NEWS RELEASE: Inspiring unfettered imagiNation: Canada’s Innovation Climate Index

Ottawa, ON – 13/12/17– The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) launched today, the first in a four-part series of consultation papers outlining ICTC’s approach for gauging Canada’s digital innovation progress.

The rapid digitization of our economy and society is the primary focus of our time. Digital technologies are now the essence of any high performing economy, and are increasingly central to the operation and evolution of markets, competition, and enhanced consumer choice. This all comes against a backdrop of changing global economic outlooks as well as shifting social, trade, and environmental prospects. The need to innovate and start new businesses, while growing and scaling our domestic companies is key. Taking this forward while simultaneously developing meaningful and sustainable employment prospects that leverage elements of inclusivity and mobilization of all Canadian human capital will be of paramount importance.

Gauging Canada’s digital innovation journey on a yearly basis will be key for identifying future policy and program interventions. While there are many internationally-acknowledged benchmarks for evaluating the innovation potential of a nation such as R&D expenditure, venture capital investments, talent and education, and many others, ICTC will be looking at constructing a relevant and comprehensive digital innovation measure that reflects Canada’s goals of enabling an “inclusive and globally competitive digital economy”.

Chartering the first step in ICTC’s methodology for measuring Canadian digital innovation, Innovation Climate Index underlines the central feature that defines Canada’s innovative capacity: the innovative climate. Underpinned by a combination of fifteen quantifiable indicators including venture capital and angel investment, post-secondary investment, Internet connectivity, and patent and trademark registration, to name a few, Canada’s innovation climate is comprised of four fundamental measurements. These measures are: R&D expenditure & capital investment, digital product & services consumption, expenditure on digital talent, and culture of innovation – together, they form the foundational basis of the Innovation Climate Index.

The first in a four-part series of white papers examining the central features of Canada’s capacity, potential and growth in the global innovation economy, the Innovative Climate Index will be followed by the Innovation Capacity Index, the Innovation Outcomes Index, and the Innovation Confidence Index.

Expected release dates for the subsequent three white papers are: March, June and September 2018.

For a detailed understanding of the construct of this index, please access the full Innovation Climate Index white paper here. For any comments or questions, please contact Alexandra Cutean at [email protected].

For media inquiries, please contact: 
Samantha Sjodin, Communications Specialist
(office) 613-237-8551 extension 130
or by email at [email protected]