Dr Brian Barge

4th Pillar Enablers and Multipliers

By Dr Brian Barge

Canadians are rallying around the Innovation Strategy introduced last February by the federal government. They are participating in regional discussions, proposing ideas, responding to challenges and setting objectives so that Canada can achieve its potential as an innovating nation.

To achieve our innovation objectives, we must identify and elevate in importance those organizations and people that provide the greatest impact on Canada’s innovation performance and competitiveness. We must achieve consensus quickly, capitalize on discovery and mobilize for action. We must “enable the enablers” and as such, Canada’s 4th Pillar organizations have a special and important role to play.

4th Pillar organizations are innovation-enabler and multiplier organizations. They complement the other three pillars (business, government and universities) by bringing together diverse stakeholder groups to focus on important opportunities. Serving communities of common interest, they channel individual and organizational interests, commitment, and competence towards focussed group-based action. They are effective instruments that bridge sectoral, geographical and governmental divides through established public and private channels of communication. Examples of some 4th Pillar organizations include CMC (Canadian Microelectronics Corporation), CIAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), CANARIE Inc, Precarn Inc, and PAPRICAN (Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada).

Each of the three traditional pillars faces challenges as innovation enablers. Governments service citizens broadly, striving to strike a delicate balance across their diverse constituents. Consensus development and action on major issues occur over years. In contrast, private sector companies must individually attend to the specific commercial opportunities and challenges that confront them, often immediately, and with self-interest. Universities combine diverse and complex research and education agendas. All of these institutions are fully occupied addressing their respective issues and constituencies.

The 4th Pillar organizations, however, are innovation-enabling, agile and focused. They are often structured as not-for-profits, agencies of government or associations that perform exceptionally well when transition, innovation and change are prevalent. They are designed to act as ‘change-management’ agents, facilitating collaboration and early consensus of the type required to achieve Canada’s common innovation objectives. 4th Pillar organizations are brokers and disseminators; they multiply the efforts of the key individuals and organizations that they serve.

CMC is one example of Canada’s many 4th Pillar organizations that is “at the ready” to play a critical role in our innovation processes and effect change in areas critical to Canada’s future. It is a unique model of government/industry/university collaboration. CMC is a national not-for-profit corporation that has developed distinct capability over 18 years in the effective and low-cost delivery of advanced tools and technologies to stimulate the development of highly qualified people with microsystems expertise.

Microsystems disciplines and technologies are also enablers and multipliers and include microelectronics, photonics, optoelectronics, micromachining, microfluidics, embedded software and progressively nano-scale phenomena. Highly qualified people with microsystems skills are deployed widely in medical, telecommunications, automotive, resource, aerospace and many other industries.

All countries have approaches for enabling and multiplying the impact of innovators. We need to build on our Canadian strengths and in this regard, 4th Pillar organizations merit strategic focus and investment to ensure that we achieve our innovation and economic potential.

Dr Brian Barge is president and CEO of the Canadian Microelectronics Corp.