Survey shows Canada needs to show off its innovation better
A global study by General Electric shows that Canadian executives are optimistic about innovation in the country, despite barriers to commercialization and the perception abroad that Canada is not among the world’s most innovative markets.
GE’s second annual Global Innovation Barometer was conducted last fall by New York-based research firm StrategyOne, which polled 2,800 senior business executives in 22 countries. Canada was one of 11 counties added to the study in its second year.
Kim Warburton, vice-president of communications and public affairs for GE, said Canadians in the study were generally pleased with the country’s “innovation framework,” including such factors as the attention paid to the issue, funding support and partnerships between universities and businesses.
However, Canadian respondents also registered frustration with the slow pace at which innovative products reach the national marketplace, a lack of access to private investment and government bureaucracy as a barrier to innovation.
“What’s been happening in the last five years, people are pretty comfortable with,” said Warburton. “Having said that, with Canadian respondents the dissatisfaction was around the whole concept of commercialization.
“Another dissatisfaction, and this was true in all countries, was more on the efficiency side of government. It wasn’t so much that the government wasn’t making things available, but it was around efficiency, the bureaucracy and how it’s coordinated.”
GE’s Barometer also showed a split between Canadians’ self image and the views held by those outside the country. Ninety-one per cent of Canadian respondents rated Canada “good” or “very good” on innovation, but only 3% of respondents from outside the country identified Canada as one of the world’s top three innovation nations.
“When you go outside of Canada and mention innovation, most people will mention RIM [Research In Motion] and then they stop,” said Warburton. “We need to do a better job of telling our story internationally and probably in our own country, too.
“It’s important from a growth perspective. If you don’t have the reputation as a country for being particularly innovative, accessing [global] markets is going to be difficult.”
The full GE Global Innovation Barometer results are available here.
