Innovation Canada: A Call to Action

Motivation and MandateChapterMotivation andMandate1Canadians enjoy an enviable standard of living,but sustaining our prosperity depends onmaintaining economic competitiveness in aglobal context both filled with opportunities andfraught with challenges. Among these isincreased competition due to a convergence offactors, including vastly more powerfulcommunications technologies that have shrunk“economic space” and virtually overnighttransformed the scope and intensity ofcompetition. The emerging competitors —China, India, Brazil and many others in thewings or already on stage — are no longermerely the low-cost suppliers of services andmanufactured goods. They are using education,research and development (R&D), and thecommitment of their governments to innovateand rapidly ascend the value chain. Thechallenge for highly developed countries likeCanada, accustomed to generations atop theglobal economic league tables, is clear.Equally clear is the prospect that the emergenteconomies, already home to more than half theworld’s population, will convert theirburgeoning prosperity into the greatest marketopportunities ever. But these are not availablesimply for the asking. The winners will be thecompanies that can provide products matchedto the culture, priorities and state ofdevelopment of the new customers — forexample, medical devices that perform at closeto state-of-the-art but for a small fraction of thecost. The fact is that the emerging marketsalready include large and rapidly growingpopulations of middle and upper incomeconsumers equipped with both spending powerand new generations of infrastructure such asadvanced wireless networks. In short, to seizethe opportunities and to meet the challenges oftoday’s economy, Canadian businesses need toadopt a thoroughly global outlook coupled witha focus on innovation. This will require, formany, a significant shift in habit, perspectiveand strategy.Perhaps the greatest risk is complacency.Canadians can be justly proud of the way thecountry has fared during the recent crisis years.A sound banking system, buoyant demand formany of our natural resources, ready access tothe world’s greatest market on our southernborder, and years of prudent fiscal managementhave served Canada well and will continue todo so. But a strong Canadian currency andstubborn economic weakness in the UnitedStates, our dominant export market, challengeCanadian businesses to become much moreinnovative.Being more innovative is also what is needed totake advantage of leading-edge technologieslike biotechnology, nanotechnology andinformation technology. These are giving rise toentirely new markets and are providing novelapproaches to the pressing challenges of our era— such as how economies can continue togrow in ways that are environmentallysustainable, or how health care expectationscan be met in ways that are fiscally sustainable.1-1