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A minister of innovation is a very positive first step, but Jason Kenney must use that same thinking to create a global reach for our companies, writes local tech leaders and CCI members Cory Janssen, Sam Pillar, Alison Suntrum and Paul Bellows.
Every national transformation requires fearless effort by those in power. This moment calls for bold policymaking with a sense of mission and a generational effort to make the country resilient and prosperous for the decades to come. Canada must be ready to adopt new thinking on innovation and not get stuck looking to the past for solutions for the future.
Meaningful recovery should not just aim at recouping the economic losses but also positioning Canada for success in the global economy that awaits us on the other side of the pandemic. For that we need a new set of policy strategies and tools focused on enabling our job and prosperity engines – Canadian high-growth innovative technology companies – to soar.
The government’s new panel has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to determine the way out of this economic crisis and set the course for the type of economic engine Canada should be in the post-pandemic world.
Despite the hype about our tech sector, we should be concerned that fewer than five per cent of Canadian startups graduate to the scale-up stage, especially when we take stock of the time, capital and hands-on support governments give to early-stage companies. Lifting the employee cap on IRAP is a logical step the government should take to achieve their vision of more Canadian companies growing into the large anchor companies known around the world.
“Despite the sizable contribution domestic technology companies make toward Quebec’s economic prosperity, government policies regarding innovation have featured incentivizing for the expansion of foreign branch plants in Quebec over the growth and success of homegrown companies locally and around the world. This has had a negative effect on Quebec’s ability to scale domestic companies into global giants.”
"Far too often, Canadians watch IT contracts get handed out to foreign multinational companies when highly qualified domestic companies here in Canada are overlooked because the current procurement process favours incumbents and doesn't foster enough new entrants into the process," says Benjamin Bergen, executive director of CCI, to CBC News.
"A focus on supporting innovators will help the government generate more revenue than its proposed tax changes contemplate," says John Ruffolo, CEO of OMERS Ventures and Vice-Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators.
Program hailed as “game-changer” by innovation community, expediting the time it takes to attract and process highly-skilled foreign workers from abroad
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Coalition of CEOs believe Canadian rules, policies and procedures need to favour domestic tech companies the way the policies and standards of countries around the world support their own firms.
Past news releases, statements and updates from CCI about the state of innovation in Canada.
Toute véritable transformation nationale exige des efforts assidus et courageux de la part de ceux et celles qui sont au pouvoir. La situation actuelle appelle à l’adoption de politiques audacieuses avec un sens de la mission et un effort générationnel permettant l’émergence d’un Canada résilient et prospère pour les décennies à venir. Le Canada doit revoir sa vision en matière d’innovation et cesser de se tourner vers le passé pour trouver des solutions d’avenir.
"Même si les entreprises technologiques nationales contribuent considérablement à la prospérité et à la création de richesse du Québec, les politiques gouvernementales en matière d’innovation tendent à favoriser l’expansion de succursales étrangères plutôt que la croissance et la réussite de sociétés locales à l’échelle nationale et internationale. Depuis trop longtemps, les répercussions de ces politiques ont été négatives quant à la capacité de transformer les entreprises locales en des géants mondiaux."
“Canadian tech CEOs continue to advocate for the need of a national data strategy that will enable Canada to become a leader in the data-driven global economy.”
"Far too often, Canadians watch IT contracts get handed out to foreign multinational companies when highly qualified domestic companies here in Canada are overlooked because the current procurement process favours incumbents and doesn't foster enough new entrants into the process," says Benjamin Bergen, executive director of CCI, to CBC News.
"A focus on supporting innovators will help the government generate more revenue than its proposed tax changes contemplate," says John Ruffolo, CEO of OMERS Ventures and Vice-Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators.
Program hailed as “game-changer” by innovation community, expediting the time it takes to attract and process highly-skilled foreign workers from abroad
Coalition of CEOs believe Canadian rules, policies and procedures need to favour domestic tech companies the way the policies and standards of countries around the world support their own firms.
Past news releases, statements and updates from CCI about the state of innovation in Canada.
Jim Balsillie’s career is unique in Canadian business. He is a former Chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry), a Canadian technology company he scaled from an idea to $20 billion in sales globally.
He is the co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the CIO Strategy Council. He currently chairs the boards of CCI and CIGI and is a co-Chair of CIOSC. He is also the founder of the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Arctic Research Foundation and the Centre for Digital Rights. He is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and an Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Mr. Balsillie was the only Canadian ever appointed to US Business Council and the sole private sector representative on the UN Secretary General’s High Panel for Sustainability. He is the only Canadian member of the US Council on Competitiveness and an internationally renowned voice on innovation strategy, competitiveness and international economic policy. He testified to the US Senate on America Innovates Act, a landmark legislation for management of intellectual property.
Mr. Balsillie holds degrees in a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Toronto, an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a fellow with Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.
His awards include: Mobile World Congress Lifetime Achievement Award, India’s Priyadarshni Academy Global Award, GSMA Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Business Hall of Fame, Time Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People and three times Barron’s list of "World’s Top CEOs.”Jim Balsillie (baccalauréat en commerce, Toronto; FCA Toronto; MBA Harvard) est l’ancien président et co-PDG de Research In Motion (BlackBerry), une entreprise canadienne qui a commencé par une idée pour devenir une société mondiale dont les revenus se chiffrent à 20 milliards de dollars.
Il est le cofondateur de l’organisation Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) située dans la ville de New York et du CCI, qui se trouve à Toronto. Il est le président actuel du conseil d’administration de la société Technologies du développement durable Canada. Il est également le fondateur de l’organisation Centre for International Governance Innovation, de la Balsillie School of International Affairs et de l’Arctic Research Foundation.
M. Balsillie est le seul canadien à avoir été recruté par le conseil commercial américain et le seul représentant du secteur privé à être membre du Groupe de haut niveau sur la viabilité mondiale du Secrétaire général de l’ONU. Il est le seul membre canadien du conseil américain sur la compétitivité et il est reconnu à l’échelle mondiale pour son expertise en matière de stratégie favorisant l’innovation, de concurrence et de politique économique internationale. Il s’est vu attribuer de nombreux honneurs, dont les suivants : plusieurs doctorats honorifiques au Canada, le prix soulignant l'ensemble de son œuvre du Mobile World Congress et la reconnaissance internationale de la Priyadarshni Academy en Inde. De plus, son nom a figuré sur la liste des 100 personnes ayant le plus d’influence au monde du Time Magazine et trois fois sur la liste des meilleurs PDG du monde de Barron.
John is the founder of OMERS Ventures as well as the co-founder and Vice-Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators. In addition, John serves on several boards including Hootsuite, Ether Capital, Ontario Centres of Excellence, David Suzuki Foundation, Royal Ontario Museum, and the NHL Coaches Association. John also served as the CEO of OMERS Ventures and the Executive Managing Director of OMERS Platform Investments. Prior to joining OMERS, he was a Partner at Deloitte where he was the Global Thought Leader, the Global Tax Leader and the Canadian Industry Leader for Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice and a member of Deloitte's Board of Directors.
M. Ruffolo est le directeur général d’OMERS Ventures, la société d'investissement d’OMERS, l’un des fonds de pension les plus importants du Canada. OMERS Ventures investit dans des entreprises en démarrage ou à un stade avancé des domaines de la technologie, des médias et des télécommunications. De plus, il est le premier directeur général d’OMERS Platform Investments, la société d’investissement d’OMERS visant l’innovation.
M. Ruffolo a fait partie du conseil d’administration de Hootsuite et de D2L (Desire2Learn). Il est président d’OMERS Energy et membre du conseil des membres de Technologies du développement durable Canada (SDTC). John est le cofondateur et vice-président du Conseil canadien des innovateurs. Il a également participé au conseil d’administration de OneEleven et de Communitech, toutes deux étant des plateformes en matière d’innovation des plus importantes au Canada. John est le vice-président de la Fondation David Suzuki et est membre du conseil d’administration de Canadians for Clean Prosperity et de The Next Big Thing Foundation. Il est membre de Young Presidents’ Organization pour la région de Toronto.
Avant de se joindre à OMERS Ventures, M. Ruffolo était un associé chez Deloitte, ainsi que le leader d’opinion mondial, le leader mondial en imposition et le leader de l’industrie canadienne pour le groupe du secteur des Technologies, médias et télécommunications (TMT) du cabinet Deloite. Il était également un membre des équipes de direction mondiale du cabinet pour la fiscalité et les TMT et un membre du conseil d’administration de Deloitte. En tant que comptable agréé, M. Ruffolo était auparavant associé chez Arthur Andersen LLP. Il a aussi été instructeur pour l’Institut canadien des comptables agréés et la Schulich School of Business, de l’Université York, où il a d’ailleurs obtenu un baccalauréat en administration des affaires.