Critics look forward to budget for details on Liberal innovation plan
Canada needs a wide-spanning and visionary plan for innovation in the near future that involves more than just government grants and tax incentives, innovation critics told The Hill Times. So far, the Liberals have not elaborated on their innovation plans much past what they announced during the election campaign, which was to spend $200-million a […]
The cause for fairer science, because it’s 2016
OTTAWA—When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his famous remark—”because it’s 2015″—about gender parity in his newly-appointed Cabinet last year, it attracted a lot of attention at home and abroad. He followed it up with a high-level panel on gender parity at Davos where he promoted women’s rights across the spectrum of society, including science and […]
Bring environmental, social considerations to infrastructure investment
Some $125-billion in federal infrastructure spending over the next 10 years is a big number, but when measured against our needs, even $125-billion won’t be enough. We also need institutional investors to step up and invest in Canada. But how do we turn our infrastructure requirements into attractive investments? The answer is simple, we must innovate. […]
It’s time to build an inclusive innovation eco-system
Canada has always been a country of innovators, but as countless recent reports and studies have shown, either Canada is slipping, or the rest of the world is catching up and overtaking us. Providing the enabling conditions for the entire Canadian innovation ecosystem to grow and compete at all levels is critical. In order to […]
More government grants is not the solution
One of the key observations when it comes to evaluating Canada’s innovation performance is that compared to our peers among industrialized countries, we spend more public money than average, but a lot less private money. We are actually at the very bottom of the ranking for venture capital investment and business R&D. Yet, over the […]
Canadian economy needs more innovation
TORONTO—We do not need any more reminders that the Canadian economy needs more innovation. The Bloomberg Innovation Index has just ranked us 19th in the world while The Global Innovation Index, published by two business schools—INSEAD and Cornell University—and the World Intellectual Property Organization ranked Canada 16th. Our own poor figures on business investment in […]
House remains top target of lobbyists, all ‘politics are local’
The House of Commons is so far the top-lobbied institution in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new government, followed by Industry Canada, the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Canada, the Senate, Global Affairs Canada, the Privy Council Office, Health Canada, and Environment Canada, according to the most recent active registrations filed with Office of the Lobbying Commissioner. The […]
Innovation hubs ‘facilitate innovation through collaboration,’ says prof
Innovation incubators and hubs, run by universities and companies, are springing up across the country and are essential to building an environment conducive to fostering invention and startup companies. University “incubation in general has really taken off as this idea that we need to support the translation of research into something that creates value for […]
Ottawa tech sector sees opportunity in China
China’s emerging technology sector is both an opportunity and competitor for Ottawa’s innovation business community, and a recent trip by some of the capital’s business and political leaders aims to attract some investment into the sector here. As the economy in China changes so does its labour force and consumers and what’s emerging is a […]
We need to redefine the boundaries of discovery and innovation
OTTAWA—Canada is on the brink of an exciting future. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can help make sure we get there, but only if we fully mobilize Canada’s discovery and innovation ecosystem. Fresh thinking about how innovation works and how players in the system can work together is required to solve this challenge. The […]
