Policy Options

Welcome to our special issue on innovation, aligned with the symposium, Innovation Nation, organized by Policy Options/IRPP and the BMO Financial Group, and hosted by the Perimeter Institute in...

Over the past several years, dozens of economists and politicians have jumped on the bandwagon linking innovation to economic growth. Management gurus and business schools go on about the...

On a scale of 1 to 10, from not at all important to very important, nearly 50 percent of respondents rated R&D as 9 or higher while 25.8 percent...

The problem with low relative productivity in Canada and its relationship with innovation has been discussed at some length amongst policy strategists. One might observe that most of these...

“Productivity isn’t everything,” Paul Krugman once wrote in his New York Times column, “but in the long run it is almost everything.” Strange then, with Canada’s poor productivity and...

We face serious challenges in research and higher education in laying claim to title as an “innovation nation,” the thematic of this issue of Policy Options. My main message?...

Innovation has become the holy grail of economic policy-makers in Canada. There is nearly universal agreement among economists that Canada needs much more of it to ensure the long-term...

Some public policy dialogues are short, lively and full of fireworks. Others are slow and quiet. Canadians’ national conversation on innovation and productivity has been going on for decades....

Linking ICT investment with other large physical infrastructure investments, such as buildings, roads, transportation systems, health and electricity grids, allows them to be “smart” and save energy, assist the...

As Canada emerges from the Great Recession, governments at all levels are grappling with how to ensure the kind of economic growth that will create meaningful jobs and future...

With great power comes great design. Mercedes-Benz commercial for 2012 CLS 550, July 2011 Canada’s poor innovation record has been exacerbated by a reluctance to acknowledge design as a...

In July 2010, the federal government completed its public consultations on a digital economy strategy for Canada. Open access to government information and programs through digital tools and solutions...

In 1945, an American self-taught engineer named Percy Spencer was building high-voltage electron tubes for radar sets when he noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket was starting...

The truth is I didn’t start out to create a so-called “innovative university,” nor a university of any description. Let me take you back to the beginning. On September...

Canada is managing to navigate the ongoing global economic difficulties better than most countries. Our resource-based economy has helped get us through this challenging period, but it is also contributing...

Innovation is certainly in the headlines, not just in Canada but around the world, as countries struggle to create good jobs, generate wealth and raise living standards in an increasingly...

A concise way to describe WorldNetDaily is that it defines the exact inflection point on the spectrum of right-wing punditry where legitimate journalism ends and out-and-out conspiracism begins. On...

You can’t defeat the Enlightenment’s enemies unless you understand them,” writes Jonathan Kay in the preface to this book. It’s an important statement because anyone looking for a volume...

En juin dernier, Statistique Canada rendait publiques les données sur le faible revenu pour l’année 2009. On pouvait y voir les effets de la récession. À l’échelle du Canada,...