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Innovation Studies

Innovation Scene

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) was launched in 1997 as an arm’s-length independent corporation mandated to rebuild and reinvest in research labs, installations and facilities in universities and teaching hospitals across the country. Through a series of investments, the government has committed $3.15 billion to the CFI. By 2010, it is expected that this investment will have resulted, through the participation of the institutions and their partners, in over $9 billion in new research capital investments. By the end of 2001, the CFI had supported more than 1400 projects at 100 universities and hospitals. The CFI’s funds are invested in partnership with research institutions and their partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Most innovative sector in Canada is the ICT sector R&D expenditures were expected to reach $5.2 billion in 2002; 46% of the total Canadian private sector R&D. Six of the top ten R&D performers in Canada are ICT firms.

Royalties on licencing patents increased from $6.9 million in 1998 to $12.0 million in 1999. However, the number of new inventions that were patented in that period declined. In 1998, 130 new patents were received, but in 1999 only 89 were recorded. Similarly, the number of new licences declined from 398 to 191, over the same period.

The table below gives an overview of the patents in 1998.

Some 65% of Canada's technology comes from abroad, importing much more technology than it exports. Every $l million worth of imported computers or television sets costs ten Canadian jobs.

Canada is relatively insignificant creating only 0.3% of the world's patented inventions. Canadians take out relatively few patents abroad. Through multi-national corporations and licensing agreements, Canadian firms gain access to technology which they may be able to use to create innovations. Without its own technology to trade, Canada may see its access to the latest technical breakthroughs greatly reduced.

Within Canada, technology is transferred through consulting companies, patent agencies, and brokerage agencies (which sell new ideas) and through industrial associations and research institutes. Contracting out government projects is another method of promoting technology development and transfer. These efforts to strengthen the transfer link are critical to innovation, because very few companies in Canada carry out extensive research and development on their own.

Targets for 2010: ¨

rank among the top five countries in the world in terms of research and development (R&D) performance ¨

at least double the Government of Canada's current investments in R&D ¨

rank among world leaders in the share of private sector sales attributable to new innovations ¨

raise venture capital investments per capita to prevailing U.S. levels ¨

develop at least 10 internationally recognized technology clusters ¨

significantly improve the innovation performance of communities across Canada

By 2005, ensure that high-speed broadband access is widely available to Canadian communities

Canada's innovation performance is improving, and in some areas outpacing the major competitors. Over the past two decades, Canada achieved one of the fastest rate of growth in the number of workers devoted to research and development (R&D), in external patent applications and in business expenditures on R&D

Many Canadian firms are developing new and improved products for world markets and are actively investing in new and advanced technologies. The weak performance results from low levels of R&D spending in all three key sectors: businesses, universities and governments.