Innovation

Innovation comes in many guises. It may involve finding a new use for a piece of equipment, a process or a material that originated in another industry. It could mean rethinking a method or process already in place. Or it could simply mean improving an existing product. When innovation leads to a greater return on the cost of the equipment, labour and materials needed to manufacture a product, a company's productivity increases.

It is not surprising, then, that many companies are pursuing innovative solutions. However, as with technology use, size does have its advantages. Large companies in Canada are more likely to be innovative than small ones, since successful innovation requires money and time that can be committed to research and development (R&D). In Canada, firms that conduct R&D are four times more likely to introduce a major innovation than companies that don't.

Astute manufacturers seeking to stretch their R&D dollars have looked to universities, which already have laboratories and researchers in place. Tapping the scientific expertise of universities has proven to be a smart move, as Canadian companies doing a substantial amount of collaborative research with universities have a 40% chance of developing an innovation. Even a little bit helps: the probability of being an innovator is still almost 30% for those who do some collaborative research with universities.