The Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) lays out a bleak picture of Canada’s STI performance in its fourth biannual public report, State of the Nation Report 2014, released in November 2015. STIC and many others have documented a grim picture of decline: decreasing business expenditure on R&D (BERD), loss of private sector R&D jobs, falling position in international rankings. The stark conclusion: the innovation policies that have been put in place to support the growth of innovative, knowledge-based firms in Canada over the past several decades have not been working. “Canada’s most profound and urgent ST&I challenge,” asserts the STIC report, “lies in increasing the number of firms that embrace and effectively manage innovation as a competitiveness and growth strategy.”
Canada does have firms active in knowledge-based industry sectors that sell innovative products and services globally. Most are small and if they grow, large foreign firms hungry for innovative talent and solutions typically pick them off. We have a poor record of growing sustainable, large firms in knowledge-based industry sectors.
The 15th annual RE$EARCH MONEY conference will focus on how to fix Canada’s innovation problem. Innovation is a business strategy for identifying needs and selling products and services to meet those needs better than anyone else. Will the first budget of the new federal government provide any new thinking or investment that might reverse Canada’s decline in knowledge-based commerce? What are the key areas that governments must focus on in order to help companies scale and compete in global markets? Speakers will include business leaders from some of Canada’s fastest growing tech firms, senior government policy makers and leading academics.
In smaller breakout sessions we’ll dig deeper into what policies and practices within Canada’s innovation ecosystem will help Canadian firms serve customers around the world and access the talent they need to scale and succeed globally.
As a special option for participants who want to interact more intimately with some of Canada’s business leaders, a special session will be offered after the conference on the afternoon of April 6th. Participation is by invitation only and there will be a cap on numbers.