Editorial - 14-3

It's no state secret that Canada's innovation system is full of holes. Persistent gaps remain in crucial cross-over areas between academia and the marketplace, government and the private sector. But as this issue of RE$EARCH MONEY shows, work on filling those gaps and strengthening the innovation system is accelerating at all levels. Ottawa, Queen's Park, Quebec City and other jurisdictions are all forging ahead with new initiatives aimed at making the system more powerful, dynamic, and ultimately beneficial to all.

Much more needs to be done, of course, and valid criticism can be leveled against any and all players that strive to make Canada more innovative and prosperous. That would ignore the very real shift in thinking amongst our elected, academic and business leaders. Collaboration is now commonplace at many levels, and between players that previously tolerated one another, and not much more. Governments that previously shunned a more direct role in fostering innovation are now pouring money and expertise into niche areas of research and commercialization.

Special mention should go to the Quebec government's aggressive attempt to speed up that province's adoption of the Internet - a classic case of the state employing incentives to achieve a key policy objective. The same goes for the founders of the National Capital Institute of Telecommunications, which will bolster an already vibrant telecommunications sector in the Ottawa region. And Ontario is presently examining ways to commercialize the ideas and technologies of its universities.

Now it's time for the federal government to provide its own laboratories and agencies with the means to participate more fully in building Canada innovative capacity. The neglect of the National Research Council and departmental laboratories must be corrected, and soon.

Mark Henderson, Managing Editor