IPO Activity Shows Best Improvement Since 2000

The findings of an annual survey of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggest that Canadian IPO activity and value in 2004 showed its best improvement since 2000.
The annual PwC IPO survey measures activity and gross value on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange in nine market sectors: financial services; forestry; life sciences; mining; oil and gas; products (including consumer and industrial products); real estate; technology and media (including telecommunications and entertainment); other (including transportation, environment, pipeline and utilities). In 2004, a total of 87 IPOs were completed in Canada--up from 56 in 2003. The gross value of the IPO market grew in 2004, which totalled $6.2 billion--up from $4.6 billion the previous year.

Bigger Isn't Always Better: Canada Needs to Place Innovation Ahead of Larger Firms

A new report suggests that medium-sized firms may be the best model for Canadian companies who want to succeed globally. In the "Annual Innovation Report 2004: Don't Overlook the 'MES,'" the authors--Paul Mitchell and Trefor Munn-Venn--discuss what sets medium-sized firms apart, along with the importance of building more innovative Canadian companies ahead of larger firms.
Plugging into complex, global supply chains has become more important over the last two decades because the productivity levels of Canadian industries have been slipping relative to those of American industries. The report suggests that Canadian businesses must become more innovative in order to address this challenge.

Canadians See Clear-Cut Benefits to University Research

Almost nine in ten Canadians believe that university research provides long-term benefits to Canadians and Canadian society, according to a survey released today by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. The survey was part of a study conducted for a number of clients by EKOS Research Associates earlier this year. Canadians overwhelmingly see the value of research in a wide range of areas, the survey shows. For example, Canadians believe that research and science contribute to an improved and sustainable health care system (91 percent); help protect our environment (90 percent); and provide us with a good quality of life (89 percent). Further, almost nine in ten Canadians believe that science and research improve Canada's economic prospects, help keep talented people in Canada and develop a skilled and adaptable workforce.

Prospects for Commercialization of Innovation Are Excellent in Canada

There are no underlying blocks in Canada to the translation of innovation into commercially-viable ventures, says Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation For Innovation (CFI). Dr. Phillipson advises that focussing national efforts on areas where Canada has particular strengths could enhance the effectiveness of commercialization effort in Canada. The research and business communities also need to cooperate more, to ensure that adequate "hand-holding" is done by researchers as ideas are brought to the market. The Government of Canada created the Canadian Foundation for Innovation in 1997 to fund research infrastructure in Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit institutions. To-date, the CFI has invested more than $2.8-billion in over 3,800 research infrastructure projects at 118 institutions in 62 cities.

Knowledge Disclosure, Patents and the Optimal Organization of Resarch and Development

Sudipto Bhattacharya and Sergei Guriev

That is the question facing researchers who have innovative ideas that become marketable products. Researchers who file patents to protect intellectual property rights may diminish the value of the research to potential developers due to "knowledge leakage" to competing developers. Instead, a researcher might approach a developer directly to negotiate an exclusive contract in which a researcher receives some immediate compensation and a stake in the licensed, developed product. From a policy perspective, a closed sale mitigates knowledge sharing (i.e. leakage) and creates a disincentive for the developer to pursue a marketable product due to shared profits with the researcher. However, the open mode creates disincentives for developers due to knowledge leakage. Based on the theories of Bhattacharya and Guriev, enhancing the access of researchers to venture capital might produce the greatest public good -- more development of knowledge and market-ready products.

Do Services Innovate (Differently)?

Bruce Tether (CRIC)

Although advanced economies are increasingly dominated by services, relatively little is known about whether and how services innovate. Instead, our understanding of innovation and innovation processes has been very largely derived from studies of manufacturing, and the production of technologically advanced artefacts. As services do not generally produce technologically advanced artefacts, they are often considered to be non-innovative, or ‘supplier dominated’ recipients of technologies rather than ‘true innovators’. An alternative perspective is that services tend to innovate differently from manufacturers, or at least that innovation in services brings to the fore ‘softer’ aspects of innovation based in skills and inter-organisational co-operation practices which are pervasive across the economy but which do not tend to be prominent amongst manufacturers, and are therefore neglected.This paper examines this issue through an empirical analysis of a survey of Europeans firms carried out in 2002.

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