Musings and Mutterings

ITIF: The Atlantic Century: Benchmarking EU and U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness

According to the Washington-based ITIF (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) Canada ranks 16th out of the 36 countries assessed in terms of Innovation and Competitiveness.

We ranked 2nd in Higher Education (increase of 15% within the 1999 to 2006 period), 11th in Researchers (23% increase), 19th in Corporate R&D (14% increase), 12th in Government R&D (18% increase), 7th in Scientific Publications (6% decrease), 10th in Venture Capital (59% decrease) and 32nd in New Firms (1% decrease).  In this we rank behind countries like Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, the US, the UK, Japan, France, Ireland and Germany). The big Venture Capital winner was Denmark (229% increase), while Canada was only slightly worse off than the US (51% decrease). Overall, the US placed last in this category, seeing little change in Higher Education (3% increase), Researchers (8%), and Government R&D (1.3%) and losses in Corporate R&D (5% decrease) and Scientific publications (4% loss).

Canada is 9th in terms of researchers (7.8 per 1000 employed in 2006), but 14th in terms of increasing the number of researchers in the 1999 to 2006 period (increase of 23%). This puts us behind countries like Sweden (12.5 per 1000), Japan (11 per 1000) and the US (9.7 per 1000). China and Mexico had the biggest increases, more than and slightly less than doubling the number of researchers (111% and 98% increases respectively) over the 1999-2006 period. We are, however, 2nd in percent of adults 25-34 with tertiary degrees (54%), only slightly behind Russia (56%) and ahead of the US (39%). This represents an increase of 15% within the 1999-2006 period, placing us at 15th behind Poland (115%) and ahead of the US (3%).

Canada sits at 13th in corporate investment in R&D as a percentage of GDP (0.9%, an increase of 14%). This is well behind Japan (2.6%), Sweden (2.5) the US (1.7%) and China (1%). China, however, has been changing rapidly (160% increase) as has Mexico (129%), making them the countries to watch. The US and UK fell in terms of investment (5% and 10% decreases respectively). As for government investment in R%D, Canada sits at 9th (0.66% investment as a percentage of GDP), but was 6th in terms of change over the 1999 to 2006 period (18% increase). This puts us well ahead of the US (1% increase) and behind Ireland (52% increase).

We placed 4th in Scientific Publications, behind Sweden, the US and the UK. Japan, China, Singapore and Mexico are, however, coming up fast (481%, 254%, 190% and 113% increases respectively). Both Canada and the US saw a decrease in the number of publications during this period (4.3% and 5.7% decreases respectively).

New Law Will Require Camera Phones to 'Click'

A law is being considered in the US requiring all mobile phones that contain cameras (Read: most of them) to make a sound when a picture is being taken. The user would be prohibited from using any means to disable or silence the tone. It's unclear how older mobile phones, in which the noise can be disabled, would be handled.

This, according to a recent study conducted by The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity entitled "Strengthening management for prosperity" (pdf format). Specifically...

Canada’s innovation policy is out of balance in that it is driven by the assumption that we do not have enough innovation because we have an inadequate supply of certain key factors that lead to innovation. More specifically, the model implicitly assumes we lack innovation in Canada because we have an inadequate supply of scientists and engineers, we lack adequate risk investment funds, and our businesses need specific incentives of Innovation. Support comes from to increase the amount of research and development they conduct.
....
Canada does not have an innovation problem because of the lack of university science and technology research and education. We have an innovation problem because businesses in Canada do not spend enough on innovative activities, including – but not restricted to – research and development. An important part of the solution is to strengthen management talent in Canada.

In short, Canada doesn't need to invest in producing more scientists and engineers to drive innovation but in producing more managers (because, Heaven knows, managers are the source of all innovation).

Glad they cleared that up. Here I was under the impression that it was the researchers who did the innovation. Boy, was I wrong. If you feel like discarding a few minutes of your life, feel free to read the original report.

Extracted from Improbable Research