Issue #161
December 1, 2007
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This newsletter is published by ONRIS at the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, and sponsored by the Ministry of Research and Innovation. The views and ideas expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Ontario Government.
ANNOUNCEMENTS [Table of Contents]
Florida Governor Revels in Biotech Boom
Within the next two weeks, Florida Governor Charlie Crist is expected to review a $190 million proposal to bring the Max Planck Society to Palm Beach County, says his chief economic-development adviser. The giant German research institution has proposed building a bio-imaging center next to Scripps Florida in Jupiter with state and county job-growth incentive dollars. The proposal has the support of Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development arm; and is likely an encouraging sign to those to want to see the Florida biotech initiative continue.
EDITOR'S PICK [Table of Contents]
Presentations from the Annual Joint ONRIS/MRI Workshop
These presentations outline the status of research of the Ontario members of the Innovation Research Network (ISRN) City-Region Initiative. Presentations cover Ontario city-regions as well as the three thematic areas.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
The Critical Role of Regional Innovation Networks (RINs) in Ontario's Economy
Ontario Regional Innovation Networks (ORIN)
The RINs bring provincial and regional resources closer to the entrepreneurs, researchers, companies and investors seeking to take an innovative business to the next level. Together, Ontario RINs have demonstrated substantial power to achieve dynamic economic results for the province. In a very short period of time they have evolved to the point of creating an extremely high value for regional stakeholders effectively addressing resources, programs and service gaps. Through case studies and testimonials, this report will demonstrate the compelling value of the RINs as strategic innovation business collaborators and provide evidence to support the transition of the Ontario RIN program experiment into the leading global program for innovation at the public-private sector interface.
Path to the 2020 Prosperity Agenda
The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity
In this report the Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress is proposing a wide range of initiatives to encourage and support innovation in Ontario, but is placing special emphasis this year on tax changes. The agenda for prosperity builds from the AIMS framework: Attitudes toward competitiveness, growth, and global excellence; Investments in education, machinery, research and development, and commercialization; Motivations for hiring, working, and upgrading as a result of tax policies and government policies and programs; Structures of markets and institutions that encourage and assist upgrading and innovation.
The Regional Dimension of Innovation
OECD
This document is submitted to delegates at the OECD territorial development policy committee’s 18th Session for discussion. It explains why the regional dimension is central to an effective innovation policy. It argues that innovaiton performance is one of the most important factors to exaplain broader regional success. The report provide policy recommendations as well as questions for further discussion in this area.
Communities of Opportunity: Smart Growth Strategies for Colleges and Universities
National Association for College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
Institutions of higher education across the United States have adopted smart growth strategies to help ensure that new growth and development meet the institutions’ mission to provide high-quality education, support research and innovation, and serve the community in which they live. This publicationbegins with an overview of smart growth strategies and then makes a four-part argument for adopting such strategies: Creating thriving, vibrant places helps to attract and keep the best students, faculty, and staff; Smart growth development patterns are a more efficient use of scarce resources and are better investments; Colleges and universities and the surrounding communities can work together across the traditional boundary of the campus to solve challenges in mutually beneficial ways; Better development patterns allow colleges and universities to improve their environmental performance. Examples are included from more than 20 institutions across the country and they are just a sample of the good work that is being done. NACUBO hopes this publication raises awareness about the leadership being taken by institutions and creates even more opportunities for smart growth on campuses and in communities.
CITIES, CLUSTERS & REGIONS [Table of Contents]
Globalization and Regional Economies: Can OECD Regions Compete in Global Industries?
OECD
Despite concern about the negative impacts of globalization on the economies of OECD regions, notably the loss of manufacturing jobs and enterprise relocation, this report presents evidence that region-specific advantages – embedded in specialized firms, skilled labour and innovation capacity – remain a significant source of productivity gain for firms, even for the largest multinational enterprises. A new geography of production is emerging, based around both old and new regional hubs in OECD and non-OECD countries. National and regional governments in OECD countries are looking for ways to ensure that regions maintain a competitive edge in industries that generate wealth and jobs. This report looks at how different regions are responding to these challenges and the strategies they have adopted to support existing competitive advantages and to transform their assets to develop new competitive strengths. Montreal is one of the regions examined in this report.
Regions Matter: How Regional Characteristics Affect External Knowledge Acquisition and Innovation
Keld Laursen, Francesca Masciarelli and Andrea Prencipe, DRUID
To introduce new products and processes, firms often acquire knowledge from other organizations. Drawing on social capital and transaction cost theory, this paper argues that not only is the impact of such acquisitions on the successful development of product and product innovations dependent on strategic and economic variables, it may also be contingent on the “knowledge characteristics ”of the geographical area in which the firm is located. Combining data on social capital at the level of 21 regions with a large scale data set on innovative activities by a representative sample of 2464 Italian manufacturing firms, it finds, after controlling for a large set of firm and regional characteristics, that being located in regions characterized by high levels of social interaction leads to a higher propensity to innovate. In addition, being located in an area characterized by a high degree of social interaction positively moderates the effectiveness of externally acquired R&D on innovation inclination.
Innovation Across US Industries: The Effects of Local Economic Characteristics
Gerald A Carlino and Robert M Hunt, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
This study highlights the critical importance of human capital as a driver of local innovative activity. New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia assesses the role of various local economic characteristics in driving innovation, as measured by patents. The researchers find that an abundance of local human capital is the primary factor explaining differences in local patenting activity. These effects are particularly strong in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors where R&D investments by universities help drive innovation. Other important factors include the presence of a competitive local market structure. Regions with a smaller average size of establishments tend to have higher levels of patenting activity. They also find that industrial specialization in manufacturing may impede local patenting. In contrast, specialization in service sectors tends to promote more local inventions.
STATISTICS & INDICATORS [Table of Contents]
Global Links: Multinationals in Canada
Statistics Canada
The paper's main objective is to provide a concise synthesis of a wide array of data and research on multinationals originating in Statistics Canada, focusing on both historical and current studies. The study covers macroeconomic contributions, the strategies and activities of MNCs in Canada, their foreign activities and an appraisal of current quantitative research in these areas.
POLICY DIGEST [Table of Contents]
Learning Cities: Optimizing Economic and Social Well-Being
Canadian Council on Learning
Cities are a magnet for Canadians and immigrants, who stream into them in ever-increasing numbers. The swelling population of urban centres—now home to 80% of Canada’s citizens—reflects the economic, educational and cultural opportunities offered by cities. At the crossroads of people, ideas, and capital, cities are the engine of innovation, knowledge and national prosperity. But Canadian cities currently face a number of important challenges, including: income inequality, integration of newcomers, maintenance of social cohesion, and civic engagement.
Economic disparities are growing in Canada. In 1984, families in the top 10 wealth percentiles held 52% of all Canadian household wealth: by 2005, they held 58%. The polarization of wealth—and the attendant social fracturing that accompanies it—is a widespread phenomenon around the world. In response to this situation, many European and Australian cities and towns have taken steps to become learning cities where “lifelong learning is explicitly used as an organizing principle and social/cultural goal to foster safer, healthier, more inclusive, better educated and creative cities.”
One approach to managing the opportunities and challenges of the modern city is the creation of Learning Cities. Pioneered in Europe and Australia, this strategy recognizes that optimal social and financial well-being occurs under conditions that favour lifelong learning for all.
Learning Cities embrace an understanding of learning as multi-dimensional and comprehensive; they devise ways of bringing learning and people together, in order to develop the social and economic fabric of the community. Learning cities that have emerged in Europe and Australia have adopted some common principles:
The Learning Cities movement is beginning to take root in Canada. In 2003, Victoria began the process of becoming a learning city with the goal of being known, by 2020, as “a leading learning community.” In service of this goal, Victoria has identified a number of specific objectives to transform downtown Victoria into a Place of Learning by 2020. These include:
In June 2006, Vancouver designated itself a Learning City and embraced the following principles: equitable access to learning, inclusivity and collaboration—all seen as essential precursors to greater prosperity and collective well-being. An ambitious Lifelong Learning Strategy supports Vancouver’s aspirations to be a Learning City. This document is the product of collaboration among a wide range of civic, educational and community organizations; the general public also had a voice in shaping the strategy, through focus groups and public meetings. The desired outcomes established in the Strategy are intended to contribute to the city’s “triple bottom line,” i.e., its social, economic and environmental health] and include:
As more cities adopt their own learning cities strategies, they can benefit from the lessons learned in other communities. Researchers have identified three key areas that require attention in creating optimal conditions for the success of a new learning city.
The increasing popularity and ostensible success of these strategies in other cities suggest that this is a public policy trend worth monitoring (if not adopting) for the Ontario context.
DIME-LABEIN Technalia 2007 Workshop: Sustainable Innovation Environments
Bilbao, Spain, 4 December, 2007
This workshop is part of the Structural Activity Line 3 of the DIME Network of Excellence and focuses particularly on the innovative methods used to create sustainable environments of various scales. The workshop will address green governance issues and design while centring on the primary example of a sustainable environment through the case of the Zorrozaurre eco-village found in the centre of Bilbao. This event will also utilize the territorial development approach from the sustainability perspective while highlighting the knowledge and innovation perspective.
Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations of the Future
Cambridge, MA, 7-8 December, 2007
Creativity is an essential element of success in contemporary organizations, yet much remains to be discovered about how creativity happens in the minds of individuals, in group processes and in entrepreneurial organizations. The conference will draw on scholarly work from multiple disciplines to deepen our understanding of creativity and entrepreneurship, and the ways in which their intersection might impact organizations of the future.
DRUID-DIME Winter Conference - Economics and Management of Innovation and Organizational Change
Aalborg, Denmark, 17-19 January, 2008
The conference is open for all PhD students working within the broad field of economics and management of innovation and organizational change. The conference organizers invite papers aiming at enhancing our understanding of the dynamics of technological, structural and institutional change at the level of firms, industries, regions and nations. DRUID is the node for an open international network. Confirmed invited senior scholars are: Maryann Feldman, University of Georgia; Reinhilde Veugelers, Katholike Universiteit Leuven; Paula Criscuolo, Tanaka Business School; Alfonso Gambardella, Università Bocconi; Gerry George, London Business School.
Niagarapalooza: Rethinking Our Cities 
Niagara Falls, 31 January, 2008
A conference for all community and business leaders, investors, developers, builders, architects, planners, urban designers, arts and culture leaders, artisans, realtors, financiers, politicians, smart growth enthusiasts, municipal employees, civil servants and members of the creative class. Keynote speakers include Richard Florida, Edie Friel, and Tim Jones. The conference will also include live music and perforamce art and a discussion with community leaders.
Innovation for Renewal and Growth - Accelerating Innovation for Sustainable Growth
New York, 11-12 March, 2008
Sessions will deal with issues and questions including: Growth oriented leadership - Defining the qualities your leadership must incorporate to reach growth objectives. New Models - The customer dynamic has forever changed with the advent of the internet. Open source innovation and collaboration are happening at the organizations setting the pace of innovation and growth in their sectors. What insights can organizations reap from the new reality of virtualization, collaboration, community and the coming co-creation wave? Innovation and Risk - Historically, managers tasked with driving growth through innovation have faced a risky and unpredictable road. How can you create and manage an innovation portfolio? Driving your organization’s innovation initiatives by utilizing metrics. Fostering a culture of innovation and empowering employees to see and act on opportunities in new or mature markets. Talent - as an innovation driver and growth lever for mature organizations. What is the business case used to engage all stake holders for innovation strategy buy-in, its communication and sponsorship across the enterprise?
International Forum on the Creative Economy
Ottawa, 17-18 March, 2008
The Conference Board of Canada and The Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada, are pleased to announce a Call for Papers for the International Forum on the Creative Economy. Papers are welcome in either of Canada's official languages, French or English. This International Forum will include keynote speakers, presentations, lectures, and other activities aimed at examining recent evidence on the arts and cultural sector as an important engine of economic growth. Papers must address one or more of the four Forum themes listed below. Descriptions and examples of these themes are attached: Creative Economy in Transition: Arts and Culture in Domestic and Global Markets; Measuring Arts and Culture as an Economic and Social Engine of a Country's Wealth; Consumption Dynamics: Consumers Driving Change; Innovation and Research: Mobilizing New Practices.
Advancing Small Business and Entrepreneuship: From Research to Results
Halifax, 22-25 June, 2008
Please join researchers, educators, policy makers and business service providers from around the world at the 53rd International Council for Small Business (ICSB) World Conference. The theme of the conference is "Advancing Small Business and Entrepreneurship: From Research to Results". A key aim of the conference is to bridge the gap between research and action.
Mexico City, 22-24 September, 2008
GLOBELICS (Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems) is an international network of scholars who apply the concept of "learning, innovation, and competence building system" (LICS) as their framework and are dedicated to the strengthening of LICS in developing countries, emerging economies and societies in transition. The research aims at locating unique systemic features as well as generic good practices to enlighten policy making relating to innovation, competence building, international competitiveness, regional development, labor market and human capital development. In an increasingly global and knowledge-based competition, management strategies need to be based upon an understanding of these framework conditions and the public policies which seek to regulate the environment. For the sixth conference to be held in Mexico City papers that contribute to the understanding of 'Styles' or modes of Development (or Political Economy of Development): paradigms of public policies, conflicts, trade-offs and choices among alternative public policies will be welcome.
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