The Council of Canadian Innovators has released its policy report, A Mandate to Innovate, which the group describes as a set of recommendations for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letters to his new cabinet.
The group, which represents over 170 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies, said national sovereignty depends on economic competitiveness, and economic success is driven by innovation. To effectively respond to the American Trade War, the federal government must take urgent action to reorient Canada’s economy and put the country on a secure and prosperous trajectory.
“Innovation policy can’t be confined to just one government department. Meeting the economic moment means ensuring that Canada has thriving homegrown innovative companies, and working to support our Canadian winners is something that the whole cabinet should be working on,” CCI Director of Federal Affairs Daniel Perry said in a press release..
The report identifies four key themes for the new government to prioritize:
- An independent innovation agency that moves at the speed of business, staffed by experts, not bureaucrats, to help firms build, scale, and own valuable intangible assets;
- A national push to compete head-to-head with the United States for the world’s top talent and investment – because Canada can no longer afford to watch its brightest minds leave;
- A government that becomes the world’s best customer for homegrown innovators, putting Canadian-made defence, health, climate, and security solutions at the centre of public procurement;
- And a bold strategy to supercharge our cornerstone industries – natural resources, agriculture, and energy – by embedding innovation and value-creation at every stage.
Canada’s economic crisis has been building for years, the group said, with national productivity stagnating and experts ringing alarm bells long before the new U.S.president took office.
“The foundation of security and prosperity is innovation: The leading countries of the future will be home to companies that respond quickly to disruption by commercializing valuable new intellectual property, and export their innovations widely across the world,” said CCI Director of Policy and Research Laurent Carbonneau. “Canada’s economic productivity has been declining in recent years. In a globalized world where people seek the best opportunities for themselves and their families, getting rich more slowly than our peers is the same as getting poorer.”
The report echoes many of the same themes and concerns voiced by attendees at last week’s meeting of the National Angel Capital Organization in Ottawa.
