New provincial framework links research excellence to "culture of commerce"

Ontario Innovation Agenda

The Ontario government has released its long-awaited Innovation Agenda which is the first in Canada to explicitly tie together research excellence and commerce skills in equal measure. Heavily influenced by the work of the Ontario Research and Innovation Council (ORIC), the Agenda lays out a broad approach to enhancing innovation within a rapidly changing global context by aiming to align nearly $3 billion in announced and pending investments over an eight-year period.

Entitled Seizing Global Opportunities: Ontario's Innovation Agenda, the framework calls for a balanced approach between investing in upstream and downstream activities while acknowledging that more work is required to enhance commerce skills. It also notes the need for innovation in the service sector, which comprises the majority of economic activity in the province.

All disciplines from the hard sciences to the arts, humanities and social sciences must be factored into the skills and knowledge mix required to effectively compete and prosper in the face of growing global competition, it states.

The Agenda's release follows a series of recent investments in research and innovation including the $1.15-billion Next Generation of Jobs Fund and coincides with the announcement that the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research has been chosen as the administrative headquarters and data centre for the International Cancer Genome Consortium (see page 6).

A core thrust of the Agenda is to encourage collaboration between industry and universities to capture the benefits of investments made in Ontario's research base. Government's role is primarily as a catalyst in which strategic direction and focus (in consultation with business and academia) is supported by funding programs. It builds on the research and innovation strategic plan of the Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) which also encouraged a greater emphasis on developing a culture of commerce (R$, January 18/07).

"The idea that business and science are just going to get together and make this (innovation) happen is in our opinion the wrong philosophy. We think the government can be a catalyst and provide the paradigm that allows different groups to get together," says MRI minister John Wilkinson. "That means not interfering in market forces or peer-reviewed science but acting as a catalyst to bring leadership …That can lead to opportunity."

Since the creation of MRI, the Ontario government has been aggressive in its support for innovation, funding new S&T infrastructure, creating a host of new programs, augmenting others and modifying tax and regulatory policies to enhance the overall business climate. Earlier this year, it was one of several provinces to establish a government-backed, business-led venture capital fund of funds and took steps to foster company formation based on Canadian inventions.

The Agenda acknowledges, however, that efforts to date have been in areas of research strength that are "too often scattered" requiring a greater strategic focus and alignment.

"It's not a natural way of thinking. Government have been very supportive of R&D for a long time but as soon as you broaden out beyond R&D we had a bit of a selling job to do," says Dr Adam Chowaniec, ORIC chair and board chair of Ottawa-based Tundra Semiconductor Corp. "Traditionally we've been very successful with the R&D portion and less successful with the commerce portion. You can see that in how many companies we lose in a relatively young state before they have a chance to develop … Linking science and technology and R&D with the commerce side is where we have the biggest gains to be made."

"ORIC members were central to providing an in-depth understand of how innovation creates prosperity. Their insights explain why support for research, for example, must go hand in hand with support for the commercial activities that harvest its economic benefits." — Ontario Innovation Agenda

Chowaniec says that, to his knowledge, the Agenda's melding of research and commerce with the view to building new companies represents a Canadian first. He maintains that other jurisdictions continue to develop science and industrial policy separately.

"It's when you put the two pieces together that the magic happens for the knowledge-based economy," he says, adding that two recent initiatives are helping to encourage that convergence. "The venture capital fund that is being put together tries to address some of the financial problems on the commerce side — the lack of venture capital, especially the early stages of company development. The second thing is the $1-billion jobs fund. It's basically saying to industry ‘You're the guys who know best, where the markets are and when to invest.' ... Both of these initiatives are beginning to move in the direction of commerce and not just technology. But there's a way to go yet."

In addition to input from ORIC, the strategy's development was driven from within MRI by Dr Alastair Glass until his departure earlier this year. Glass says the document has improved since he stepped down after a two-year stint as DM, due to the arrival of a new, dedicated minister, new funding in the latest Budget and the fresh perspective of his replacement, George Ross.

"This is a framework. MRI will be engaging the community, setting the goals and saying that it's not just about research, it's about driving the economy," says Glass who will continue to advise the ministry. "It's part of a continuum and it goes all the way from universities through industry including large industries. It's setting the targets and even setting some directions on where we can be the best."

Ross says the ministry will begin to examine existing programs and make sure they are working effectively in support of the the new framework as well as working with industry and academia to "drive the fundamentals that are built into the Agenda".

"The first order of business is about getting the key programs implemented. We have the Next Generation of Jobs Fund that the government has directed us to implement," says Ross. "We're also talking to stakeholders to get cues from industry about what investments in R&D make sense and take a look at research in collaboration with industry and universities and try to pull those together as part of the Next Generation of Jobs Fund."

MRI will also be looking at innovation-related programs across government to ensure that they are effectively aligned with the Agenda.

"We'll be looking at modernizing those and making them absolutely relevant to the Agenda going forward," says Ross.

For a copy of the Agenda, go to www.mri.gov.on.ca.

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