The Conference Board of Canada has ranked Canada 12 out of 16 countries and given the country an overall “C” grade for innovation, noting that business investment levels dropped substantially in 2017 and have yet to recover.
In its annual report, the Conference Board ranks countries’ innovation capabilities according to public spending levels, research and development, access to capital and other metrics. This year, Canada has fallen three spots in its global ranking for innovation compared to 2017, falling behind competing nations Australia, Belgium and Japan.
The Conference Board report states that Canada’s overall “C” was grade due to “persistent weaknesses and lagging investment” by private businesses. The decline was also attributed to stronger performances by other countries, notably the U.S. and Switzerland. It also said low patenting activity and lagging research and development levels are a drag on Canadian innovation. Overall, Canada was among the top performers in access to venture capital and in scientific articles.
The Conference Board report comes after Ottawa bolstered innovation spending in its most recent budget, raising funding to academic institutions for research activities by 25%, totalling $3.2 billion over five years. The federal government has also said that it plans to streamline many innovation-focused government grant programs in order to simplify the application process.
Canada’s innovation spending as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased slightly from 0.87% to 0.9% since 2017, but is lower than the 1.69% of GDP average among the 16 countries studied by the Conference Board.
