicators for high technology industrial competitiveness (by N. Newman) and incorporating measures of social capital in the HTI model (by D. Roessner).

Financial Systems, Innovation and Economic Performance

T. Block, MERIT

This paper investigates the role of financial systems as a crucial determinant of apparent differences in national abilities to promote innovative activities in specific sectors.  According to the author, national financial systems have an impact on the structure of growth through their differing abilities to promote innovation in sector-specific technology regimes. An analysis of data from 17 OECD countries and 20 manufacturing industries shows that financial systems with large stock markets, competitive banking sectors and good accounting standards was better for product innovation and high tech opportunity than bank-oriented systems with concentrated ownership structures.

The Regulatory Environment Applying to Universities

P. Fox Lawyers, Department of Education, Science and Training, Government of Australia

Responding to a national trend of declining government support for Australian universities, this report examines the powers and constraints on Australia’s universities to engage in commercialization. Universities are assessed in six main areas including the establishment of acts, of companies and joint ventures, investment and borrowing, land use, intellectual property legislation, and employment. Overall, the report demonstrates that universities in all jurisdictions generally have the ability to establish and participate in companies only where such establishment or participation is within its express, or implicitly recognized, scope of university purposes or functions.

Science & Engineering Indicators – 2002

National Science Foundation

The 2002 bi-annual Indicators report once again confirms the strength of the United States’ support for, and conduct of, research and development (R&D). U.S. R&D expenditures equal the combined total expenditures of Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, while the country’s scientists and engineers produce nearly one-third of the articles published in the world’s most influential technical journals.  As for R&D investment trends, the balance continues to shift with defense-related R&D at a 50-year low of about 14 percent of the total, an increase in the share of basic research to 18 percent and a rapid rise of federal research expenditures in life sciences now at 47 percent of the federal total.