February 12, 2002

Our government launched today Canada’s innovation strategy with the release of two complementary papers titled Achieving Excellence: Investing in People, Knowledge and Opportunity and Knowledge Matters: Skills and Learning for Canadians.

This marks another significant step towards fulfilling the commitment made in the 2001 Speech from the Throne to equip Canadians with the cutting edge skills and learning they will need to prosper and realize their unique potential, and to brand Canada as one of the most innovative nations in the world.

Canada’s innovation strategy rests on the principle that in the knowledge economy, prosperity depends on innovation which, in turn, depends on the investments that we make in the creativity and talents of our people.

This is why we must invest not only in technology and innovation but also support an environment of inclusion, in which all Canadians are equipped with the tools they need to fully participate in our economy and society.

The papers propose a series of national goals and milestones that will mark our progress over the next decade. We will be working closely with the provinces and territories, business, labour, scholars, Aboriginal leaders, the voluntary sector and individual Canadians to develop the innovation strategy that will allow us to reach our goals.

Over the coming months, our government will be holding consultations across Canada. We urge Canadians to read the discussion papers and to participate in the consultation process. They can also visit www.innovationstrategy.gc.ca and submit their comments online.

Achieving Excellence

In a competitive, global economy driven by accelerating discovery and change, it is clear that the greatest reward – such as higher incomes and better jobs – come from being among the first in all facets of innovation.

Achieving Excellence: Investing in People, Knowledge and Opportunity proposes goals, targets and federal priorities in four key areas that will help build a stronger, more competitive economy, strengthen our university research capacity, and brand Canada as one of the most innovative countries in the world.

To support innovation in communities across the country, we propose that governments at all levels work together to :

Stimulate the creation of more clusters of innovation at the community level; and

Unleash the full innovation potential of communities across Canada, guided by community-based assessments of local strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.

To encourage the right business and regulatory environment for innovation to succeed and attract the capital and people upon which innovation depends, we propose to:

Address potential public and business confidence challenges before they develop;

Ensure that Canada’s stewardship regimes and marketplace framework policies are world-class;

Create academies of science to focus our science on emerging priorities; and

Ensure that Canada is recognized as a leading innovative country.

To help more firms develop, adopt and market leading-edge innovations, we propose to:

Vastly increase public and private investments in knowledge infrastructure to improve Canada’s R&D performance; and

Ensure that a growing number of firms benefit from the commercial application of knowledge.

To develop, attract and retain the highly qualified people required to fuel Canada’s innovation performance, we propose to:

Develop the most skilled and talented labour force in the world.

Ensure that Canada continues to receive skilled immigrants, and that immigrants can achieve their full potential in the Canadian labour market and society.