Is Canada ready to leapfrog?

For those who missed it, last month The Economist ran a special report on capital “I” Innovation.

All of the usual innovation stars and pundits are cited – Silicon Valley, China, India, Google, P&G, Toyota, Christensen, Drucker, OECD’s John Dryden, etc etc. Though the information in these articles isn’t exactly news, it is a reminder yet again of how Canada’s perspective on innovation compares to the rest of the world.

Canada has an interesting duality to it. On the one hand, we have exceptional and educated people, a social culture open to new-comers and new ideas, and a network of small and medium enterprises — all of which are complementary to a knowledge economy. On the other, as a developed nation built on a legacy of resources and manufacturing, challenged by limited investment in new ventures and complacent with modest success, becoming a player in the knowledge economy may not happen just yet.

So where is the necessity to innovate in Canada? Are Canadian companies ready to leapfrog the leapfroggers? Or will we just be happy to sit back for the next short while with all of our land, water and energy and watch the rest of the world zing by?

Take a look: “Something new under the sun”

• Revving up: How globalization and information technology are spurring faster innovation
• Can dinosaurs dance: Responding to the Asian challenge
• A dark art no more: Like management methods before it, innovation is turning from an art into a science
• The love-in: The move toward open innovation is beginning to transform entire industries
• The fading lustre of clusters: The best thing that governments can do to encourage innovation is get out of the way
• The age of mass innovation: We are all innovators now

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