Understanding Innovation in Canadian Industry

This book presents the findings of surveys of innovation in Canadian industry, analysed using a variety of econometric techniques and descriptive statistics. The results are placed in the context of the Innovation Strategy of the federal government of Canada and the conclusion identifies information gaps, unmet policy needs, and suggestions for future work. Promoting innovation is a preoccupation of most industrialized countries and Canada, with its Innovation Strategy, released in February 2002, is no exception. In the context of such a strategy, understanding the activity of innovation, and the links between actors in the innovation system, contribute to the policy debate. Large firms are more likely to produce a world-first innovation, to have R&D units, to enter into collaborations, especially local ones, and to appropriate intellectual property from government laboratories. This contrasts with smaller firms that are more likely to produce innovations that are new to the firm, rather than world-first, and to draw upon more informal sources of information, such as trade journals or conferences, as they lack the absorptive capacity needed to capture intellectual property. technical assistance programmes. As well as providing findings on innovation, and the system in which it takes place, the book is an introduction to how large surveys are designed, carried out, and analysed as part of the policy process. All of the material needed to follow the process is either in the book or freely available on the Statistics Canada web site. The analysis, leading to the findings, uses a variety of econometric methods, as well as descriptive statistics. A chapter reviews the methods used and comments on the balance between econometric techniques and descriptive methods. It allows the reader to benefit more from the presentation of the analytical methods in the rest of the book, and to develop a critical appreciation of technique and of inferences gained. Empirical findings are linked to policy throughout and the book ends with proposals for statistical measurement, analysis, and policy. While the book is focussed on Canada, the findings and recommendations apply to any industrial economy.