The new Canada Innovation and Investment Agency faces daunting challenges and will need political autonomy, be free to take risks in picking companies and sectors for funding, and have strong private sector support to succeed in increasing business R&D investment and innovation, say innovation and policy experts.
Topic: Canada's innovation ecosystem
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.
Q&A: Entrepreneur Mark Blackwell on building a strong innovation ecosystem in Calgary
At 32, Mark Blackwell is a seasoned entrepreneur, venture capitalist and board chair of the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund. Research Money spoke to Blackwell about his experience in Silicon Valley, what success means to him and strengthening the innovation ecosystem in Calgary and Canada.
Superclusters doing “good things” for Canada’s innovation ecosystem despite criticisms, says former federal deputy minister
The superclusters should be assessed by a broad innovation policy framework and with a longer time frame than their initial five-year mandate, says John Knubley, the former deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada who was responsible for the creation of the superclusters initiative.
Council of Canadian Academies launches federally-supported projects to assess urgent scientific challenges
The Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) has launched four new, federally-supported projects to assess urgent scientific challenges. Expert panels will evaluate the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence for science and engineering, Canada’s carbon sink potential, public safety in the digital age, and the impacts of health and science misinformation.
Canada poised to lead in ocean research with the right focus and policies
With the right focus, policies and funding, Canada could be poised to seize a significant part of the ocean economy’s growth as the globe recovers and rebuilds post-pandemic, says Donald Grant, executive director at the Ocean Startup Project.
Opinion: Stop putting “lipstick” on Canada’s innovation mess and solve early-stage funding gap
Canada needs to stop putting “lipstick” on Canada’s innovation mess and solve the funding gap for early-stage entrepreneurs and SMEs, Michael Nitefor, president and founder of Air Lab, Inc., says in an editorial.
Analysis: Updated mandate for federal innovation minister shows a Prime Minister preoccupied with COVID-19
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is much more focused on his government’s response to COVID-19 than on science and innovation priorities, judging by the PM’s updated mandate letter to the minister of innovation. The letter mentions the world “innovation” once, compared with more than a half-dozen references to COVID-19 and the federal response to the pandemic
Federal government must improve “catastrophic” innovation performance, say innovation experts and business groups
Innovation experts and business groups are stepping up calls for the federal government to fix a “weak and out of balance” innovation ecosystem. Canada continues to lag other countries in innovation performance and productivity, according to international indexes.
Ottawa defends innovation performance and initiatives to strengthen ecosystem
Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada, in a detailed response to growing criticisms, defends the federal government’s innovation performance, policies and programs.