Issue #183
December 15, 2008
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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]
Canada is strengthening its knowledge base by attracting and retaining the workers that drive innovation and growth. Now 312 researchers will be able to conduct cutting-edge research thanks to a $45-million investment announced by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) under its Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF). This funding program was designed to provide infrastructure to attract researchers to Canadian institutions at a time of intense international competition for knowledge workers. The investment in state-of-the-art labs and equipment at 44 universities across the country will jump-start 251 projects in key areas of research, ranging from the environment, natural resources and energy, to health, and information and communications technologies.
An association representing 33,000 high-tech executives is calling on the government to create an infrastructure fund of $60-billion to stimulate the economy through job-focused spending."e have never gone through anything like this," says John Reid, President of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA). "The economy has flat-lined, and my members tell me that even the high tech services sector, which is normally resistant to recession, is feeling the freeze. "Canada needs to keep up with the example of our American neighbours, who are pushing forward an infrastructure stimulus package of $500-billion," he advised. "CATA's call for a $60-billion package for Canada is consistent with that level and with advice from economists such as Robert Reich, who advise that the U.S. should spend some four per cent of national product, or $600-billion, on infrastructure stimulus. In proportion, Canada should be prepared to spend $60-billion.
Attacking the Recession: How Innovation Can Fight the Downturn
Charles Leadbeater and James Meadway, NESTA
NESTA – the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - is publishing this paper to contribute to and stimulate the wider discussion of what the recession means for the UK and how it should respond. NESTA’s aim is to use this document to start a debate about how the UK should attack the recession by using innovation. The authors make some initial recommendations in each of the broad thematic areas it covers – firms, places, people, and public services. The document argues that we need a strategy to attack the recession, not just to respond to it. Innovation – in business, communities and public services – needs to be at the heart of that attack. The UK should aim to emerge as a more innovative, greener, more sustainable and diversified economy. The UK will need new growth sectors to make up for the dynamism that has been lost from financial services. The development of those growth sectors will require a mix of intelligent public investment, partnership with business and entrepreneurship. Decisive government leadership and public investment will be critical to innovation in many fields, from scientific research to cultural funding.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
Arts and Humanities Research and Innovation
Hasan Bakhshi, Philippe Schneider and Christopher Walker, NESTA
Policymakers increasingly recognize that the UK’s ability to address urgent social issues and to remain competitive in global markets rests on innovation – the successful exploitation of new ideas. But innovation does not happen in isolation. It requires cooperation between government, universities, third sector organizations, entrepreneurs, businesses and consumers. Innovative performance depends on their relationships and on the quality of the overall system. Innovation flourishes when there is a strong knowledge base combined with a culture of tolerance that embraces novelty and a diversity of ideas. Traditional understandings of innovation emphasise the importance of science and technology research. In contrast, this paper investigates the role that arts and humanities research plays in the innovation system. It explores the funding structures by which the Government supports this research in the UK, and the work of the Arts and Humanities Research Council in particular.
CITIES, CLUSTERS & REGIONS [Table of Contents]
Sluggish Productivity Growth in Canada: Could the Urbanization Process Be a Factor?
Alan Arcand, Glen Hodgson, Mario Lefebvre, Craig MacLaine, Greg Sutherland, Conference Board of Canada
The purpose of this report is to determine whether urbanization, in and of itself, plays a role in Canada’s productivity performance. Is a higher urban share of total population enough to lift productivity growth? If so, where does Canada stand (based on the literature) compared with other developed nations when it comes to urbanization? To address this issue, the study created a basic econometric model. The results suggest that among developed countries, the change in the capital-to-labour ratio, the level of education, and the geographic size of the country are the most important factors determining productivity growth. That is not to say that these two factors have no effect at all on productivity—but it is clear that in the developed world, neither urbanization nor urban concentration can be considered leading factors in determining productivity growth.
Helena Bergqvist, VINNOVA
This report is one of the consequences of VINNOVA’s commission from the Swedish Government to conduct an international benchmarking of the Swedish Life Science innovation system. In the commission, it is stated that the emphasis should be on the competitiveness of Sweden in an international comparison. Also, the study should provide knowledge of trends and initiatives in other countries and regions1. This report comprises one part of the overarching study. The aim of this thesis is to analyse and compare the British and Swedish life science innovation systems. The report includes one macro-level comparison comprising the UK, Scotland and Sweden and a micro-level comparison of the Cambridge and Uppsala regions.
Who Are the Brokers of Knowledge in Regional Systems of Innovation? A Multi-Actor Network Analysis
Martina Kauffeld-Monz and Michael Fritsch
The discussion on regional innovation systems emphasizes the duality of local and global links. While the former enable effective knowledge exchange between regional actors, the latter are considered to provide regional systems with knowledge diverse to their knowledge base. This empirical analysis of 18 German regional innovation networks highlights the importance of public research organizations for inter-regional knowledge exchange. The broker and gatekeeper function of public research organizations may be particularly important in lagging regions that typically suffer from a lack of large firms who often assume the role of “gatekeepers of knowledge”.
STATISTICS & INDICATORS [Table of Contents]
Anthony Arundel and Catalina Bordoy, UNU-MERIT
It is a common perception that European public-funded research fails to commercialize their discoveries, in contrast to the perceived success of their American counterparts. This resulted in policies aimed at improving the commercialization of European publicly-funded research, including the establishment of Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). Recent surveys on the activities of these TTOs show that although European public-funded research lags behind the United States in patent applications and grants, they produce more start-ups, and have comparable results for the number of licenses executed. Steps to improve the international comparability of TTO surveys could provide useful new indicators for policy development. However, this will also require indicators for knowledge
transfer through informal 'open science' methods."
The Geography of Inventive Activities in OECD Regions
Stefano Usai, OECD
This work reflects an initial analysis employing a pioneering new OECD database; it is among the first systematic attempts to comparatively analyze the distribution of innovative activity across regions in OECD economies with a set of homogenous measures for both input and output in the process of knowledge production and dissemination. The descriptive analysis shows that there are important differences in the inventive performance of regions in OECD economies, as measured by indicators for one of the key types of intellectual assets (i.e., patents). Inventive performance is concentrated in some regions in continental Europe, in North America and Japan. Highly inventive regions tend to cluster together. This spatial dependence is found to have increased over time. The inventive performance of regions is directly influenced by the availability of human capital and R&D expenditure. Local agglomeration factors (proxied by the density of population) are also found to have a significant impact while some negative effects appear when regions are mainly rural or when they are mainly service-oriented. Cross-country differences point to the importance of
national innovation systems which shape the institutional framework within which innovation takes form and diffuses.
The Use of Data Analysis as a Tool for Cluster Policy
Emily Wise, Lotte Landkilde, and Marie Degn Bertelsen, FORA
A range of international studies have presented results which indicate that clusters have a positive impact on innovation and economic growth. In light of this knowledge, a large number of countries and regions have embraced the concept of clusters and work to develop clusters through initiatives, programmes or cluster-specific innovation policy. On a European level, the Commission
has taken on the role of addressing informational and networking needs of member countries, and facilitating knowledge-building on this topic. In response to various requests for a more fact-based foundation for cluster policy formulation in Europe, DG Enterprise and Industry proposed a working area focused on measuring the economic impact of cluster policies. This Green Paper aims to provide an overview of existing good practice examples of different tools and analytical methods used during the cluster policymaking process. The ultimate objective with this work is to forge a strong, unbiased position from which to make recommendations on fact-based cluster policy in Europe.
POLICY DIGEST [Table of Contents]
University-Private Sector Research Partnerships in the Innovation Ecosystem
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
In order to recognize fully the importance of university-private sector partnerships and their role in the rapidly globalizing innovation ecosystem, this report reviews the current state and historical trends of the U.S. R&D enterprise. This study involved examining inputs to the ecosystem, including funding sources and mechanisms, and outputs of the ecosystem in order to evaluate the effectiveness and productivity of the research enterprise. Finally, it examines the effects of the increasingly globalized nature of the economic markets on both the inputs and outputs of the R&D enterprise. A critical part of the study considers several models of university-private sector research partnerships and models of private foundations that fund such partnerships. The varied nature of these models reflects the diversity of the innovation ecosystem itself, showing that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach for creating a successful research partnership. Nevertheless, the report does find numerous barriers and opportunities that many partnerships shared in common; these commonalities and the partnership models are included in the Appendices to the report.
The findings and recommendations to enhance innovation and to address barriers for university-private sector research partnerships fall into five general areas:
Basic Research and Innovation
Universities continue to serve as a primary engine for discovery research that can lead to innovation, and the Federal government remains the primary source to support basic research. PCAST found that, in spite of the increased diversity of funding sources for research performed by academia, the Federal government continues to be the primary source of funds for basic, curiosity-driven research.
Economic and Regulatory Policies Impacting U.S. Innovation and Research Partnerships
The economic and regulatory environment impacting U.S. innovation and research partnerships requires significant long-term changes. PCAST believes that recent economic and regulatory factors within the United States are exerting a significant negative impact on innovation. Increased constraints on an economy that is generally open with measured regulations threatens the ability of the United States to continue to compete in the global environment, a consequence even more critical in the current economic downturn. Ameliorating the current situation will require several significant and long-term changes.
Network Models of Open Innovation
Open innovation has the potential to drive technology development and partnerships in academia, the private sector, and government. There is currently a global revolution in the performance of R&D, whereby individuals and entire regions of the globe that would historically never interact can now collaborate on a research project in real-time. These open collaborations or open innovation systems can be utilized to augment corporations existing internal R&D infrastructure and university collaborations. PCAST found that these novel approaches have tremendous potential for addressing challenging research questions. These platforms could have an amplifying effect by dramatically increasing the pool of individuals available to address a given question and decreasing the time to develop solutions, thereby ultimately decreasing the time to market.
Connection Points Between Partners in the Innovation Ecosystem
The connection points among partners in the innovation ecosystem need to be strengthened to reduce barriers to collaborations.
PCAST members continue to believe that connections between the various partners in the innovation ecosystem need to be strengthened. Despite the increase in cross-sector collaboration seen over the past twenty years, substantial difficulties in forming such collaborations appear to remain. Some of the barriers identified by PCAST include misalignment of cultures, management structures, and goals; as well as differences in the policies that apply to IP, proprietary information, and publication.
Measuring and Assessing Innovation
Enhanced tools and metrics for policymakers and research partners to assess the outputs of the innovation system and the demands of the individual partners (both technology and workforce) are lacking. Despite continued concerns about U.S. competitiveness in a number of areas from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce to technology development and commercialization, PCAST found few robust measures and quantitative assessments exist to validate these conclusions with high confidence. Measured advances in data collection have more often been made on the inputs of the innovation system rather than on the outputs or impacts. Developing meaningful output measures for innovation remains challenging area of research.
EVENTS [Table of Contents]
Toronto, 3-4 March, 2009
Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is a two-day event showcasing Canada’s hottest new and innovative technology companies. A nexus of multiple meeting and networking opportunities, CIX is designed to enable the who’s who of North American investors to discover Canada’s next great companies. With facilitated and informal networking events, this innovation marketplace features Flash-forward presentations on the future of media, software, mobile and technology.
Understanding and Shaping Regions: Spatial, Social and Economic Futures
Leuven, Belgium, 6-8 April, 2009
Many topics will be discussed such as regional policy and evaluation, regions as innovative hubs, economic restructuring and regional transformation, and local and regional economic development. Abstract submission deadline: Sunday, 4th January 2009.
Creative Industries, Scenes, Cities, Places: Idiosyncratic Dimensions of the Cultural Economy
Cardiff, UK, 22-23 April, 2008
This seminar will focus on the relationship between places (cities, neighbourhoods, and quarters) and the development of creative industries. The range of papers should cover both theoretical perspectives and practical examples of the issues and challenges faced by researchers in trying to capture the economic, social and cultural dimensions of the creative economy. The conference will focus on four themes and questions: How to study the relationship between creative industries and city-regions. What are the
methodologies which address the way creative industries produce and interact with their markets? What is the role of place at various levels (city, neighbourhood, regions) in fostering creativity and creative production? What is the importance of public support policies and frameworks in developing the creative industries sector? Does fostering creative industries mean enabling regional growth?
Community Engagement and Service: The Third Mission of Universities
Vancouver, BC, 18-20 May, 2009
The conference will showcase research and practice of what in North America is called 'service to the community'. Although newly discovered by some universities, service to the community has long traditions in others, and in many cases is recognized as an explicit mandate in the university charter. Service is understood to be the Third Mission alongside teaching and research. Service and community engagement take many different forms. Examples are community based research and learning, assistance in regional development, continuing and community engagement, technology transfer and commercialization, and other forms of knowledge sharing and linkages.
Photonics North 2009: Closing the Gap Between Theory, Development, and Application
Quebec City, 24-27 May, 2009
This conference is an international event dedicated on the latest accomplishments, future directions and innovations exclusive to optics/ photonics technologies. Presentations will explore advances in Science and technology that will impact the use of photonics in the 21st century. Photonics North will provide you with the knowledge and competitive intelligence you need to keep up in the industry that changes and evolves at break-neck speed.
Madrid, Spain, 4-6 June, 2009
The European Urban Research Association (EURA) and the Urban Affairs Association (UAA) hold their second Joint Conference on City Futures in 2009. By building on the success of the first such conference, held in Chicago in 2004, the conference aims to focus
sharply on international exchange. Urban scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have created a five-track structure for this forward-looking conference: Climate change, resource use and urban adaptation; Knowledge and technology in urban development; Community development, migration and integration in urban areas; Urban governance and city planning in an international era; Architecture and the design of the public realm
Glasgow, Scotland, 17-19 June, 2009
Triple Helix VII offers a multi-disciplinary forum for experts from universities, industry and government. The Conference is designed to attract leading authorities from across the world who will share their knowledge and experience, drawing a link between research, policy, and practice in sustainable development. The Conference will bring together policy-makers, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, and key representatives from business and industry. The theme for Triple Helix VII - “The role of Triple Helix in the Global Agenda of Innovation, Competitiveness and Sustainability” - reflects the interaction between academia, the private and the public sector.
Atlanata Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2009 
Atlanta, 2-3 Oct, 2009
Governments seek new strategies and are turning to the science, technology, and innovation policy research community for models and research results to tell them what works, what doesn’t, and under what circumstances. Test models of innovation. Explore emerging STI policy issues. Share research results. Call for papers to be posted shortly.
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