Private sector investment is a big concern; the country's talent pool is a big asset.
Those are among the key findings contained in a major report released today by Canada's Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC).
State of the Nation 2010: Imagination to Innovation - the second public report from STIC - charts progress from a baseline set in 2008 and compares Canadian performance to global science, technology and innovation leaders. The report also proposes a core list of 20 indicators for future monitoring. The list covers talent, science and technology and other innovation indicators.
Canadian talent and Canada's funding for R&D and higher education research continues to rank near the top; young Canadians excel in science, math and reading; Canada is attracting international talent, and innovative excellence can be found in virtually every region and economic sector.
But the country faces significant challenges, including the reversal of trends among Canadian industry, which is seen to be investing less in R&D than key global competitors. Despite some real Canadian success stories, low levels of collaboration among companies and between companies and researchers in universities, colleges and government laboratories continue to limit business potential here.
However, incubation centres and business start-up support agencies, like those provided at Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone (DMZ), were cited as examples of educating for entrepreneurial success. The DMZ opened its doors in 2010 as a place for Canada's best and brightest to develop and launch their digital products and create successful Canadian companies.
The Council, chaired by Dr. Howard Alper, is comprised of 18 senior, highly accomplished individuals from the research, education, business and government communities. The Council provides the Government of Canada with external policy advice on science and technology issues, and produces regular national reports that measure Canada's science and technology performance against international standards of excellence.
The report shows that Canada's strengths are a strong talent pool and a robust public research capacity. Its two main challenges are to increase private sector investment in innovation and to improve Canada's capacity to transfer knowledge into the marketplace.
"Canada's biggest opportunity lies in our excellent talent pool. We score very highly in a number of education related indicators. The challenge is how companies and government can deploy and empower our people so we can win in the knowledge economy," said Dr. Alper.
"Canada's overall business expenditures on R&D lag behind international innovation leaders. These numbers are trending down when they should be trending up. This is an area that we clearly need to improve and our report shows how individual sectors measure against their international competitors," added tech entrepreneur Terry Matthews, Chair, Mitel and Chair, Wesley Clover Corporation.
A copy of State of the Nation 2010: Imagination to Innovation as well as biographical notes on the Council members can be downloaded at http://www.stic-csti.ca.
An expected 2012 State of the Nation report will measure and document activities and outcomes resulting from the current report conclusions and recommendations.
For more Mediacaster Magazine coverage related to this topic, please see:
Toronto Names Toronto as Canada's High Tech Hub
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/news/toronto-names-toronto-as-canada-s-high-tech-hub/1000406743/
Building Canada's High-tech Digital Economy
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/news/building-canada-s-high-tech-digital-economy/1000398376/
New National Centre of Excellence for Wireless Commercialization
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/news/new-national-centre-of-excellence-for-wireless-commercialization/1000395430/
Digital Media Centre Opens with Canadian Technology in the Spotlight
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000388317
Government Provides Updates, Not Strategy, on Canada's Digital Economy
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000393380
Emerging Technologies Fund Targets Digital Media
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000336877