Issue #191
May 4, 2009
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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]
Ontario Investing in Science to Strengthen the Economy
Ontario is launching a new fund to attract and retain world-leading genomics researchers in the province. The $100-million Global Leadership Round in Genomics and Life Sciences will support globally-significant, collaborative research projects that are headquartered in Ontario. Focused on genomics and gene-related research, the new fund will aim to accelerate new knowledge that could lead to cures, better treatment and prevention for diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It will also support innovation in agriculture, environmental protection and clean technologies. Investing in research and innovation has been a cornerstone of Ontario’s economic planning since 2003 and Ontario’s Innovation Agenda. The agenda is a $3.2 billion plan to make Ontario one of the best places in the world to turn world-class research into world-class jobs
Innovation and Business Strategy: Why Canada Falls Short - Report in Focus
Canada’s persistent weakness in productivity growth is due to business strategy choices. “Too few Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs choose strategies that emphasize innovation”, says Robert Brown, Chair of the panel of 18 business, labour and academic authorities appointed by the Council of Canadian Academies to analyze the innovation performance of Canadian businesses. The panel’s report presents a fresh look at innovation as an economic process.
New Partnership Founds the Teralys Capital Fund in Quebec
The Caisse de deport et placement du Quebec, the Solidarity Fund QFL, and the Quebec government recently confirmed the creation of the Teralys Capital Fund, which will finance private venture capital funds that invest in technology companies in sectors that include life sciences, information technology and clean technology. The creation of the Teralys Capital Fund of the partnership between funding members, which are each contributing $250 million. The Quebec government is contributing $200 million through Investissement Quebec. The fund will also solicite other institutional and private investors to raise an additional $125 million, for a total objective of $825 million.
Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences, President Obama paid due tribute to the wonder, history, and inspiration of science in America. But he also made the connection between science and the news being discussed all across America right now to make clear that science is no afterthought or hobby. The President gave the all-too-familiar statistics about math and science education, and lamented the politicization of science that has too often stunted American ingenuity. He pledged to address those problems head on. “So I'm here today to set this goal: We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.”
Follow the link above for clips, highlights and links regarding evolving American science policy under President Obama.
New Innovation Council Provides Bright Future for Manitoba
The Manitoba government is building on its knowledge-based economy with the creation of the Manitoba Innovation Council, announced recently by Science, Technology, Energy and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau and Competitiveness, Training and Trade Minister Andrew Swan. The Manitoba Innovation Council will be tasked with developing and implementing an action plan to commercialize innovation and technology projects in the province. It will also create a capital markets strategy that supports innovative companies at all stages of development.
EDITOR'S PICK [Table of Contents]
11th Annual Innovation Systems Research Network Conference Presentations
Presentations from the ISRN annual meeting touch on a number of different themes related in innovation in Canadian city-regions. These include: infrastructure, innovation and urban competitiveness; infrastructure, policy and innovation; the urban dynamics of talent attraction and retention; innovation and knowledge flows in city regions; talent and creativity in city regions; and governance and economic performance in city-regions.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
Innovation 2009: Making Hard Decisions in the Downturn
BCG Senior Management Survey
This report summarizes the findings of BCG’s latest annual survey on corporate innovation. Topics covered include objectives, tactics, and perceived strengths and weaknesses. The report concludes with thoughts on innovation strategies companies can employ in the economic downturn that can substantially improve their long-term competitive position.
The Bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a Policy Agenda
OECD
The biological sciences are adding value to a host of products and services, producing what some have labelled the “bioeconomy” and offering the potential to make major socio-economic contributions in OECD countries. Using quantitative analyses of data on development pipelines and R&D expenditures from private and public databases, this book estimates biotechnological developments to 2015. Moving to a broader institutional view, it also looks at the roles of R&D funding, human resources, intellectual property, and regulation in the bioeconomy, as well as at possible developments that could influence emerging business models to create scenarios to 2030. These scenarios are included to stimulate reflection on the interplay between policy choices and technological advances in shaping the bioeconomy. Finally, the book explores policy options to support the social, environmental and economic benefits of a bioeconomy.
Jay P Kesan, University of Illinois
This work analyzes the extensive organizational and performance-related information submitted in annual reports from 1996-2003 by ninety-four universities' technology transfer offices (TTOs) to the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). The analysis shows that university technology transfer activities continue to be predominantly patent-centric and revenue-driven with a single-minded focus on generating licensing income and obtaining reimbursement for legal expenses. University technology transfer activities do not extend far beyond this narrow focus; commercialization activities (e.g., number of start-up companies) and strategies to transfer innovation, more broadly, do not figure prominently. In fact, universities do not engage in a broad range of activities that might result successfully in a transfer of university-originating innovation to different sectors in society. Universities must go beyond generating revenue and actively pursue entrepreneurial and commercialization activities, and readily embrace alternative technology transfer methods, such as open collaborations, free participant use agreements, and royalty-free licensing. Such steps would likely result in the adoption and dissemination throughout society of university-originating innovations. In order to embrace this comprehensive approach to transferring innovation, university TTOs need to substantively broaden their business models and restructure themselves within the university hierarchy so that the structural incentives that are implemented are compatible with a broader vision of technology transfer.
CITIES, CLUSTERS & REGIONS [Table of Contents]
Philadelphia Daily News and the William Penn Foundation
Amy Liu was a panelist at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s “Rethinking Philadelphia” program, which sought to “analyze how the region can leverage its strengths and resources to position itself as a national leader.” In conjunction with the event, the Philadelphia Daily News, in partnership with the William Penn Foundation, produced a special section heavily influenced by the Metropolitan Policy Program’s Blueprint for American Prosperity. This section looks at some of these ideas - in transportation, energy, sustainability and planning - that people will be talking about and acting on, in the coming months.
Regional Policies, Key Levers of Regional Innovation Dynamics
Abdelillah Hamdouch et at.
Regions tend to become the relevant space for the analysis of public funding of innovation, as emphasized by numerous recent works. However, it is still to be demonstrated that the regional level is really the right spatial scaling for implementing innovation public policies. The aim of this paper is to provide a series of analytical and empirical elements that could help clarify this issue. The paper builds first on a review of the literature dedicated to territorial innovation systems (TIS), showing that beyond their extreme diversity, there are several criteria that provide a basis for a tentative typology of TIS. It then examines how and on which grounds there has been a shift of focus from the notion of National Innovation System (NIS) to that of Regional Innovation System (RIS). The paper also provides a rationale for considering the region as being at the core of TIS, but as part of a multiscalar and dynamic territorial setting. Building on these analytical grounds, the paper turns to an empirical investigation based on the French innovation system. The specific features of this system and its recent evolution towards more "regionalization" display particular patterns of how public policies, and more specifically regional policies, play a nodal role in initiating, supporting and coordinating innovation processes and projects at the regional level. But the leveraging effects of theses policies on territorial innovation dynamics are subject to various contingent conditions related both to the funding mechanisms mobilized and to the timing of the support to innovation projects according to their development stages. The paper concludes by identifying some crucial pending issues and suggesting directions for further investigation on the role of regional innovation policies in various territorial and sectoral contexts.
STATISTICS & INDICATORS [Table of Contents]
Ontario in the Creative Age Benchmarking Reports
Martin Prosperity Institute
These brief reference reports reveal a snapshot of each of the 15 focus regions in Ontario and how they perform on our 3Ts of economic development relative to their peers. Each CMA has been benchmarked against 10 competitive North American regions of similar size. The reports can be accessed through a map of the province with each report linked to the region.
Anthony Arundel and Rene Kemp, UNU-MERIT
This paper offers a discussion of eco-innovation and methods for measuring it. Eco-innovation is a new concept of great importance to business and policy makers, covering many innovations of environmental benefit. The paper argues that eco-innovation research and data collection should not be limited to such environmentally motivated innovations, but should encompass all products, processes, or organizational innovations with environmental benefits. Attention should be broadened to include innovation in or oriented towards resource use, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, waste minimization, reuse and recycling, new materials (for example nanotechnology-based) and eco-design. For measuring eco-innovation, no single method or indicator is likely to be sufficient. In general, one should therefore apply different methods for analyzing eco-innovation – to see the “whole elephant” instead of just a part. More effort should be devoted towards direct measurement of eco-innovation outputs using documentary and digital sources to complement the current emphasis on innovation inputs such as R&D or patents. Innovation can also be measured indirectly from changes in resource efficiency and productivity. These two avenues are underexplored and should be given more attention in order to augment our rather narrow knowledge basis.
POLICY DIGEST [Table of Contents]
A Restoring Prosperity Case Study: Akron, Ohio
Larry Ledebur and Jill Taylor, The Brookings Institution
In May 2007, the author of a Brookings report, “Restoring Prosperity,” examined how 302 U.S. cities fared on eight indicators of economic health and vitality. While the report's central focus was on cities facing the steepest economic challenges, the analysis showed that some cities, such as Akron Ohio, raised their economic status over time. This study provides an in-depth look at Akron’s economy over the past century. It begins by tracing the industrial history of the Akron region, describing the growth of the rubber industry from the late 1800s through much of following century, to its precipitous decline beginning in the 1970s. It then discusses how the “bottoming out” of this dominant industry gave rise to the industrial restructuring of the area. The paper explores the nature of this restructuring, and the steps and activities the city’s business, civic, and government leaders have undertaken to help spur its recovery and redevelopment. In doing so, it provides a series of lessons to other older industrial regions working to find their own economic niche in a changing global economy.
Some general lessons that emerge trom the Akron experience highlight that:
Strong leadership is essential. Vital to the revitalization of Akron was strong leadership, which, self-evident as its importance may be, can’t be taken for granted. Civic and political leaders’ willingness to come together to develop and implement a bold vision for recovery was the key driver of change. Without such leadership, the cities would have been unable to move beyond the parochialism, conflict, and inertia that continue to weigh many older industrial regions down.
Success requires vision and planning. While serendipity and luck are often cited as important, if underrated, components of economic success, bold vision and a clear strategy are stronger bets. In this community, strong leadership was manifested in the creation and implementation of a defined vision and plan for reaching it—whether focused on transforming the physical landscape, uniting the political and economic region, or promoting better cooperation between the city, its suburbs, and the broader region, as in Akron.
You’re all in it together now. Strong leadership comes in many forms, and emerges most forcefully when leaders from different sectors work with one another toward common goals. Akron was able to turn their best laid plans into concrete actions—and concrete successes—because business, government, and the non-profit communities all recognized the dire need to change their city’s current trajectory, and put their respective strengths to work, collaboratively, for change.
Place matters—take advantage of it. The history of where, why, and how cities grew as they did provides an important backdrop to their present economic, cultural, and social development. Just as cities can overcome the disadvantages of place—limited water supply, cold weather, earthquakes—so, too, must they recognize, and maximize, the advantages.
While the above bullets describe major themes of this study, they only tell part the rich and distinctive narrative of how Akron has managed to overcome a host of economic obstacles over the past several decades, despite the challenges it still faces. Still, they demonstrate that with the right combination of leadership, cooperation, strategy, and ingenuity distressed cities—working together with regional and state leaders—can begin to reshape and reinvigorate their economies, and advance their future prosperity.
EVENTS [Table of Contents]
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.
Intellectual Property Rights: Innovation and Commercialization in Turbulant Times
Toronto, 29 May, 2009
Effective IPR protection is essential to capitalize on innovation and encourage investment in research and development facilities and services. Canada needs world-class intellectual property policy and practices to compete globally. Policymakers and business leaders need to recognize IPR’s crucial role in fostering innovation and enabling businesses to capitalize on development investments and successfully commercialize their innovations. What is the role of IPR in helping companies continue investing in research and development (R&D)? How does this investment affect their ability to emerge even stronger and better able to compete in a recovering and knowledge-based economy? What’s being done now and what can be done by educators, regulators, and business organizations to help companies develop intellectual property to drive business success? Learn from industry experts and intellectual property thought leaders how you can capitalize on innovation and benefit from more effective intellectual property protection.
The Innovation Economy: Getting New Ideas, New Partners and New Growth for the Global Economy
Brussels, 2 June, 2009
This international policy dialogue will be held on June 2, 2009 in Brussels. Topics to be discussed include: high-growth entrepreneurship, university research, international R&D collaboration, the innovation agenda of the next European commission, open innovation, joint programming of research.
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.
Canada 3.0: Shape Canada's Digital Future 
Stratford, Ontario, 8-9 June, 2009
Join industry leaders, policy makers and researchers in the discussion about making Canada the place for digital media in the world! Canada 3.0 isn't your typical forum. You will be an active part of the discussion - panel sessions with open mikes and roundtables where you share your experience, your passion and determine where we go next. Engage with your peers, industry experts, analysts and influencers from across the country and around the world.
Marketing and Mobilizing Your Technology
Ottawa, 17-18 June, 2009
Research findings resulting from Canada’s large investments in Science and Technology / Research and Development must translate into economic development, public policy and social programs. It is all about Turning research into action – enabling the Canadian economy to be competitive and productive and ensuring the quality of life of Canadians by creating a safe, healthy and secure environment that is energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. Join the thought leaders, network and connect with senior executives, practitioners and experts in the field to discuss and learn the latest in increasing the value of technology transfer practices and turning research results into action for your organization.
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.
Innovation, Strategy and Knowledge: 2009 DRUID Summer Conference
Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 June, 2009
The DRUID Summer Conference 2009 intends to map theoretical, empirical and methodological advances, further contribute with novel insights and stimulate civilized controversies in industrial dynamics. The conference will include targeted plenary debates where internationally merited scholars take stands on contemporary issues within the overall conference theme. This year's conference will bring together researchers from around the world to exchange research results and to address open issues. The plenary program will include, among others, contributions from Juan Alcacer, William Barnet, Adam Brandenburger, Russell Coff, Wes Cohen, Massimo Colombo, Phil Cooke, Giovanni Dosi, Jan Fagerberg, Andrea Fosfuri, Tim Foxon, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Michael Jacobides, / /Rene Kemp, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Mike Lenox, Dan Levinthal, Will Mitchell, Paul Nightingale, Laszlo Poloz, Laura Poppo, Michael Ryall, Dan Snow, Bart Verspagen, Sidney Winter
Experience the Creative Economy
Toronto, 23-25 June, 2009
This is a unique conference which allows scholars new in their careers to experience notions of the creative economy in a small and focused setting. This conference will bring together up to 25 individuals with similar research interests to share their work, receive feedback, foster the development of effective research methods and to establish an ongoing framework of collaborative learning and mutual exchange for years to come.
TEKPOL: 3rd International Conference on Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Economics
Ankara, Turkey, 24-26 June, 2009
The main objective of this workshop is to bring together researchers and policy makers from new member states and candidate counties in order to discuss the following topics: links between innovation, R&D and economic performance; innovation and technology diffusion; knowledge management and learning in organizations; systemic nature of innovation (national, sectoral and local); science, technology and innovation policies; issues concerning developing countries and technological change; economic impact of new technologies.
Global Science and the Economics of Knowledge Sharing Institutions
Torino, Italy, 28-30 June, 2009
This conference – held within the context of the EU-funded project COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain - aims to bring together leading people from a number of international scientific research communities, social science researchers and science, technology and innovation policy analysts, to discuss the rationale, policy support and practical feasibility of arrangements designed to emulate key public domain conditions for collaborative research. Initiatives and policies have been proposed that go beyond “open access” to published research findings by aiming to facilitate more effective and extensive (global) sharing of not only data and information, but research facilities, tools, and materials. There is thus a need to examine a number of these proposals’ conceptual foundations from the economic and legal perspectives and to analyze the roles of the public domain and contractually constructed commons in facilitating sharing of scientific and technical data, information and materials. But it is equally important to examine the available evidence about actual experience with concrete organizational initiatives in different areas of scientific and technological research, and to devise appropriate, contextually relevant methods of assessing effectiveness and identifying likely unintended and dysfunctional outcomes.
12th Annual Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation - ICTPI09
Porto, Portugal, 13-14 July, 2009
The theme and motto of the 12th ICTPI Conference - Science, Technology and Knowledge Networks – long term growth strategies to face the financial crisis – will seek to challenge the participants in developing strategic responses to the crisis that integrate long-term concerns, by involving research and development, higher-education and science-based innovation.
Research and Entrepreneurship in the Knowledge-Based Economy
Milan, Italy, 7-8 September, 2009
Knowledge creation and management has been widely recognized as the main driving force for the economic growth of advanced economies. In the knowledge-based economy, learning, knowledge, research and human capital are key variables in the development of firms, sectors and countries. The increasing importance of the knowledge-based economy leads to a growing number of challenges for the actors involved: the need to integrate and coordinate research, a better definition of actions and the search for the right instruments to tackle the cognitive and management aspects of the processes and to evaluate outcomes and effects. Within this framework, the conference aims to create an opportunity for presentation of current research in the field and to open a space for debating on the impact of investments in research and human capital on firms, sectors and countries in the knowledge-based economy, and on the role for public policy. Keynote speakers include: Giovanni Dosi, Dominique Foray, Franco Malerba, Pascal Petit and Rehinilde Veuglers.
4th European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Antwerp, Belgium, 10-11 September, 2009
n the light of the European Lisbon goals, the importance of the conference topics cannot be underestimated. Entrepreneurship and innovation should be the driving force in the transition of the Western economies towards knowledge-intensive economies – a necessity to maintain our current living standards. Knowledge creation and dissemination to society are indispensable to advance into the next era. The conference welcomes academics, researchers and industrial delegates to join this innovative program.
Atlanta 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. The online process for paper submission is now closed.
Stimulating Recovery: The Role of Innovation Management
New York, 6-9 December, 2009
Organised by ISPIM and hosted by The Fashion Institute of Technology this symposium will bring together academics, business leaders, consultants and other professionals involved in innovation management. The symposium format will include facilitated themed sessions for academic and practitioner presentations together with interactive workshops and discussion panels. Additionally, the symposium will provide excellent networking opportunities together with a taste of local New York culture.
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