Budget 2018 - Includes Investing in Innovation

Budget 2018 - Includes Investing in Innovation 


 Article Link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/budget-2018-top-takeaways-for-small-businesses/article38143938/

 I recently read an article on linkedin highlighting some of the key takeaways from the 2018 federal budget. The thing that stood out to me most was the specific effort the government has made to invest a large sum of money into innovation. 
" To foster and enable future breakthroughs in research and science, the budget includes a historic $4-billion investment in Canada's overall research system, to give Canadian scientists and researchers access to cutting-edge tools, technology and facilities.
And to support innovation, the budget also allocates $2.6-billion in what the government called "incremental support" over five years. It also promises to reform, streamline and simplify Canada's various innovation programs, with the goal of creating a system where Canadian entrepreneurs have a single pathway to the government where they can get guidance on all the available government programs." -The Globe And Mail
This is not just an investment into innovation, such as research, science or exploration. This is an investment that is meant to innovate innovation itself. That said, this made me reflect back on Nigel Thrift’s article, “The insubstantial pageant: producing an untoward land." From this investment I don't think it is too far out of line to suggest that these investments can lead to future environments that do not yet exist. In other words, looking at innovation as an environment in and out of itself, investing into innovation can lead to innovation creating other innovative environments. 

 Questions to think about:
  1. What do you think of this new streamlined process? 
  2. Do you think this investment into innovation will lead to a more innovative, innovation environment for Canadians? 



Comments

  1. Unknown14 March 2018 at 13:27

    Hi there, great post!

    I do believe that this investment into innovation will lead to more innovation, especially as this is something that has never really been done before. Many industries enjoy the idea of security and routine as it usually guarantees continued success, so to be investing money into changing this will be very interesting however, I believe, it will ultimately be very rewarding and will lead to more innovation. Furthermore, I believe that a lot of the time innovation is a result of venture labour and not incorporated into actual companies or industries, therefore to be putting a significant amount of money and brainpower into innovation I believe will have incredible results!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown20 March 2018 at 14:41

      Completely agree, and I think you summed up the idea which is at the heart of this article. Investing into innovation will result in more innovations, not necessarily directly investing into innovation that impacts a specific industry or company, and instead incorporate this investment into the process itself, leading to more innovation!

      Delete
    2. Kaelan De Bellefeuille21 March 2018 at 13:30

      I do believe that this investment into innovation is definitely a step in the right direction. This provides money at the government level leading to a climate innovation that is directly condoned by the government. The $4 billion that is going to be injected into Canada's research system will help build the infrastructure of an entrepreneurial state. In Mazzucato's book from this term 'The Entrepreneurial State', she demonstrates that innovation is directly created through the governments investment in cutting-edge radical technologies. Hopefully, this money can be used properly and shun in a new era in innovation.

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