Canada's Regional Innovation System

Regional innovation systems, Jorge Niosi shows, are evolutionary complex systems in which each group of agents reacts to the behaviour of others as well as to public policy incentives. Canada's Regional Innovation System finds that Canada's biotechnology capabilities are widely distributed but solidly planted in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, with smaller centres in Calgary and Edmonton. However, the specific institutional structures (innovative firms, research universities, and public laboratories) of regional systems vary from one industry to another and evolve through time. While aerospace and aircraft form two poles in Montreal and Toronto, Ottawa is Canada's centre for semiconductor and telecommunication innovation. Niosi explores how these regional configurations are shaped by national and provincial public policy incentives.The study is based on patent and company information as well as aggregate figures from Statistics Canada and other sources.

Jorge Niosi is professor and Canada Research Chair on the Management of Technology, Universite du Quebec at Montreal.