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Next issue: June 1, 2002
ANNOUNCEMENTS [Table of Contents]
High tech a $6 billion industry in Canada’s
technology triangle
According to Statistics Canada data, Canada’s Technology Triangle region surpassed the $6 billion benchmark for the first time in 1999 and is well positioned for sustained growth. Financial characteristics of the high tech sector, examined over a period spanning 1993 to 1999, indicate exceptional performance and growth with a stunning 120% increase in revenue, asset base growth of 163%, an equity increase of 420% ($1.5 billion in 1999 alone) and a pretax profit increase of 58%.
Representatives express support for Manufacturing Extension Program
The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program in the United States received a boost of support from 222 members of the House of Representatives after President Bush requested $12.9 million for MEP, a reduction of almost 90 percent from the amount allocated this year. This program which supports a nationwide network of centers aimed at helping small- and medium-sized manufacturers found support from a signed a letter from the bi-partisan group asking that the program be funded at $110 million next year. [Manufacturing News]
EDITOR'S PICK [Table of Contents]
Knowledge, Clusters and Regional
Innovation: Economic Development in Canada
Edited by J. A.
Holbrook and D. A. Wolfe
Knowledge, Clusters and
Regional Innovation presents an insightful picture of the varied and complex
nature of the regional and local innovation systems found across Canada. Two
of the key insights offered by the papers in this volume concern the highly
differentiated nature of the innovation systems found across the country and
that process of innovation can occur in a wide range of sectors and clusters,
ranging from multimedia and biotechnology in large metropolitan areas to more
traditional sectors such as wood products, located in rural settings. Written
by members of the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN), a cross-national
network of regionally oriented researchers from a wide range of disciplines,
Knowledge, Clusters and Regional Innovation provides important insights into
the varied nature of innovation in the Canadian economy.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
Networking Canada’s Innovation Networks
Here is the summary report from a meeting, co-hosted by The Conference Board of Canada and the Canadian Technology Network of the National Research Council in September 2001, that examined Canada’s innovation networks. The meeting discussed several aspects of networking including networking models that could lead to increasing the performance and international competitiveness of Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises, future steps to develop innovation networks in a global environment, and the strengthening of the relationships among key innovation networks in Canada.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
This
article examines the 2001 recession by comparing it with previous recessions
and investigating whether an added degree of resilience and flexibility is
evident in the economy. The evidence demonstrates that the U.S. economy has
become more stable as illustrated by the relative mildness of the most recent
recession. The IT sector has not been an important direct contributor to the
economy’s improved cyclical performance. However, the fact that much of the
economy’s increased stability has originated in the inventory investment and
consumer durables sectors suggests that the widespread application of new
information technologies to inventory control and consumer lending has played
a role in reducing the economy’s fluctuations.
Indicators of Technology-based
Competitiveness
D. Roessner et al., Georgia Institute of Technology
Here is collection of papers on the viability and reliability of various indicators for evaluating high-technology competitiveness. Topics include the use of non-manufacturing industries in the definition of “high tech” and in lead indicators (by D. Roessner), incorporating emerging or leading-edge technologies (by A. Porter), using patent data as indicators for high technology industrial competitiveness (by N. Newman) and incorporating measures of social capital in the HTI model (by D. Roessner).
Financial Systems, Innovation and Economic Performance
T. Block, MERIT
This paper investigates the role of financial systems as a crucial determinant of apparent differences in national abilities to promote innovative activities in specific sectors. According to the author, national financial systems have an impact on the structure of growth through their differing abilities to promote innovation in sector-specific technology regimes. An analysis of data from 17 OECD countries and 20 manufacturing industries shows that financial systems with large stock markets, competitive banking sectors and good accounting standards was better for product innovation and high tech opportunity than bank-oriented systems with concentrated ownership structures.
The Regulatory Environment Applying to
Universities
P. Fox Lawyers, Department of Education, Science and Training,
Government of Australia
Responding to a national trend of declining government support for Australian universities, this report examines the powers and constraints on Australia’s universities to engage in commercialization. Universities are assessed in six main areas including the establishment of acts, of companies and joint ventures, investment and borrowing, land use, intellectual property legislation, and employment. Overall, the report demonstrates that universities in all jurisdictions generally have the ability to establish and participate in companies only where such establishment or participation is within its express, or implicitly recognized, scope of university purposes or functions.
REGIONAL INNOVATION & CLUSTERS [Table of Contents]
A View of Ontario: Ontario’s Clusters of
Innovation
The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity
This first working paper of The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity establishes a framework to measure and assess Ontario’s economic progress in a North American context. The framework, which is based on the assumption that economic progress and the resulting increase in the standard of living is built upon growth in GDP, provides a basis for an analysis of the microeconomic foundations of competitiveness involving the comparison of the clusters of traded industries in Ontario and select U.S. states, building on the work of Professor Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business School.
Observatory of European SMEs
This study, prepared for the European Commission, brings clarity to four important questions related to the understanding of regional clusters: 1) what is meant by the concept of regional clusters, 2) how important such clusters are to the European economy, 3) what characterizes them and what are their development tendencies, and 4) how economic and regional development policy should take them into account. In support of the analysis, the report draws on a comparative survey of 34 regional clusters from 17 European countries.
Benchmarks for the Next Michigan - Measuring Our Competitiveness - May 2002
This report presents the results of a comprehensive benchmarking analysis
of Michigan’s economic and technology foundations, its achievements in
nurturing innovative, technology-driven economic development, and its
competitiveness relative to other states across the nation. In a ranking of 50 states, Michigan
placed ninth overall fairing best in quality of life (4th) and
worst in business costs (42nd).
STATISTICS [Table of Contents]
Science & Engineering Indicators – 2002
National Science Foundation
The 2002 bi-annual Indicators report once again confirms the strength of the United States’ support for, and conduct of, research and development (R&D). U.S. R&D expenditures equal the combined total expenditures of Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, while the country’s scientists and engineers produce nearly one-third of the articles published in the world's most influential technical journals. As for R&D investment trends, the balance continues to shift with defense-related R&D at a 50-year low of about 14 percent of the total, an increase in the share of basic research to 18 percent and a rapid rise of federal research expenditures in life sciences now at 47 percent of the federal total.
EVENTS [Table of Contents]
Toronto, 24 May, 2002
This conference brings together professional educators from multiple levels and a wide range of disciplines with the business community in a one-day forum. Virtual Schools, e-learning, new technology skills, new media and digital delivery are some of the key issues now facing professional education and industry stakeholders, solutions to which will be the focus of this conference.
Industrial Dynamics of the New and Old Economy – who is embracing whom?
Copenhagen, 6-8 June, 2002
DRUID’s Summer Conference for 2002 aims to contribute to a more satisfactory
understanding of the economic and organizational mechanisms underlying the
current ICT-based technological and entrepreneurial growth dynamics and to
examine the interface and spillovers between the new and old sectors of the
economy. Plenary sessions
will be organized along four themes: Technical Change, Corporate Dynamics
& Innovation, Production and Use of Knowledge in the Old & New
Economy, New Competition Policies and Intellectual Property Rights, and Organisation
of Internet Industry Dynamics. Both senior and junior scholars are
invited to participate and contribute with a paper to one of the parallel sessions, which will
be part of the conference.
Talk: Lord Sainsbury of Turville, UK Science and Innovation Minister
Toronto, 10 June, 1:45pm,
2002
This talk on Science and Innovation in the UK is sponsored by the British Consulate-General and the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, and will be held in the Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility at the Munk Centre for International Studies. For reservations, please call 416 946 8194 or email events.munk@utoronto.ca.
The KANSAI´2002 Conference – Integrating Regional and Global Initiatives in the Learning Society
Kansai (Japan), 12-15 August, 2002
This 6th International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation will focus on economic, political, technological, ethical, and social transformations associated with the emerging global issue of knowledge for development. Participants are encouraged to present original research and to share best practices. Conference topics will include: emerging issues in science and technology government policy, the management of knowledge socioeconomic development, the geography of innovation shared prosperity and sustainability, and the tools, methods and institutions regional and global systems of knowledge creation.
From Industry to Advanced Services - Perspectives of European Metropolitan
Regions
Dortmund, 27-31 August, 2002
This year’s Congress of the European Regional Science Association focuses on broadly on regional economic issues. Themed sessions include regional competitiveness, innovation and new technologies, regional and urban planning, sectoral changes and new markets, demographic trends and regional policy.
Seventh International S&T Indicators Conference
Karlsruhe, 25-28 September 2002
This conference, organized by The Fraunhofer ISI and the University of Karlsruhe, will look at whether appropriate indicators can clarify the debate on knowledge societies and the broad, radical conversion of modes of knowledge production that are claimed to accompany the shift. The main themes to be addressed include: trends and challenges in the development of novel, advanced S&T Indicators; validity and adequacy of S&T indicators; indicators reflecting modes of knowledge production; combination and integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches; and S&T Indicators for the assessment of policy effects.
Cities And Regions In The 21st Century
Newcastle upon Tyne, 17-18
September 2002
To mark their 25th year, the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) has organized this conference to critically examines current debates in urban and regional development studies and the prospects for cities and regions over the next quarter century. Issues to be discussed include: the way in which cities and regions shape - and are shaped by - the activities and experiences of their citizens; territorial differentiation of life chances and access to services within, and between, cities and regions; the application of theories of clusters, innovation systems and knowledge-based development to the understanding of regional dynamics and their translation into policy and the revived interest in cities as motors of their regional economies.
WILL YOU BE ONE OF OUR REGIONAL REPORTERS? [Table of Contents]
Yes, you! In an effort to improve our coverage of Ontario's regional economies in this newsletter, we are looking for a few people who are 'plugged in' to the latest local economic development and innovation happenings in their regions. All we ask is that you send us a short message once a month highlighting recent news and research initiatives from your region - please forward items that you would like to share with newsletter recipients, as well as other items of interest, to: onris.progris@utoronto.ca.
SUBSCRIPTIONS & COMMENTS [Table of Contents]
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This newsletter is prepared by Tijs Creutzberg.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.
