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Next issue: December 16, 2002
ANNOUNCEMENTS [Table of Contents]
Smart Toronto and Liberty Village merge
SMART Toronto, a well-known technology association in the greater Toronto Area, and Liberty Village New Media Center, a non-profit corporation that promotes the city's expertise in the new digital economy, have amalgamated infrastructure and staff to form a new organization, the SMART Toronto Technology Alliance (1). The Alliance's mission is to bring together people, technology, business, government, sources of capital, and education to make the GTA technology community stronger. The organization will provide a forum for Toronto technology companies to showcase their successes to the world, while providing a location where collaboration between industry, the public sector and other associations can take place.
Knowledge economy index to gauge intellectual capital
Industry Canada is sponsoring a project by the e-Content Institute to look at the feasibility of a tool to measure the impact of knowledge on productivity. The project's aim is "to create the world's first national productivity index focused on the value of the knowledge economy", the first step to which is "to identify existing areas of research to build on, as well as pinpointing spaces where no prior research has been done". The project is expected to take about five years to complete.
Canada places 8th and 10th in Global Competitiveness Indices
The Global Competitiveness Report for 2002-2003, prepared by the World Economic Forum, has ranked Canada 8th (from 3rd in 2001) in the Global Competitiveness Index and 10th (from 12th in 2001) in the Microeconomic Competitiveness Index. The report examines the growth prospects of 80 countries, comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each of the leading economies of the world "The key question related to competitiveness our Report tries to answer is: once the global economy recovers, which countries are best placed to return to a sustained growth path?”
The federal government will invest $29.87 million to support a range of
R&D projects through a range of funding vehicles. Investments include $11.3 million over
four years by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
to support five large-scale projects dealing with: e-finance and its impact
on Canada's economy; $7.4 million from the Canadian Space Agency for the
awarding of 26 contracts to space industry companies in British Columbia,
Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec; and $750,000 from The Canadian Network for the
Advancement of Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE), for Industry Hub
to develop e-procurement software tailored especially for complex
manufacturing small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the
telecommunications and aeronautics sectors.
EDITOR'S PICK [Table of Contents]
Network Structure Of An Industrial Cluster: Electronics In Toronto
J. Britton, University of Toronto
This paper explores the extent to which firms in clusters of advanced technology industry depend on inter-regional sources for a wide variety of knowledge inputs to support innovation. The substantive focus is the electronics cluster of the Toronto region, Canada’s largest manufacturing center. A small, stratified sample of establishments drawn from this cluster is used to verify the importance of external sources of material inputs, and other knowledge sources and the strength of distant market connections. Inter-regional and local collaboration vary in importance as a result of scale-dependent resource differences between firms and in response to choices associated with foreign rather than domestic ownership. The results support the rejection of simple models of clusters and learning regions in which internal connections are privileged over inter-regional and international transactions operating either between or within firms.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
Canadians Speak on Innovation and Learning
Industry Canada
Here are the results of the federal government’s engagement process with Canadians on Canada's innovation and learning challenges in light of the government’s Canada's Innovation Strategy, released in February 2002. The overall objective was to bring a large number of Canadians into the discussion, solicit their feedback and ideas on the targets and proposed actions, and challenge them to develop their own action plans to enhance innovation and learning performance.
Innovation
in the Service Sector: Analysis of data collected under the Community
Innovation Survey
D. Tether et al., CRIC
This paper examines innovation in the largest yet least studied economic sector in Europe, the service sector. Analyzing data from the Second Community Innovation Survey, the authors find just under half of the service enterprises were engaged in innovative activities between 1994 and 1996, with the larger enterprises more likely to be engaged in innovative activities. The two most widely cited aims of innovation was improving the quality of the services provided, and extending the service range and opening new markets. Also, just under half of the innovating service enterprises were engaged in R&D, with a quarter engaged in R&D on a regular basis. Overall however, R&D is less common in services than among manufacturers.
REGIONAL INNOVATION & CLUSTERS [Table of Contents]
E. Feser et al. University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This study examines the sub-regional concentrations of technology-related
employment, R&D, and
applied innovation over a large area embracing the Appalachian mountains that
stretches from New York to Mississippi. The study reveals localized
technology strengths that might be nurtured through focused economic
development policy. Over half of the technology clusters in the region are
located on the periphery and are anchored in core metropolitan centers
outside the region (such as Cincinnati and Washington, DC), indicating that the region’s current
high-tech prospects are heavily dependent on spillover effects from
neighboring cities and metropolitan areas.
KNOWLEDGE & UNIVERSITIES [Table of Contents]
Intellectual Property: Federal Agency Efforts In Transferring And Reporting New Technology
United States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional
Committees
As required by both the Bayh-Dole Act and the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000, this report provides information on how federal agencies in the United States identified, patented, and licensed inventions created in their own facilities during fiscal years 1997-2001. The report finds that the technology transfer programs through which federal agencies are patenting, and licensing inventions vary considerably in design, approach, and measurable output, the latter of which accounting for the greatest diversity. In total, these agencies reported 3,676 new inventions, 1,585 patents issued, and $74.5 million in licensing revenues during fiscal year 2001. The report includes a range of relevant statistics for the nine agency with the R&D budgets over US $500 million including invention disclosure, patenting, licensing statistics, and royalty income.
Papers from S&T Indicators Conference 2002
Here are several papers relating to benchmarking and indicators that were presented at the 2002 S&T Indicators Conference held in September 2002 in Karlsruhe, Germany. Notable papers include “Research and higher education: The missing link in the indicators, and the ongoing fuzziness between strength and efficiency” (Rizzuto et al.); “International benchmarking of biotech research centres” (Hinze et al.) “To a new relationship between government and research organisations: indicators as governance instruments” (van Steen); and “Regional-Level Research and Technology Knowledge Indicators and Linkages with Development Outcomes” (Shapira et al.)
EVENTS [Table of Contents]
CITO InnoTalk - What is the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program?
Waterloo, 4 December, 2002 (8:30 am - 11 am)
This
InnoTalk will explore the Scientific Research & Experimental Development
(SR&ED) Tax Credit Program, a federal government incentive program
designed to encourage the development and advancement of Canadian
technologies. The program offers tax incentives in the form of refundable and
non-refundable tax credits ranging from 20% to 35% on qualified expenditures.
Additional credits are available in most provinces including Ontario. These
incentives reduce the after tax cost of performing SR&ED in Canada to one
of the lowest in the world. The SR&ED program provides nearly $2 billion
in credits to over 18,000 claimants each year.
Competitive
Cities. Cluster Development, Funding & Smart Growth Strategies
Toronto, 9-11 December, 2002
This conference features presentations and workshops focused on helping
major urban centres and municipalities to manage the transition to the
knowledge economy. Topics include: identifying cluster development
opportunities; innovative funding options to finance infrastructure; Smart
Growth initiatives across Canada; finding key metrics and benchmarks to track
economic development at the municipal level; promoting a municipality’s
strengths to the business community; and finally, success stories from Western,
Central and Atlantic Canada.
L'Aquila (Italy) 6-12 January, 2003
The conference attracts experts in computer/communications science and engineering, management and business administration, plus all others researching the e-business in interdisciplinary fashions. Topics include: B2B, B2C, E-Business Management. Workflow Technologies, Datamining, E-Banking, Virtual Marketplace, E-Marketing and E-Government. Keynote speakers include Peter Lyman (UC Berkeley) and Erich Neuhold, IPSI/Fraunhofer.
International conference on territorial development: The key role of regions
Paris, 21-23 January, 2003
This international conference will explore the increasingly important role of regions in all European countries as a key player for territorial development. The regional level is essential especially for the promotion of co-operation and innovation at various levels of governance, from local to international. The aim of the conference is to provide public as well as private stakeholders the opportunity to exchange ideas. Themes to be covered include regions and economic development, regions and territorial cohesion, and regions and civil society.
Knowledge And Economic And Social Change: New Challenges To Innovation Studies
Manchester, 7-9 April, 2003
The purpose of this conference is to bring together the innovation studies community to focus on the current developments in the global economy, in technologies, and in political systems that are continuing to pose new challenges to analysis. Topics include: the increasing importance of the role of knowledge in the operation of the global economy; and the qualitative change in the conditions under which knowledge is exploited to create wealth, to improve the quality of life, and to move towards a sustainable ecosystem, economy and society. The conference is organized by Advances in the Economic and Social Analysis of Technology and the Institute of Innovation Research.
The Knowledge-based Economy: New Challenges in Methodology, Theory and Policy
Augsburg, Germany 9-12 April 2003
This 3rd European Meeting of Applied Evolutionary Economics focuses on the most important aspects of knowledge-based economies within the framework of evolutionary economics. Conference themes include: knowledge and learning; dynamics of technological and qualitative change; industrial organisation in a knowledge-based economy; evolution of institutions financial markets in knowledge-based economies; and policy in a knowledge-based economy. Deadline for submission of extended abstracts: October 18, 2002.
Innovation through
Collaboration: Clusters, Networks, Alliances
Manchester, 8-11 June, 2003
This conference aims to address the issues associated with collaboration in the context of recent research which suggests that as many as 50-70% of strategic alliances will fail within four years due to a vast array of cultural, political, technological and commercial factors. It will provide a forum for academics, business people and consultants to discuss these issues in depth by presenting the latest academic papers, delivering company presentations on the subject and running interactive workshops. Selected proceedings will be published in a special edition of The Journal of Enterprising Culture. The conference is organized by the International Society for Professional Innovation Management.
Creating, haring
And Transferring Knowledge: The role of Geography, Institutions,
Organizations
Copenhagen, 12-14
June, 2002
The conference has four main objectives: to contribute to a more satisfactory understanding of the mechanisms underlying the way in which knowledge is created, shared and transferred; to examine the promoting or inhibiting effect of particular circumstances of organizational context, institutional setting or geographical configuration, such as cities and agglomerations or clusters; to investigate arrangements particularly capable of enhancing, capturing and utilizing end consumer knowledge; and to consider the implications for managerial strategy and public policy. Both senior and junior scholars are invited to participate and contribute with a paper to the conference.
Communities
and technologies (C&T 2003)
Amsterdam or Bonn, 19-21 September, 2003
This international conference is a forum for stimulating and disseminating research into all facets of communities and information technology. Attendees represent multidisciplinary research efforts from applied computer science and social science. The 2003 conference will focus on presentations and discussion of empirical and conceptual research on a wide range of topics including (Virtual) Community formation and development; Virtual communities vs. location-based communities; Digital cities, and Design methods for communityware. The deadline for submission of full research papers is March 14, 2003.
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.
