Canada can still improve e-business performance

The Canadian E-Business Opportunities Roundtable has issued its third and final e-Report Card and is disbanding to make way for the new Canadian e-Business Initiative (CeBI), a public-private partnership focused on productivity, leadership and innovation. The report card — Fast Forward 3.0: Maintaining the Momentum — gives Canada an A minus for its progress on the e-business front. Progress was measured by examining success in closing the venture capital (VC) gap with the US, regulatory and tax reform, e-business adoption by smaller firms, attracting and retaining skilled e-business talent, accelerating government on-line and promoting Canada’s e-business brand globally. Fast Forward 3.0 notes considerable success in having the Roundtable’s recommendations adopted by the federal government. But it cautions that work needs to be done in the area of VC, particularly Canadian pension funds that have been reluctant to invest in VC. Canadian pensions funds accounted for just 3% of VC raised in 2001, compared to 40% in the US. It also reports that smaller businesses lag behind their US counterparts in e-business adoption.