Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne is facing a very busy year, with a mandate letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that includes more than 30 assigned tasks. They include establishing a new advanced research projects agency, launching a Canadian critical minerals strategy and a national quantum strategy and creating a global centre of excellence for eliminating methane gas emissions.
Person: Sean Speer
Opinion Leader: A Canadian DARPA will need an enabling ecosystem to succeed

As Canada and other countries look to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a model to drive innovation, it is vital to recognize that DARPA isn’t simply a “plug and play” model but requires a supportive, integrated ecosystem and an enabling culture, says Dr. Camille Boulet, PhD, senior partner at Global Advantage Consulting, in an op-ed.
Canada needs a targeted industrial strategy to improve innovation performance, experts say
Canada’s continued poor performance in innovation and business productivity is due to a failure to link publicly funded research and innovation programs to an industrial strategy based on the country’s strengths, say innovation experts. Meanwhile, studies by University of Toronto researchers show the federal innovation agenda has negatively impacted funding for basic, investigator-driven research but hasn’t addressed the underlying problem of industrial innovation in Canada.
Business support experts react to contentious policy paper out of the Munk School
In a policy paper for Ontario360, Sean Speer and Jamison Steeve argue that business support programs don’t stand up to cost-benefit analysis. But other researchers say their arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny.
General business support programs don’t work. Instead, focus on competitive tax policies, manufacturing institutes, and opportunity zones: Policy paper
The Ontario government spends approximately $5 billion a year on business support programs, many of which don’t stand up to cost-benefit analysis, according to Jamison Steeve and Sean Speer in a new paper published by Ontario 360, a public policy research group housed at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
For Canadian competitiveness, sustainability isn’t a choice
If the health of our biosphere isn’t reason enough to fund vital cleantech innovation, the strength of our economy should be.