International experts gather in Halifax to examine regional innovation systems

Global expertise in translating regional strengths into innovative businesses and economic development is converging on Halifax next month for the first Canadian-based Technoopolicy Conference. The two-day event will examine best practices and policies for developing regional innovation strategies, with a particular focus on Atlantic Canada and featuring speakers from North America and Europe.

The need for regional innovation strategies is well-known and generally accepted yet practitioners and policy makers rarely meet their international counter parts to exchange and share experiences. The Technopolicy Network was founded in 2003 by several European and US groups and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is its sole Canadian member. Cluster strategies, talent, the impact of a region's economic history and local champions will be among the topics discussed by the gathering of international delegates.

"We need to be aware of best practices elsewhere but we also need to tailor policy to our own circumstances and a strong understanding of who you are," says Douglas Robertson, ACOA's director of innovation policy and research projects. "The conference provides an opportunity to learn and gain perspectives from regions around the world and strengthen perspectives on what we mean by ‘region' and the knowledge economy."

One method of determining the best strategies for encouraging regional innovation systems is through cluster analysis. Thorough analysis helps to achieve a greater alignment of policies across all levels of government, informing choices of expenditures in areas where they can be of most value.

The National Research Council (which is a major conference sponsor and will have a significant presence in Halifax) has conducted much work on cluster strategies. In recent years, it has established several technology clusters across the Canada including four in Atlantic Canada — nutrasciences and health in Charlottetown PEI, e-business and information technology in Fredericton NB, life sciences in Halifax and ocean technologies in St John's NF.

Understanding and building on a region's economic history is also considered a critical factor in successful regional innovation. Dr Saskia Sassen, a professor of sociology and member of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia Univ in New York City, will address the conference to explain that the global economy actually thrives on specialized differences of regional economies. She sites Chicago's past reliance on livestock and steel production as the basis for its prominence today as a global financial centre for commodities futures and the locale of choice for the headquarters of large manufacturing firms such as Boeing Co which recently relocated from Seattle.

"All successful regions actually have succeeded partly because they extracted deep knowledge about particular economic aspects from their own past experience," she says. "The irony is that today, the high level of complexity and specialization of the global economy demands that depth of knowledge, but packaged as specialized knowledge and not the material products (mining, agriculture)) from where that knowledge came," says Sassen.

building on historic economic strengths

Sassen adds that regional innovation policies and programs can certainly assist in improving the economic performance of a given region, but notes that they must be embedded in an "already existing tradition or history of excellence".

Canada actually does quite well when compared to other leading global cities. A study in which Sassen participated examined 75 such regions and Canada placed three cities — Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — in the top 30.

The 2008 Mastercard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Report contains several subindicators in which Canadian cities ranked favourably. The high-ranked categories were trading across borders, political and legal frameworks, ease of doing business, corporate tax burden, scientific and technical journal articles, researchers per capita, quality of life and health and safety.

The ability of Atlantic Canada to transform itself into an innovative region and shake off the economic lethargy of the past is a key concern for ACOA. Robertson says the region's history as a trading zone with a strong international outlook bodes well for the future.

"The greatest innovation success stories as a region come out of our historic roots to the ocean, sea products and agriculture," he says. "Atlantic Canada is in the midst of a profound transition and ACOA is an important player in that process. There's a strong spirit of renewal in the region."

The Fifth Annual Conference of The Technopolicy Network, entitled Implementing Regional Innovation Strategies, will be held in Halifax September 24-25.

FMI: www.technopolicy.net.

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