My own talk - from which I took the title of this post - was intended to illustrate the role of Polytechnic applied research. My focus was on topics I have written about here, and the shared challenge we all have to work within our areas (geographic, specialization): complementarity.
Here are my speaking notes:
Innovation
- Canada’s Innovation Capacity
- 13th out of 17 countries (OECD)
- “D” for innovation: “it’s been a D for decades”
Conference Board of Canada, How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada
Canada seems very good at inventing things, but not so good at capitalizing on inventions.
- Canada is second in OECD for HERD; 12th in BERD
HERD: Higher Education Expenditures on R&D
BERD: Business Expenditures on R&D - Firms are not making effective use of postsecondary applied R&D capabilities
“We’ve gone too far in subsidizing R&D, and not far enough in subsidizing diffusion of innovation.” (Sharpe 2009)
Our goal is to help firms make better use of applied R&D capabilities.
- We focus on Regional R&D Capacity and Innovation Transfer and
- Complementarity in the R&D Continuum
We are not trying to replicate what any of the university, government or industry research labs do. Rather, we do what they cannot do: fabrication of prototypes, for example.
- We are a startup, and we help startups
- We offer “Last Mile” R&D services
- The Stages of technology development provide a useful framework for how we fit into the R&D continuum
- We respond to industry needs
- We have industry governance through the GBC Research Innovation Advisory Board
- The IAB is a multi-sectoral SME and entrepreneurial stakeholder group whose primary role is to provide a current and effective link between the Research and Innovation office at George Brown College and the key sectors it serves
- We offer innovation support services to sector partners, using a validate/simulate/adaption model to
- Validate practicality and usability of new technologies/products/processes
- Simulate impact of their use
- Adapt those technologies for deployment under diverse conditions
- Testing practicality and market/user/practice adoption and adaptation lets us focus on the implementation of innovation
This is the Diffusion of Innovation
- Our Multidisciplinary Collaborative Problem Solving model mobilizes college disciplines in support of industry needs
- The intentional application of applied research and innovation services to industry needs and contexts means we focus less on discovery, and more on the design of innovation - how to test the practicality of new products or services (adoption and adaptation)
- Our model uses college verticals in a horizontal integration strategy
This is a matrix for understanding our innovation intentionality:
College disciplines are verticals of expertise. A project is a horizontal that accesses expertise as needed/required from each vertical. - Move from idea to invoice
- This is a cornerstone of what our students gain from participating in applied research projects: the ability to think creatively and apply problem-solving skills to diverse and intangible issues within industrial problems and contexts.
- Innovation literacy is a transferable skill that enables our students to be flexible innovators in the workforce.
- Our students are Highly Qualified and Skilled Personnel
Innovation literacy is the creativity called for by Martin and Florida
- “…the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively.” (Chesbrough)
- All colleges, working together, can foster an open source approach to innovation and capacity building for improved social and economic productivity in Canada
- Polytechnics are a de facto Applied Research Cluster (PARC)
A distributed research cluster or open innovation network. - AutoPARC
- EcoPARC
- EnviroPARC
- HealthPARC
- Etc.
- Fostering what the EU calls “Regions of knowledge” means that colleges can collaborate to compete together. We form an open innovation network that is more than the sum of its parts.
- The NSERC CCIP represents a significant investment and awareness of the importance of colleges in the innovation chain in Canada.
- Relating back to HERD and BERD (see Productivity, above), the CCIP is a P3RD
A Public Private Partnership R&D investment - This is a public R&D subsidy that is specifically designed to increase BERD commensurate with HERD
We must take this opportunity, and, in recognizing it as P3RD, deploy these funds strategically to foster social and economic productivity. We have an important role to play in the R&D continuum in Canada, and that role should also focus on how colleges can work together - like the Polytechnic Applied Research Cluster model - to ensure that this capacity can realize its potential and contribute meaningfully to improving Canada's innovation capabilities. Canada's college are key to improving community economic and social development.
My challenge to us all is to make this collaboration work, to find ways to work together in a complementary fashion. It is important to celebrate our successes, but it is even more important now to look ahead to the future and chart where we are going. This future-forward orientation will be the focus of a panel I will be convening for the ACCC Annual Conference.
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