The Middle of the Road
“Canada is a solid, middle-of-the-road performer.” That’s the conclusion of Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council in its 2008 State of the Nation report, which benchmarks Canada’s performance on a wide range of science, technology and innovation indicators on an international scale. The STIC says that improving Canada’s performance “will require a concerted, coordinated effort by Canadian business, higher education, government and non-profit institutions.”
Indeed.
Solid isn’t a point of pride. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks Canada near the very bottom in terms of private sector–university collaboration—far behind leaders Finland, Sweden and Belgium, and even Iceland, Portugal and the Slovak Republic. The problem is a lack of dialogue: In the STIC report, innovative Canadian firms say their most important sources of information are clients, suppliers and trade shows—not universities, despite the fact that higher education institutions account for 34 per cent of R&D in Canada, equivalent to $10 billion. This disconnect must be addressed if Canada is to parlay its investments and strengths into improved competitiveness.