Innovation Challenge Paper No. 2: The Road to Global Best: Leading Innovation Through R & D

Innovation is about turning knowledge and creativity into value. How can this be done? The ‘what if?’ questions in this paper, the second in a series of four, are designed to provoke constructive dialogue about innovation among Canadians.

Document Highlights 

Innovation is about creating knowledge and then generating value from that knowledge; R&D is one input into the innovation process. The federal government recently suggested targets related to R&D performance.

To reach these targets:

• What if government leaders, scientists, and entrepreneurs invested more strategically, focusing on areas where they are ‘global best,’ both technically and commercially?
• What if they shifted their investments in these areas into selective partnering and the adoption and adaptation of technology?
• What if leaders constructed an ‘innovate Canada roadmap’ as a guide to long-term planning? Finally,
• What if Canadians challenged themselves to define targets related not only to R&D but to innovation performance in general?

Questions like these are offered as a basis for discussion on the future of innovation in Canada.