Public Policy Forum leads latest attempt to craft actionable innovation strategy

Year-long consultation process

The Public Policy Forum (PPF) has capped a year-long examination of Canadian business innovation and is developing a comprehensive strategy that it hopes will generate the kinds of actions that previous initiatives have failed to achieve. With the intention of incorporating a greater emphasis on innovation in the health field and traditional resources sectors, the pending strategy will recommend the selection of three or four niche areas where Canada can excel globally.

The strategy will also position government as an innovation partner and facilitator rather than a leader, placing the onus on the private sector to lead the charge.

The PPF — an independent, not-for-profit organization think tank for public-private dialogue — recently held a day-long national conference in Toronto to crystallize the issues and themes it heard through a series of 15 regional roundtables held over the past year.

Drawing on recent reports from the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) as a jumping off point and featuring a host of high-level leaders from all sectors, the Innovation Next conference discussed eight themes that will form the basis of a report to be completed before the fall. Two more roundtables in St John's and Waterloo will be held over the summer.

Collectively picking areas where Canada has global advantage is not new. In addition to the CCA and STIC reports, the Conference Board of Canada facilitated the work of a 47-member Leaders Roundtable on Commercialization, which argued that the time had arrived to identify sectors and technologies. It also called for a shift from a university research-centric approach to innovation to one where business was in the driver's seat (R$, May 16/06).

Mark Lievonen, president of Sanofi Pasteur and a strong supporter of the PPF initiative, attended two regional roundtables as well as the national conference. He says the year-long process is correctly aimed at moving towards action with a manageable number of themes and an emphasis on cross-sectoral collaboration.

"It brings people together that might not have worked together before … It also recommends that Canada supports winners and not spread resources all over the place buy playing to our strengths," says Lievonen. "We need to keep talking and meeting and set these policy directions. The proof will be policy changes, companies spending and economic growth. If we don't, in 10 or 15 years we'll be having a very different conversation."

The consultation process leading up to the PPF conference stands in stark contrast to the 2007 federal S&T strategy, which involved minimal outreach and is already considered outdated. In the interim, most provinces have established innovation strategies of their own, leading many to contend that coordination and collaboration are priorities to ensure that the nation moves forward as a cohesive entity.

"It's time for this to happen. All levels of government are very active on this issue and understand the importance of innovation. They've grown more mature," says PPF executive VP Paul Ledwell. "The chief conclusion from our engagement is that government doesn't have to lead on this. They need to be a partner and provide the framework."

Ledwell says the conference's focus on action and solutions is "unique and refreshing" and its positioning of government as a collaborator rather than a leader is a message heard at roundtables across the country.

The idea for the PPF's decision to pursue a so-called Blueprint Strategy stems from its inaugural Science Day in Canada forum featuring a keynote presentation by Preston Manning, president and CEO of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy and former leader of the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties. The PPF followed up the event — which discussed the CCA and STIC reports in detail — with its Innovation Nation report which posed five key questions:

1. Who should oversee the development of a vision and strategy for innovation?

2. How can the broader community of innovators build a stronger culture of collaboration between and within sectors?

3. What must be done to encourage more commitment to innovation, especially R&D, in the private sector?

4. How can Canada ensure that it reaps the full economic and social benefits that spring from investment in innovation?

5. How can a spirit of innovation be built and sustained in Canada's various sectors: private, public, academic and voluntary?

Marcel Côté, founding partner of Secor Consulting, offered up his own personal take on Canadian innovation, with six areas for action. These include: shrinking the scientific research and experimental development tax credit program and diverting the funding to innovative projects; focusing on the development of high-tech clusters where necessary conditions already exist; greater innovation in health care services which account for more than 10% of gross domestic product; the development and support of Canadian champions and encouraging global firms to establish Canadian centres of excellence; and, a fundamental review of key sectors, particularly the life sciences. Côté says the current approach of heavy government support is clearly not working.

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