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
Canada Announces Boost to Cutting-Edge Research and Research Talent
The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of NSERC, recently announced that 9900 professors and students will be receiving grants and scholarships from the federal government, in order to do cutting-edge research in the fields of natural sciences and engineering and boost Canada’s position as a world leader in post-secondary research.
TRRA Helps to Position 9 Universities for Mega Collaboration and CFI Funding
Over the past year, TRRA has worked with the region’s universities to identify research areas of active collaboration and areas with the potential for greatly enhanced collaboration. Two research areas have emerged so far: managing water quality in urban and urbanizing watersheds; and thermochemical production of hydrogen. TRRA has worked with the universities to make connections among researchers and to identify infrastructure required to drive research forward on a regional level. Proposals in both water and hydrogen will be going forward to the 2008 Canada Foundation for Innovation/Ontario Research Fund (CFI/ORF) competitions. In each case, success in these competitions will allow researchers in water and hydrogen to scale their research from the laboratory bench to regional field and prototype level activity.
Editor's Pick
Julien Christ, Carl von Ossietsky Universitaet, Oldenburg
The systems of innovation (SI) approach has been established and extended during the last two decades. Although elementary goals and progress have been reached through seminal contributions in designing a generic approach, displaying the dynamics of collaboration, networking and interactive learning, criticism has been raised that systems of innovation are still “undertheorized”. The objective of this paper is to describe briefly the historical evolution of the SI concept within the academic literature and the policy sphere. This review attempts to highlight some of the most important contributions to the framework, by providing more consistency and a more theory-oriented perspective. Consequently, the system concept itself seems to be a kind of “boundary object”. Within both, the academic and the policy field different levels of conceptualization have been advanced that differ in their scale of analysis, taking geographical perspectives, technologies or sectoral classifications as foci for theorizing and empirical research.This paper particularly tries to focus on the difficulties of contemporary research in defining functional and spatial boundaries in theory and empirical research. Agglomeration tendencies, knowledge externalities and localized learning are primarily based upon the concepts of knowledge diffusion, tacit knowledge and proximity. In spite of that, ICT and global business linkages foster inter-regional and transborder knowledge flows. Thus, knowledge diffusion is also related to international and global “pipelines” that could support, strengthen and reinforce localized learning.
Innovation Policy
International Research Collaboration: Opportunities for the UK Higher Education Sector
Technopolis for Universities UK and the UK Higher Education International Unit
This report shows the UK continuing to lead the way in building international research collaborations – but cautions that universities must build on these links in the context of an increasingly globalized research environment. The report finds that strengthening research collaboration is also vital if science is to meet the big global challenges such as climate change and infectious disease. It is also important that the UK continues to attract and retain links with the best scientific talent to ensure that it stays at the centre of global innovation networks. The report reviews trends, examines competitor countries’ policies and UK universities’ management of international research collaboration.
High-Growth SMEs and Innovation Fuel the Entrepreneurial Engine
OECD
After a three-day international workshop on innovation and the global impact of high-growth small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) the OECD issued this official message calling SMEs and innovation the fuel of the entrepreneurial engine. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Party on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurship, at the invitation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, held the workshop at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. Twenty experts from around the world presented their recommendations for how policymakers can encourage entrepreneurship and the fast growth of innovative small firms.
Leaders’ Panel on Innovation Based Commerce: The Importance of Focus
Conference Board of Canada
Canada’s innovation performance needs to improve. Although Canada has numerous companies that excel at innovation, overall performance at the national level is not sufficient to provide the productivity levels needed to maintain the high standard of living Canadians currently enjoy. Focusing on a limited number of areas will allow Canadian leaders from industry, government, academia, and non-government organizations to address the need for a supportive innovation environment. Success in specific areas will ensure that supporting industries and services grow, knowledge and investment deepen, and more resources are devoted to innovation. This briefing looks at the Leaders’ Panel on Innovation-Based Commerce’s work on identifying key opportunities for innovation and the importance of developing a focused national strategy.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Local Development Benefits from Staging International Events
OECD
When international events as OIympic Games, EXPOs, cultural festivals, and political summits are hosted well, they become a catalyst for local development and global reach. This book identifies how international events work as a trigger for local development and what hosting cities and nations can do to ensure that positive local development is realized. It reviews experience from more than 30 cities and nations and it looks forward to future events yet to be hosted.
Maine’s Technology Sectors and Clusters: Status and Strategy 2008
Clusters are an important driver of business growth and economic development in a region. Maine’s technology clusters have grown and evolved significantly since 2002, when Maine’s first analysis of its technology sectors was published. Since that time, researchers have learned more about clusters, what they are, how to measure them and how to nurture them. The Brookings Institution report,Charting Maine’s Future (see policy digest OREDI #171,) as well as several Legislative and state committees have called for a greater investment in the high-potential technology clusters. This study is a step towards implementing the Brookings Institution’s recommendations for an aggressive effort to build and expand clusters. It updates and expands the 2002 MSTF cluster report and also builds upon the work of Porter and others to identify distinctive specializations in Maine’s economy by focusing in much greater detail on the knowledge, skills, networks, and entrepreneurial activities in Maine that make up clusters.
Statistics & Indicators
Infrastructure 2008: A Competitive Advantage
Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young
This report paints a grim picture of the state of America’s infrastructure. The new study, Infrastructure 2008, puts some numbers and analysis behind this reality. At present, the US faces a $170 billion annual funding gap in terms of dollars needed to bring its physical infrastructure up to global standards. While the US spends little to close this gap, other nations are investing for the long haul. For example, China now invests nine percent of gross domestic product to support infrastructure needs. World-class infrastructure, in the form of container ports, high-speed rail, and international air logistics hubs, will help determine which regions succeed in the 21st century economy. The report concludes with a host of recommendations for closing the infrastructure finance gap. Suggestions include more aggressive use of public-private partnerships, consolidation of Federal infrastructure programs, and creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to help fund large-scale projects.
Outsourcing and Offshoring in Canada
John R Baldwin and Wulong Gu, Statistics Canada
This paper has three main objectives. First, it presents the long-term trends in outsourcing and offshoring across Canadian industries. Second, it examines the relationship between offshoring and changes in trade patterns at the industry level. It focuses on two major drivers that some have suggested are behind the recent trends toward offshoring: globalization and technological changes associated with information and communications technologies. Third, the paper examines the economic impact of offshoring by investigating the relationship between the extent of offshoring and productivity growth, shifts to high value-added activities and changes in labour markets.
Policy Digest
Advancing Social Entrepreneurship: Recommendations for Policy Makers and Government Agencies
Andew Wolk, The Aspen Institute
This report examines how government agencies can apply new tools and organizational models designed by entrepreneurs to help solve pressing societal challenges. According to the study, social entrepreneurship offers “a new way to solve old problems.” The report contains numerous case studies of world-class social entrepreneurs, including organizations such as College Summit and New Leaders for New Schools, who embody a new problem-solving approach based on innovation, accountability, and sustainability. The report urges government agencies to help nurture these promising experiments, but not via a typical approach of directing activities from above. Instead, government should promote social innovators via awards programs, more effective evaluations of program impact, better dissemination of research results, and removing barriers, such as tax rules affecting 501(c) non-profits, that impede the development of new organizational forms. Finally, the report recommends creation of a new public-private Social Innovation Fund that would invest in promising social entrepreneurs.
Some of the key findings of the report include:
Finding # 1: Social entrepreneurship is already helping government to benefit Americans by leveraging public and private resources and testing and honing new solutions.
Social entrepreneurship is uniquely positioned to aid government in addressing social problems in two primary ways: (1) leveraging public and private resources and (2) testing and developing solutions.As College Summit Founder J.B. Schramm explains, “Social entrepreneurship offers government a chance to leverage its dollars much farther than ever before. Social entrepreneurs are on the ground. We’re seeing and addressing problems first-hand, and we can share what we are learning on Capitol Hill.”
Finding #2: Government support in a variety of forms has already proven crucial to the success of many of today’s social entrepreneurs.
Isolated incidents of government support of social entrepreneurship on the city, state, and federal levels are already occurring. These include seed funding to research the feasibility of new approaches; policy changes that remove barriers to innovation; consistent federal grants to provide reliable funding; support for replicating a successful model to additional locations; and research and data that assist in providing a thorough understanding of an organization’s target social problem. As Frederick Hess, resident scholar and director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, points out, “In the public sector, government can help ensure that more ideas are able to get entry to the marketplace. Such steps might include removing barriers, providing venture or sustaining capital, and ensuring that it is not inhibiting the flow of human capital toward these organizations.”
Finding #3: Government holds the key to unleashing the full potential of social entrepreneurship to advance solutions to America’s toughest social problems.
In an address delivered in conjunction with the Phoenix Project, former Virginia governor Mark Warner summarized the crucial role that government plays in addressing social problems: “Unless nonprofits and foundations engage with the public sector, they are not really going to accomplish sustainable change. All of the money the Gates Foundation has spent on education during its entire existence wouldn’t fund public education in Virginia for six months.” Government not only spends the lion’s share of financial resources on domestic social problems, but also oversees and has the ability to grant access to the systems—such as education and transportation—that social entrepreneurs seek to improve. As Skoll Foundation’s Lance Henderson puts it, “A lot of people are talking about how public policy—through ideas like new organizational forms, new tax incentives, and other government politics—can be an important lever for change.”
Finding #4: The time has come for a new way of thinking about social problem solving.
Traditionally, government has identified social problems, developed programs to address them, and managed the delivery of them. Yet, government has limited resources with which to address our nation’s social problems. As our nation’s challenges in education, health care, poverty, and many other areas appear more pressing than ever, spending public resources wisely is an imperative. As Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu puts it, “It is not that government is too small or too big. It needs to work better. We need to find ways to solve old problems in new ways, and social entrepreneurship offers us that opportunity.” Michele Jolin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, adds, “It’s not just creating another anti-poverty or other kind of program. It’s about finding and supporting what works.
Roles for Government
The research conducted for the SBA report identified five roles for government in a new era of supporting social entrepreneurship. Government leaders who embrace any or all of these roles are the new public innovators: government officials who support social entrepreneurship—and look to citizens and organizations in the private and nonprofit sectors as partners—in order to accelerate innovative, results-oriented, and sustainable solutions to the nation’s, and the world’s, toughest social problems.
Role for the New Public Innovators
1) Encourage social innovation – For any entrepreneur, the start-up period of an organization is critical. Government can encourage social innovation and help spur the testing of promising new approaches to solving social problems.
2) Create an enabling environment for social entrepreneurship – The very nature of innovation means that social entrepreneurs will be heading into new territory, and they often encounter unexpected barriers along the way. Government can set policies, encourage public-private partnerships, and lift such barriers for social entrepreneurs so that they can make progress more swiftly and easily.
3) Develop standards and produce knowledge for understanding performance – Government already serves as a critical source of standards and data that can advance the field of social entrepreneurship. Government can further that role by helping to develop clear performance standards and producing knowledge that will inform future social entrepreneurship.
4) Reward social-entrepreneurial initiatives for exceptional performance – Access to reliable sources of funding is essential to the growth and sustainability of solutions that work. By tying decisions about funding and purchasing to performance, government can help ensure that solutions that work will sustain and grow their impact.
5) Scale successful approaches – Expanding the reach of a proven solution is critical if it is to become truly transformative. Yet acquiring the recognition, support for dissemination, or funding to scale a successful initiative is notoriously difficult. Government can play a crucial role in scaling successful solutions by seeking out what works and enabling the expansion of proven programs.
Report Recommendations
The report details thirteen recommendations in three categories of action:
Lay the Foundation for a New Era of Social Entrepreneurship
1. Establish institutions that promote and support social entrepreneurship;
2. Allow greater autonomy. Set standards. Publish results;
3. Convene the public, private, and non-profit sectors on critical social issues to advance solutions;
4. Develop awards programs to recognize and reward innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions;
5. Educate all three sectors in social entrepreneurship’s new approach to social problem solving.
Set Policy to Enable and Encourage Social Entrepreneurship
6. Strive to set policy and remove barriers to encourage social entrepreneurship and scale success;
7. Explore new tax structures to enable new organizational forms;
8. Allocate a percentage of agency budgets towards innovation;
9. Open earmarked funds to competitive processes;
Develop and Leverage Financial and Non-financial Resources to Encourage Social Entrepreneurship
10. Seek partnerships with foundations and corporations to support social entrepreneurial endeavors;
11. Create a public/private social innovation fund;
12. Coordinate volunteer resources to scale solutions;
13. Establish a National Social Innovation Fund.
Events
Photonics North 2008: Closing the Gap Between Theory, Development and Application
Montreal, 2-4 June, 2008
The Photonics North event is thus a unique opportunity to visit a beautiful city, participate in an outstanding international event and meet with representatives from numerous innovative photonics companies.
IRE Conference: Innovation Governance – Enhancing Interaction in the Regional Innovation System
Rennes, France, 5-6 June, 2008
In today’s world, where knowledge is available from a variety of sources, neither companies nor regions can afford to rely exclusively on their own resources for innovation. They need to interact with other people and organizations and draw on other fields of expertise to exploit their full innovation potential. Many regions have discovered that being a host to useful resources such as companies, research institutes and innovation support organisations is not enough – a climate with networking, exchange and trust between the various actors is necessary. A key challenge for innovation policy governance in European regions is therefore to foster such a climate of open attitudes and cooperation within regional innovation systems – and beyond, since useful contacts and networks do not stop at the geographical borders of a region. Attempts to strengthen innovative clusters and put in place useful mechanisms for knowledge transfer between the research and business sectors are often essential ingredients in the efforts to promote effective regional innovation systems. The aim of this conference is to exchange experience on ways to intensify the interaction between players in regional innovation systems. It will build on outcomes from three Working Groups bringing together IRE member regions with a focus on regional innovation systems, clusters as innovation drivers, and knowledge transfer between research organizations and enterprises. IRE members will share their practical experiences, and group discussions will allow participants to actively exchange opinions about the themes of their interest.
The Summit for American Prosperity: Washington and Metro Areas Working Together
Washington, DC, 12 June, 2008
The Summit program is based on a simple premise: The United States is now fully a metropolitan nation. The largest 100 Metropolitan areas are home to 65 percent of the U.S. population, 68 percent of the nation’s jobs and account for 75 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. These metro areas are our hubs of research and innovation, our centers of human capital, and our gateways of trade and immigration. American competitiveness depends on the health and vitality of our metropolitan areas. The Summit will introduce a new perspective on how to engage the Federal government in a true partnership in support of our MetroNation.
Evidence-Based Policy Making: International Best Practices in Connecting Science and Policy
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 19-20 June, 2008
The aim of this conference is to connect a broad range of views, internationally as well as transdisciplinary on ‘Evidence Based Policy Making’. Seasoned policy makers and experienced researchers from all over the world will give an insight into their own experiences, providing ample examples and concrete tools for evidence based policy making.
Advancing Small Business and Entrepreneurship: From Research to Results
Halifax, 22-25 June, 2008
Please join researchers, educators, policy makers and business service providers from around the world at the 53rd International Council for Small Business (ICSB) World Conference. The theme of the conference is “Advancing Small Business and Entrepreneurship: From Research to Results”. A key aim of the conference is to bridge the gap between research and action.
Mexico City, 22-24 September, 2008
GLOBELICS (Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems) is an international network of scholars who apply the concept of “learning, innovation, and competence building system” (LICS) as their framework and are dedicated to the strengthening of LICS in developing countries, emerging economies and societies in transition. The research aims at locating unique systemic features as well as generic good practices to enlighten policy making relating to innovation, competence building, international competitiveness, regional development, labor market and human capital development. In an increasingly global and knowledge-based competition, management strategies need to be based upon an understanding of these framework conditions and the public policies which seek to regulate the environment. For the sixth conference to be held in Mexico City papers that contribute to the understanding of ‘Styles’ or modes of Development (or Political Economy of Development): paradigms of public policies, conflicts, trade-offs and choices among alternative public policies will be welcome.
Cluster Policy in European Regions 
Berlin, Germany, 22-24 September, 2008
This international conference provides the participants with information on current development of European cluster initiatives and efficient cluster management policies. International experts will demonstrate a wide range of solutions for national and regional authorities in thought-provoking presentations and workshops.
Newcastle, UK, 4-5 September, 2008
It is generally acknowledged that regional economic success in Europe is dependent on an orientation towards a knowledge-based economy, typified either by high value added, creative and science-based industry, or a focus on advanced business services. For those regions lacking such advantages the emphasis of policy has been placed on developing new clusters of knowledge-based industries through a variety of measures including networking activities, university-based initiatives and support for new start-ups. A key problem though has been the absence of a clear understanding of what would constitute progress towards a knowledge-based economy, never mind what should be the most appropriate policies. One particular problem is the lack of consensus between quantitative and qualitative researchers on how to assess the state of the knowledge base and on the nature of the policy objectives. Through the inclusion of varieties of approaches to exploring the regional knowledge economy this seminar will offer opportunities to draw comparisons between the findings of various research strategies. In so doing, the seminar will stimulate a dialogue within which new developments may be initiated to bridge the various research communities and thereby offer new insights into the role of knowledge in regional economic development and subsequent policy implications.
PRIME International Conference 2008
Mexico City, 24-26 September, 2008
Both the Latin American and European countries recognize that innovation and knowledge are central to the future growth and vitality of their economies and the improvement of quality of life of their citizens. To be successful policies aimed at encouraging research and innovation should recognize the importance of specific institutional arrangements and adaptation to the different sectors and knowledge fields. The Europe-Latin America Conference on Science and Innovation Policy will explore the research/knowledge base, the factual and the normative principles that inform those policies, taking account of the current dynamic international context, promoting mutual learning between the communities of researchers, analysts, R&D managers and policy makers. The aim of the conference is: to stimulate the exchange of experiences about science, technology and innovation policies in Latin America and European countries to promote mutual learning, improve the quality of the research in the field, enhance the impact of the research in the policy making and foster the diffusion of the best practices amongst countries of Europe and Latin America, considering an adequate balance between convergence and diversity.
GLOBELICS International Conference 2008
Mexico City, 24-26 September, 2008
For the sixth conference to be held in Mexico City papers that contribute to the understanding of ‘Styles’ or modes of Development (or Political Economy of Development): paradigms of public policies, conflicts, trade-offs and choices among alternative public policies will be welcome. The conference will be organized around the following themes on the following issues: Innovation, economic development and inequality (Education, Health, Employment, Migration, Gender Equity, Income Distribution). The conditions for developing sustainable systems of innovation. Biofuel, energy systems, water supply, transport, tourism and sustainable development. The role of new ‘horizontal technologies’ (ICTs and biotechnologies). Innovation in indigenous knowledge systems and in traditional sectors (e.g. agriculture, handcraft, clothing, eco-tourism, etc.). Factors affecting differences in economic growth rates: convergence vs divergence in productivity and welfare standards. Patterns of sectoral catching-up. Globalization, autonomy/openness and development. The links between microeconomic learning and macroeconomic policies. Forces inducing learning and the expansion of domestic technological capabilities. Innovation, SME and local development. Factors of attractiveness and embeddedness of the MNCs in local/regional/national systems. Privatization of knowledge, Intellectual Property Right (IPR) and development. International cooperation and national innovation policies to face global challenges (poverty, diseases, natural disasters).
Regional Comparative Advantage and Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 9-10 October, 2008
The organizers invite submissions for empirical and theoretical papers on the financing of knowledge-based entrepreneurial firms, on the influence of venture capital on firms’ ability to translate technological advances into successful products, and on the contribution of knowledge-based entrepreneurship to regional dynamics.
Seville, Spain, 16-17 October, 2008
Following the success of 2004 and 2006 events, the International Seville Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) has become a major occasion for FTA experts, practitioners and decision-makers to bring their ideas and knowledge together in a highly interactive environment. As with previous FTA events, the 2008 Conference places emphasis on diversity of views by attracting participants from a wide geographical base. Academics, practitioners as well as public and private sector decision makers from Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australasia are invited to broaden the network and to increase understanding of advances in the field of FTA.
The 5th International Conference on Innovation and Management (ICIM2008)
Maastricht, Netherlands, 10-11 December, 2008
Organized by UNU-MERIT (The Netherlands) and supported by Wuhan University of Technology (China) and Yamaguchi University (Japan), This conference will bring together academics, practitioners and other professionals involved in the filed of innovation and management. The conference format includes plenary and parallel sessions with both academic and practitioner presentations and workshops. In addition, the conference will provide networking opportunities together with a taste of local culture.
Subscriptions & Comments
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think will find it of value. We look forward to collaborating with you on this initiative. If you would like to comment on, or contribute to, the content, subscribe or unsubscribe, please contact us at ipl.munkschool@utoronto.ca.
This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.