The Conference
Board of Canada has recently come out with a report card
on Canada’s innovation capacity. Out of 17 countries, Canada placed a
disappointing 14th and received a “D” grade on its capacity to innovate.
For many of us in the Ontario Commercialization Network,
this failing grade is not in our DNA and we need to contemplate
appropriate remedial actions.
Innovation is the ability to turn knowledge into new technologically, advanced goods and services. The Conference Board of Canada measured data that outlined the stage of knowledge production, the transformation of knowledge, and market share of knowledge-based industries. Canada’s low relative ranking means that, as a proportion of its overall economic activity, we do not rely on innovation as much as other countries do. Although Canada is well supplied with educational institutions that produce well-respected science, we do not take the steps to ensure the science can be successfully commercialized into a global competitive advantage.
Canada has been slow to adopt leading-edge technologies and this shows itself in our relatively low productivity level. As other countries develop and adopt more innovation-related business models, their companies are gaining in productivity more rapidly than Canadian companies.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Canada gets D for innovation « The RIC Blog
Author: David Pasieka
