Innovation Policy and Innovation DNA…

Over the past year, the Canadian government has turned to Open Text’s Tom Jenkins and his committee to transform perennial hand-wringing into some plan of action for more effective research commercialization, and to rethink our approach to subsidizing R&D spending. Startups, investors and service providers across the country (who often live and die with SR&ED) have nervously digested the report’s tough love findings, and pundits’ consensus that like other countries Canada will have to pick winners, fund big projects, and choke the micro-subsidies associated with our current orientation.  And while there may not be anything particularly novel in the report’s “go big or go home” mantra, what can be easily lost in the shuffle is the leadership demands that it places on our big industry players who’ll benefit from its large project orientation. Recent studies have questioned Canadian enterprises’ so-called “business ambition”, especially in those big-fish, small-pond industries characterized by regulatory or market-driven monopolies. Down south, Apple’s and Google’s constant search for the game changer and AT&T’s and TMobile’s merger getting short shrift from anti-trust regulators sends at least a notional message of commitment to the kind of network and customer-focused innovation that can seed terrific venture plays.  Up here, suggests the typical Canadian telco startup founder, meh… and we’ll see whether our bigcos can step up to Mr. Jenkins’ challenge, and create some downstream action for the rest of us.