Conference Board issues new innovation report

A new innovation report from the Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) says governments should accelerate their smart regulation initiatives and ensure that new policies and programs to encourage private sector innovation are consistent with existing policies and practices. The fifth annual report — based on a survey of 220 CEOs of Canadian companies — says that most innovative firms have internal champions, a global mindset and combine formalized processes and intuition when making investment decisions.

Entitled Trading in the Global Ideas Market, the report concludes that governments are best suited to providing a socio-economic environment in which commercialization initiatives can take root and thrive. That includes assisting smaller firms in finding foreign clients, partners, distributors and investors. It also acknowledges that governments have a clear role in new product or services development in areas with a social value that would not be picked up by the private sector.

Government can also assist commercialization by providing more risk capital through what it terms “counter cyclical programs”, particularly in areas where investors are risk averse. But the private sector has the primary role in making a nation more innovative, as the report makes clear: “The level of innovation shown by Canadian companies is the primary challenge in the innovation system in Canada.”

The federal government must also do a better job in advertising its networking services across Canada.

For the business sector, it encourages firms to forge links between researchers and clients. It cites clients as the primary source of new ideas, followed by suppliers and research partners. Firms are also encouraged to become an importer of ideas by establishing networks and partnerships in international research institutions and seeking foreign clients.

The majority of respondents to the survey, upon which the report is based, derive more than 20% of sales from new or significantly improved products or services. The survey data show that these firms tend to integrate customers into their decision-making processes, collaborate with universities or colleges and conduct R&D.

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