Editorial - 25-18

Enough reports! The increasingly loud calls for government to stop studying and start acting obviously haven't been getting through. Industry Canada has called upon the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) to strike an Expert Panel on the State of Industrial Research and Development in Canada (see page 4). This follows a slew of recent reports on innovation, federal support for R&D, productivity and competitiveness.

True, there hasn't been a report on the exact topic the CCA is being asked to examine. But the call for yet more study suggests that the federal government doesn't share the sense of urgency expressed by many in business, academic and policy circles.

In its five years in power, the Conservative government has introduced a number of new programs aimed at attracting and retaining world class research talent. But beyond the realm of highly qualified personnel, the laudable expansion of the Networks of Centres of Excellence program and a smattering of small programs designed to bring colleges into the innovation system, there's been little that's bold and of significant scale to make a real difference. In the meantime, Canada's ranking in virtually all the key metrics for innovation, productivity and competitiveness is sinking.

There's no doubt the latest CCA assessment will provide valuable insight into industrial R&D when it is released in 2013. But the future of Canada's prosperity and success in the knowledge economy is dependent upon swift, decisive action with a strategy designed to grow innovative firms and win new business.