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
A new two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between the National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and Spain’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), will foster cooperation between small- and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from both countries in their joint research and development activities. NRC-IRAP and CDTI share common objectives to support SMEs in their technology transfer, industrial research, technological development and innovation activities. The Memorandum of Understanding between NRC-IRAP and CDTI provides a mechanism for SMEs from Canada and Spain to access global SME support networks needed to be competitive in the current economic environment.
The Government of Canada Announces New Research Networks in Montreal
The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), and the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture), recently announced the establishment of two new Business-Led Network of Centres of Excellence (BL-Network) in the Montréal area. BL-Networks are large-scale, collaborative research networks led by the private sector and focused on specific business research needs. The Minister announced that the Canadian Forest Nanoproducts Network (ArboraNano) in Pointe-Claire will receive $8.9 million and the Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) in Montréal will receive $8 million over four years.
Canada Invests $2.3 Billion in University Research Chairs
The Honorable Gary Goodyear, Canada’s Minister for State (Science & Technology), recently announced the Government of Canada was distributing $120.4 million to 37 universities to support 134 new and renewed Canadian Research Chairs. The awards, the first for 2009 in the program started in 2000, include $6.6 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for research infrastructure to facilitate the work of 42 of the chairholders. The Canadian Research Chairs program supports the recruitment and retention of up to 2,000 star faculty in a broad range of scientific and technological disciplines, all with significant importance to the nation’s economy. Since 2000, the Canada Research Chairs Program has invested between $200 million and $300 million annually to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds.
$1.4 Million Initiative for BC’s Agriculture, Food and Bioproducts Sectors
The BC Innovation Council (BCIC) has released a set of new programs under the BCIC Agriculture, Food and Bioproduct Innovation Fund committed to improving the competitiveness, sustainability, and technological advancement in targeted sectors. The announcement was made in conjunction with the 7th Annual AgriFood Industry Gala in Abbotsford, where over 450 members of BC’s food and wine industry gathered to recognize leadership in the province’s agriculture industry.
Editor's Pick
The Atlantic Century: Benchmarking EU and US Innovation and Competitiveness
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, ITIF
This report uses 16 indicators to assess the global innovation-based competitiveness of 36 countries and 4 regions. This report finds that while the U.S. still leads the EU in innovation-based competitiveness, it ranks sixth overall. Canada ranks 16th.
Innovation Policy
Martin Prosperity Institute
This latest set of working papers deals with the manufacturing industry in Ontario. An issue that has been simmering in Ontario for decades, if not a century, relates to the prospects for the province’s manufacturing sector. Ontario is the manufacturing heart of Canada, and given this specialization, the province is susceptible to periods of declining demand for manufactured products, most often triggered by periods of economic recession in the U.S. Important pending questions raised by this analysis: How many workers will be required in Ontario in 2020? How many with a degree of skill/education? How many workers are likely to be present in the regional labour market in 2020? How will this supply be equipped (i.e. highly skilled/educated)? By thinking about these questions and taking action, the province can steer towards creating a prosperous future.
In the Vanguard of Research: Norway Research Council Strategy 2009-2012
The Research Council of Norway
The strategy document was circulated to Norwegian R&D stakeholders for a comprehensive review process before being finalized and adopted. The new strategy revolves around four key challenges facing the Norwegian research establishment. The designated national thematic and technology priority areas will comprise key areas of focus for the Research Council during the coming strategy period. The strategy attaches particular importance to addressing research issues involving global challenges and climate change, as well as to enhancing scientific equipment and research infrastructure in general, and to promoting a better framework for the internationalization of research.
Strengthening American Competitiveness: Regaining Our Competitive Edge – Four Ideas and 20 New Ideas
Brookings Institution
This paper addresses the central challenge for the United States. It begins by discussing the economic downturn and financial turmoil facing the country and how policymakers should respond to both boost the economy in the short-run and also build the foundations for long-term competitiveness. Second, the competitiveness agenda is motivated by, and must therefore be responsive to, at least three changes in the fabric of the global economy: the increase in global integration; the attendant shift in economic power to rising powers such as Brazil, China and India; and the realization of the existential threat that climate change poses. Finally, the paper lays out the fundamentals of a competitiveness agenda through descriptions of specific policy proposals by leading experts on how to invest more robustly in infrastructure, people, ideas and green transformation.
Energy Discovery Innovation Institutes: A Step Toward America’s Energy Sustainability
Brookings Institution
The need to renew America’s economy, foster its energy security, and respond to global climate change compels the transformation of U.S. energy policy. Innovation and its commercialization must move to the center of national reform. Not only must a broad range of carbon pricing and regulatory responses be adopted, but major increases in federal R&D are essential along with the deployment of bold new research paradigms. To that end, the federal government should establish a national network of regionally based energy discovery-innovation institutes (e-DIIs) to serve as the hubs of a distributed research network linking the nation’s best scientists, engineers, and facilities. Through such a network, the nation could at once increase its current inadequate energy R&D effort and complement existing resources with a new research paradigm that would join the unique capabilities of America’s research universities to those of corporate R&D and federal laboratories.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
The Washington Innovation Economy: A New Economic Strategy for Prosperity
Washington Economic Development Commission
In this strategy the Washington Economic Development Commission introduces the concept of the innovation ecosystem as a platform from which the players in economic development across the state can identify and align resources in ways that best serve state-wide, local and even national objectives. The Commission focuses on three key drivers of an innovation economy: talent, investment and entrepreneurship, and infrastructure.
Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT
Kauffman Foundation
This report demonstrates the critical role universities play not only in fostering innovation and entrepreneurial growth, but in stimulating the much-needed recovery in regional and global economies. According to the report, which analyzes the economic effect of MIT alumni-founded companies and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation at least the seventeenth-largest economy in the world. Within the U.S., these companies currently generate hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs to regional economies, particularly those in Massachusetts and California. Globally, a less conservative estimate of their annual world sales would equal $2 trillion, producing the equivalent of the eleventh-largest economy in the world.
Statistics & Indicators
Zoltan J. Acs, Sameeksha Desai, and Leora F. Klapper, World Bank
This paper compares two datasets designed to measure entrepreneurship. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor dataset captures early-stage entrepreneurial activity; the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey dataset captures formal business registration. There are a number of important differences when the data are compared. First, GEM data tend to report significantly greater levels of early-stage entrepreneurship in developing economies than do the World Bank data. The World Bank data tend to be greater than GEM data for developed countries. Second, the magnitude of the difference between the datasets across countries is related to the local institutional and environmental conditions for entrepreneurs, after controlling for levels of economic development. A possible explanation for this is that the World Bank data measure rates of entry in the formal economy, whereas GEM data are reflective of entrepreneurial intent and capture informality of entrepreneurship. This is particularly true for developing countries. Therefore, this discrepancy can be interpreted as the spread between individuals who could potentially operate businesses in the formal sector – and those that actually do so: In other words, GEM data may represent the potential supply of entrepreneurs, whereas the World Bank data may represent the actual rate of entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that entrepreneurs in developed countries have greater ease and incentives to incorporate, both for the benefits of greater access to formal financing and labour contracts, as well as for tax and other purposes not directly related to business activities.
Global Innovation Index 2008-2009
INSEAD
This report presents the latest findings and highlights the best policies and practices for promoting innovation readiness. The GII 2008/2009 final rankings show that this time also the global leader in innovation continues to be the US. Germany follows in second position, maintaining its position from last year. Sweden rises to 3rd rank this year from 12th in 2007. Canada ranks 11th.
Policy Digest
History Matters: Unlocking Innovation in British CIties and Regions
Policy Brief , NESTA
Innovation is a hot topic in economic development circles around the world. Buoyed by the success of Silicon Valley, Hsinchu region, or Helsinki, innovation is seen by leading regions as the key to staying ahead; in those that lag, as an opportunity to catch up. The result has been a plethora of ambitious innovation strategies. Unfortunately, the common thread has often been under-delivery. This failure to deliver has been blamed on many things: lack of institutions, lack of ambition, and lack of skilled policymakers. However, what has been less straightforward to understand is the extent to which such change was ever possible. This research project partners with leading researchers from Oxford Brookes and Cambridge Universities to use advanced economic techniques to uncover the extent to which ‘history matters.’
Getting Boundaries Right: The Role of Geography
One important contextual finding is that there is a persistant tension between arbitrary administrative boundaries and economic and social realities. Recent reforms have attempted to reshape regional and local governments along economic lines and have shifted the focus of economic development policies to a lower tier of government. Successive reports and policy documents have identified regional and sub-regional areas for economic development, including work by the Department of Trade and Industry on Science Cities (1998), the Department of Communities and Local Government review of urban performance (2006), and the 2007 HM Treasury review of sub-national economic development.
But History Matters More Than Geography in Shaping the UK’s City-Regions
History, not geography, leads distant cities like Middlesbrough and Swansea to share similar experiences, and near neighbours like Cambridge and Norwich to differ widely.
Notably, these cities’ different levels of innovation owed more to chance than clear planning. In some areas, the absence of well-established institutions and the lack of an industrial legacy have enabled rapid innovation. Leading innovative British cities such as Aldershot, Cambridge, Northampton, Oxford, Reading and Warrington all display a lack of industrial heritage and an absence of innovation strategies. Traditionally-strong industries have become weaknesses, preventing city-regions from adapting flexibly to globalization. Former industrial centres like Swansea, Newport, Wakefield and Middlesbrough have struggled to remain competitive. Others, such as Bristol and Leeds, have risen to the challenge, re-inventing their old industrial activities and creating new ones.
City-Regional Policy Must be Historically Aware
Policy makers need a clear and realistic visions derived from their region’s history. Cities and city-regions should be actively aware
of their capacities. Most Regional Development Agencies claim or aspire to host biotechnology clusters; but city-regions should develop distinctive policies that play to their existing strengths, rather than aiming for improbable outcomes given their history and
existing institutions.
When designing city-region innovation policies, policymakers should reflect critically on the history of their region and avoid simply replicating successful strategies from elsewhere. Regional policymakers should think creatively about engaging local histories and historians to construct a compelling regional innovation narrative. In addition, the policy brief highlights the following recommendations:
- Local authorities should have a greater influence than national governments on city-regional growth policies: Local authorities have a range of powers that have an immediate impact on a city-regional economy, particularly in planning. They are also more likely to be aware of how historical processes have shaped the local economy. Local governments should be keenly aware of their own potential to support city-regional innovation.
- Policies require longer timeframes: Policy evaluation across the city-region needs to properly account for the longer-term impacts of successful outcomes. Planning horizons in city-regional economic areas should be extended to the 15-20 year time frames of current Regional Spatial Strategies.
- Develop a community of highly-skilled innovation experts in each city-region: The development of innovation strategies adapted to the specific socio-economy history of a city-region needs highly skilled policymakers. Innovation experts who can help devolved administrations, RDAs, local authorities should be willing to work with a wide range of actors, including historians and those involved in previous development cycles. Such innovation policy professionals must be aware of the history of their city-region and be well trained in recent developments in the business, theory and practice of innovation policy.
- Coordinate the “non-innovation” policies that influence innovation: Framework conditions such as taxation, competition, regulation, public procurement, intellectual property regimes, and public sector performance targets all affect innovation. As a result, policies ostensibly unrelated to innovation can impact on incentives to innovate. Regional innovation policy should not be thought of in isolation.
Events
Toronto, 3-4 March, 2009
Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is a two-day event showcasing Canada’s hottest new and innovative technology companies. A nexus of multiple meeting and networking opportunities, CIX is designed to enable the who’s who of North American investors to discover Canada’s next great companies. With facilitated and informal networking events, this innovation marketplace features Flash-forward presentations on the future of media, software, mobile and technology.
Re$earch Money – Going Global: Expanding the International Footprint of Canadian Technology Firms
Ottawa, 12 March, 2009
As Canada’s domestic market is too small to support significant growth of more than a few companies in any given sector, to succeed, our companies must sell to the world. The Eighth Annual RE$EARCH MONEY Conference, /Going Global: Expanding the International Footprint of Canadian Technology Firms/ will explore how best to help Canadian technology firms expand into other countries to grow their business. The day begins with a keynote from David Martin, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, SMART Technologies, a Canadian company with offices in over 20 countries. Alan Barrell, now Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Cambridge University, will share insights gleaned from moving two U.K. firms into the international marketplace. Andrea Mandel-Campbell, author of the provocative /Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson/ will be the luncheon speaker. Panels of experts from the private and public sectors will share best practices from around the world.
Understanding and Shaping Regions: Spatial, Social and Economic Futures
Leuven, Belgium, 6-8 April, 2009
Many topics will be discussed such as regional policy and evaluation, regions as innovative hubs, economic restructuring and regional transformation, and local and regional economic development. Abstract submission deadline: Sunday, 4th January 2009.
Creative Industries, Scenes, Cities, Places: Idiosyncratic Dimensions of the Cultural Economy
Cardiff, UK, 22-23 April, 2008
This seminar will focus on the relationship between places (cities, neighbourhoods, and quarters) and the development of creative industries. The range of papers should cover both theoretical perspectives and practical examples of the issues and challenges faced by researchers in trying to capture the economic, social and cultural dimensions of the creative economy. The conference will focus on four themes and questions: How to study the relationship between creative industries and city-regions. What are the methodologies which address the way creative industries produce and interact with their markets? What is the role of place at various levels (city, neighbourhood, regions) in fostering creativity and creative production? What is the importance of public support policies and frameworks in developing the creative industries sector? Does fostering creative industries mean enabling regional growth?
Regional Excellence in Innovation: Case Studies from Around the World
Thessaloniki, Greece, 22-24 April, 2009
Faced with today’s challenge of sustaining competitiveness in a world of global competition, Europe’s regions are required to improve their own regional innovation system and adapt the offer of innovation support services to the rapidly changing needs
of local companies and, in particular, SMEs. The recent slow-down of the world economy and the spectre of recession make this challenge all the more urgent as the need for new, tried and tested approaches becomes indispensable.TII’s 2009 annual conference will showcase examples of programs, schemes and models which can demonstrate their real impact on raising regional innovation performance through facts, figures and anecdotal evidence or success stories.
Toronto, 28-29 April, 2009
This three day event brings together key industry players interested in investment opportunities and issues affecting companies in the lifescience and cleantech sectors. Presenting companies will span a range of industries including biologics, medical devices, drug delivery, vaccines, diagnostics, bio-energy, agriculture and food, industrial biotech, alternative energy and clean technologies.
11th Annual Innovation Systems Research Network Conference 
Halifx, 29 April – 1 May, 2009
This conference brings together researchers from across the country around the theme of “Social Dynamics and Economic Performance: Innovation and Creativity in City-Regions”. The Policy Day meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 29th. The
objective of this meeting is to provide a forum where the members of the research team, including co-investigators, domestic collaborators and our distinguished Research Advisory Committee members who come from various disciplines in Europe and the United States, can meet with federal, provincial and municipal officials who have an interest in the outcomes of our current major research initiative. The focus of the Policy Day this year is the contribution of physical, research and cultural infrastructure to innovation and creativity in urban city regions. The ISRN National Meeting takes place on Thursday and Friday, April 30th and May 1st. During these sessions, our project researchers will be presenting the results of our ongoing research and discussing the broader themes involved in our national research project. You are more than welcome to join us for this part of the meeting and you can register online for these sessions. Breakfast and lunch is included. There is a registration option to join us for the Annual ISRN Dinner on Thursday evening.
Community Engagement and Service: The Third Mission of Universities
Vancouver, BC, 18-20 May, 2009
The conference will showcase research and practice of what in North America is called ‘service to the community’. Although newly discovered by some universities, service to the community has long traditions in others, and in many cases is recognized as an explicit mandate in the university charter. Service is understood to be the Third Mission alongside teaching and research. Service and community engagement take many different forms. Examples are community based research and learning, assistance in regional development, continuing and community engagement, technology transfer and commercialization, and other forms of knowledge sharing and linkages.
Photonics North 2009: Closing the Gap Between Theory, Development, and Application
Quebec City, 24-27 May, 2009
This conference is an international event dedicated on the latest accomplishments, future directions and innovations exclusive to optics/ photonics technologies. Presentations will explore advances in Science and technology that will impact the use of photonics in the 21st century. Photonics North will provide you with the knowledge and competitive intelligence you need to keep up in the industry that changes and evolves at break-neck speed.
Madrid, Spain, 4-6 June, 2009
The European Urban Research Association (EURA) and the Urban Affairs Association (UAA) hold their second Joint Conference on City Futures in 2009. By building on the success of the first such conference, held in Chicago in 2004, the conference aims to focus sharply on international exchange. Urban scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have created a five-track structure for this forward-looking conference: Climate change, resource use and urban adaptation; Knowledge and technology in urban development; Community development, migration and integration in urban areas; Urban governance and city planning in an international era; Architecture and the design of the public realm
Glasgow, Scotland, 17-19 June, 2009
Triple Helix VII offers a multi-disciplinary forum for experts from universities, industry and government. The Conference is designed to attract leading authorities from across the world who will share their knowledge and experience, drawing a link between research, policy, and practice in sustainable development. The Conference will bring together policy-makers, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, and key representatives from business and industry. The theme for Triple Helix VII – “The role of Triple Helix in the Global Agenda of Innovation, Competitiveness and Sustainability” – reflects the interaction between academia, the private and the public sector.
Innovation, Strategy and Knowledge: 2009 DRUID Summer Conference
Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 June, 2009
The DRUID Summer Conference 2009 intends to map theoretical, empirical and methodological advances, further contribute with novel insights and stimulate civilized controversies in industrial dynamics. The conference will include targeted plenary debates where internationally merited scholars take stands on contemporary issues within the overall conference theme. This year’s conference will bring together researchers from around the world to exchange research results and to address open issues. The plenary program will include, among others, contributions from Juan Alcacer, William Barnet, Adam Brandenburger, Russell Coff, Wes Cohen, Massimo Colombo, Phil Cooke, Giovanni Dosi, Jan Fagerberg, Andrea Fosfuri, Tim Foxon, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Michael Jacobides, / /Rene Kemp, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Mike Lenox, Dan Levinthal, Will Mitchell, Paul Nightingale, Laszlo Poloz, Laura Poppo, Michael Ryall, Dan Snow, Bart Verspagen, Sidney Winter
TEKPOL: 3rd International Conference on Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Economics
Ankara, Turkey, 24-26 June, 2009
The main objective of this workshop is to bring together researchers and policy makers from new member states and candidate counties in order to discuss the following topics: links between innovation, R&D and economic performance; innovation and technology diffusion; knowledge management and learning in organizations; systemic nature of innovation (national, sectoral and local); science, technology and innovation policies; issues concerning developing countries and technological change; economic impact of new technologies.
Global Science and the Economics of Knowledge Sharing Institutions
Torino, Italy, 28-30 June, 2009
This conference – held within the context of the EU-funded project COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain – aims to bring together leading people from a number of international scientific research communities, social science researchers and science, technology and innovation policy analysts, to discuss the rationale, policy support and practical feasibility of arrangements designed to emulate key public domain conditions for collaborative research. Initiatives and policies have been proposed that go beyond “open access” to published research findings by aiming to facilitate more effective and extensive (global) sharing of not only data and information, but research facilities, tools, and materials. There is thus a need to examine a number of these proposals’ conceptual foundations from the economic and legal perspectives and to analyze the roles of the public domain and contractually constructed commons in facilitating sharing of scientific and technical data, information and materials. But it is equally important to examine the available evidence about actual experience with concrete organizational initiatives in different areas of scientific and technological research, and to devise appropriate, contextually relevant methods of assessing effectiveness and identifying likely unintended and dysfunctional outcomes.
Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2009
Atlanta, 2-3 Oct, 2009
Governments seek new strategies and are turning to the science, technology, and innovation policy research community for models and research results to tell them what works, what doesn’t, and under what circumstances. Test models of innovation. Explore emerging STI policy issues. Share research results. Call for papers to be posted shortly.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.