Consultation Reports

Introduction

The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) hosted an industry consultation session with the agriculture and agrifood sector as part of its National Conversation on Canada’s Innovation Strategy initiative. The consultation aimed to gather insights for shaping a flexible and adaptive innovation strategy that addresses both current and future needs of the sector. The discussion focused on three core topics:

• Emerging trends and challenges in the sectors
• Designing an innovation strategy to adapt to the emerging trends and challenges
• Priorities for a national innovation strategy

Emerging Trends and Challenges

Technological Trends

Sustainable practices such as 4R Nutrient Stewardship (choosing the right source, time, place, and rate for fertilizer use) are gaining traction. However, despite increased awareness of best practices, a small percentage of farmers have fully adopted them, largely due to economic pressures.

Plant-based proteins and value-added processing present significant opportunities. By focusing on domestic processing of crops Canada could add substantial value to its agricultural output, which is currently diminished by outsourcing processing to other countries. The integration of technology in processing could enhance productivity and contribute significantly to the national GDP.

Gene editing, biostimulants, and precision farming are promising technological advancements that could improve yields and sustainability, particularly in regions with strong potential despite climate challenges.

Carbon reduction and sustainability have become central themes in agricultural innovation. With increasing pressure on farmers to reduce their carbon footprint, more actionable frameworks are needed to integrate sustainable practices effectively across regions.

Challenges

The regulatory burden in Canada is seen as a major obstacle to innovation. Current regulations often lack a balance between risk management, productivity and innovation. This has resulted in many innovations being commercialized abroad, in countries with more agile regulatory environments.

Economic pressures on farmers, particularly in small and medium-sized operations, make it difficult to adopt new technologies due to the high costs and risks involved.

The inconsistent definition of innovation in policy has caused confusion. Innovation is often defined too broadly, making it difficult to distinguish between meaningful advancements and incremental improvements. There is also a concern that some technologies, such as renewable energy solutions, are being pushed without adequate local testing, making them ineffective in certain contexts.

Canada is struggling with the implementation of innovative policies. While there is no shortage of ideas, translating them into practice and measuring their success remains a challenge.

Access to capital and scale-up infrastructure is a persistent barrier, particularly for SMEs. Many innovative solutions developed in Canada end up being commercialized elsewhere due to a lack of local support.

Designing an Innovation Strategy to Address Challenges

Sector-specific and regional approaches are essential. Given the diversity of agriculture across Canada, a one-size-fits-all strategy will not work. Using a “sandbox” approach, where innovations can be tested and tailored regionally before scaling nationally, was recommended.

Private-sector leadership in R&D is crucial. While public funding should support basic research, the private sector is better positioned to lead commercialization and adapt quickly to market changes.

Better coordination between stakeholders is needed. Collaboration between the private sector, government, and research institutions must improve to ensure that academic research aligns with industry needs and that there is a whole-of-sector strategy for innovation.

A clearer division of roles between the public and private sectors is required to ensure that each takes responsibility for different aspects of innovation, with the private sector leading commercialization efforts.

Accountability and Project Management. Canada has been good at drafting innovation strategies, but execution has often failed due to a lack of accountability. Any future strategy should include a strong framework for oversight and enforcement, ensuring that government departments and agencies deliver results.

De-Risking Innovation for Farmers:  Pilot and demonstrations sites are needed, where farmers can observe new technologies without risking their livelihoods. This would help them better understand the return on investment before adopting new practices.

Data-driven decision-making frameworks are also needed, ensuring that farmers have the digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness to fully engage with new technologies and protect their operations.

Priorities for a National Innovation Strategy

Strengthening public-private partnerships is vital for fostering innovation. Collaboration between research institutions and private companies is essential to create ecosystems that support both technological advancements and commercialization.

Innovation-driven regulatory frameworks must be developed to encourage innovation, while addressing risk. Faster, more transparent processes are needed, along with regulatory sandboxes that allow companies to test technologies in controlled environments before full commercialization.

Investment in critical infrastructure, both physical and digital, is a core priority. Scaling up domestic processing capabilities would capture more value for Canada, while improved digital infrastructure would support data-driven farming practices, especially in rural areas.

Supporting SMEs and startups should be a central focus, as these businesses are often the drivers of technological advancements but face significant challenges in accessing funding and market opportunities. Targeted government support in the form of grants, tax incentives, and mentorship programs is needed.

Climate change and sustainability must be central pillars of any future innovation strategy. While farmers are looking for solutions that help them manage operations sustainably, economic realities make it difficult to prioritize these changes. Policies should focus on productivity-enhancing technologies that also meet sustainability goals.

A long-term vision will position Canada as a global leader in agricultural innovation. This will require sustained investment, regulatory modernization, and stronger public-private partnerships to create an inclusive innovation ecosystem that engages all stakeholders, from small farmers to large corporations.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Regulatory Modernization: Streamline regulatory processes to foster innovation and mitigate risk.

Sector-Specific Strategies: Tailor strategies to the needs of different agricultural sectors and regions, using sandbox models to test innovations locally before scaling.

Public-Private Collaboration: Encourage the private sector to lead commercialization efforts, with public funding focused on foundational research.

Accountability in Project Management: Ensure that projects have strong oversight and that results are measured and enforced.

Support for SMEs and Farmers: Provide targeted support to SMEs and farmers through access to capital, infrastructure, and risk-mitigation tools. By focusing on these strategic elements, Canada can strengthen its position as a leader in agricultural innovation, addressing the sector’s future needs while capitalizing on its strengths.

Introduction

The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) hosted an industry consultation session with the  advanced manufacturing and natural resources sectors as part of its National Conversation on Canada’s Innovation Strategy initiative. The consultation aimed to gather insights for shaping a flexible and adaptive innovation strategy that addresses both current and future needs of the sector. The discussion focused on three core topics:

• Emerging trends and challenges in the sectors
• Designing an innovation strategy to adapt to the emerging trends and challenges
• Priorities for a national innovation strategy

Emerging Trends and Challenges

Critical labor shortages, skills gaps, regulatory inefficiencies, misaligned policies and poorly developed domestic supply chains are key barriers to innovation and competitiveness in the advanced manufacturing and natural resources sectors.

Labor Market Shortage: The shortage of skilled industrial tradespeople was identified as a critical challenge.  Meeting Canada’s sustainability and emissions reduction targets will be difficult without adequate skilled trades. Recruiting to these sectors is particularly challenging with the negative perceptions of the natural resources sectors.  The aging workforce, with baby boomers retiring, compounds this issue.

Regulatory and Policy Challenges: Lack of clarity and consistency within the regulatory framework are causing delays, especially concerning approvals for mining and renewable energy projects, which are limiting Canada’s ability to meet increasing demand for critical minerals and other resources, threatening international investment and impacting sector competitiveness.  Policy misalignment was identified as a challenge, with existing regulations sometimes conflicting with innovation goals.

Inadequate Domestic Supply Chain Capacity: There are concerns that current domestic supply chain capacity is inadequate to fully capitalize on opportunities presented by large-scale anchor projects. Participants emphasized that while efforts are being made to attract gigafactories (e.g., for EVs), the domestic supply chain needed to support these large anchor organizations is underdeveloped. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada lack the scale and capacity to meet the high-demand requirements of these large-scale operations. Large anchor organizations (e.g original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) often pressure their suppliers on costs, making it difficult for SMEs to invest in innovation and growth. There is a lack of clear industrial policy and strategic plans to build out the supply chains required for gigafactories. Support has been focused on attracting large OEMs, but insufficient attention has been given to scaling up SMEs to become viable suppliers. Without strong domestic supply chains, anchor organizations are compelled to rely on established international supply chains, limiting the local economic benefits of large projects.

Sustainability Challenges: The dual challenge of reducing emissions  while maintaining global competitiveness is a barrier to innovation.  Domestic industries are disadvantaged by stricter regulations compared to international competitors.

Designing an Innovation Strategy to Address Challenges

There was consensus on the need for a practical, flexible  innovation strategy designed to build workforce capacity, facilitate collaborative innovation ecosystems, strengthen industry-led partnerships with academia, and align high-level goals with realities faced by the sectors.

Strategic Workforce and Skills Development: A key component of a national innovation strategy is a workforce and skills development plan to build labour capacity in traditional trades, digital/technological areas (e.g. engineers) and management/leadership. A workforce development plan needs a strong focus on increasing apprenticeship completion rates in industrial trades, as well as upskilling the workforce to adapt to new technologies, like automation and data literacy. There is also the need for closer industry-academia partnerships to ensure that training programs align with industry demands, especially in sectors facing labor shortages due to aging demographics and transitions toward clean technology.

Collaborative and Adaptive Policy Frameworks: A coordinated approach to an innovation strategy that involves all levels of government, industry, academia, and SMEs is critical. Government should have a supportive role, facilitating cross-sector collaboration to drive innovation. Industry-led initiatives with government support are key to building a robust ecosystem that supports innovation in the advanced manufacturing and natural resources sectors and enhances competitiveness in global markets.

An innovation strategy should set broad, outcome-focused goals that allow industries to innovate within flexible policy frameworks, avoiding overly prescriptive programs. The focus should be on market-driven solutions to achieve policy goals such as emissions reductions. The need for a clear, supportive policy structure to guide sectors toward high-level objectives (e.g., decarbonization) is critical. An innovation strategy needs to align high-level aspirational goals (e.g. EV adoption targets) with policies that account for the sector-specific challenges and realistic timelines.

Industry-driven Innovation Ecosystems: There was consensus on the importance of strengthening Canada’s innovation ecosystem by facilitating industry-driven partnerships with academia. The gap between research and commercialization is a systemic weakness of Canada’s innovation ecosystem. A key element of an innovation strategy would be to bridge the commercialization gap by fostering industry-led partnerships that prioritize bringing discoveries to market. Current innovation programs tend to be too academically focused and do not sufficiently address commercialization.

Domestic Supply Chain Capacity:  There is a need for a coherent industrial policy to build domestic supply chains that support anchor organizations and gigafactories. There is also a need for government to recognize the scale of challenges involved in building out supply chains, particularly for critical minerals required by gigafactories. Targeted funding to help SMEs scale up and meet the demands of large-scale operations is essential.

Priorities for a National Innovation Strategy.

The discussion underscored the need for a cohesive national innovation strategy that prioritizes capital investment, regulatory modernization, skilled trades training, effective government-industry-academic partnerships and a collaborative, sector-focused approach to drive innovation across Canada’s economy. Incentive-driven policies facilitate creativity, innovation and investment in new technologies.

Investment in Capital and Scaling Up: There is a critical need for increased capital investment, particularly to help companies scale from startups to established, competitive businesses. Canada has strong research capacity and entrepreneurship  but there is a funding gap that prevents companies from scaling domestically, leading many to leave the country. Enhance collaboration between government, SMEs, and OEMs to create integrated and competitive supply chains domestically.

Regulatory Reform: There was consensus on the need to streamline and modernize Canada’s regulatory framework to make it easier for projects to gain approval. Canada’s lengthy and complex approval processes create delays, increase costs, and deter investment compared to other countries. Simplifying regulations and reducing bureaucratic layers were seen as essential to promoting innovation and productivity.

Labor Market and Training Initiatives: Targeted labor market policies to address skill shortages and improve the training pipeline for critical skills in advanced manufacturing and natural resources sectors are a critical priority. Recognition of foreign credentials and support for unions and educational institutions to expand training in industrial trades potential options for building workforce capacity. Training programs must be aligned with current and projected labor demands, particularly in  trades that are essential to advanced manufacturing and natural resources sectors. Enhancing industrial apprenticeships and training systems to improve completion rates and adapt to the demand for digital literacy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and advanced technical skills is a priority.

Sector-Based Strategy and Improved Government-Industry Collaboration: A sector-based approach to innovation strategy would address the unique challenges and needs of different industries. Each sector faces distinct obstacles and opportunities, and government initiatives should reflect this diversity. Effective collaboration between government and industry was seen as essential for understanding and meeting industry-specific goals.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Develop a Workforce Strategy Aligned with Sector Needs

• Expand apprenticeship programs and increase completion rates to address the shortage of skilled tradespeople.
• Support training for advanced skills, including digital literacy and automation, through partnerships with industry and educational institutions.
• Recognize foreign credentials to help fill labor gaps in industrial trades and support industrial trade unions in delivering specialized training programs.

Align Regulatory Frameworks

• Streamline and accelerate regulatory processes to reduce delays and costs
• Ensure consistency between regulations, procurement standards and other government policy goals to drive innovation
• Undertake a national review of regulatory frameworks to identify inefficiencies and inconsistencies and align them with productivity, sustainability and innovation goals.

Enhance Industry-Academic Partnerships for Commercialization

• Prioritize industry-led partnerships to close the gap between research and commercialization.
• Support initiatives that foster entrepreneurship within universities, encouraging spin-offs and commercialization of Canadian innovations.
• Establish industry-driven innovation hubs, like engineering and demonstration centers, to support the practical application of research.

Adopt Flexible, Outcome-Focused Innovation Goals

• Set broad, outcome-focused goals that allow industries to innovate within adaptable frameworks, supporting market-driven solutions.
• Ensure that policies are supportive and flexible enough to allow each sector to determine the best methods to achieve goals like emissions reduction.
• Focus on creating a balanced policy environment that supports both competitiveness and sustainability.

Revitalize Sector-Based Strategies and Collaboration

• Reintroduce sector-specific consultation approaches to address the unique needs of each industry and facilitate focused government-industry partnerships.
• Use successful past models, like the White Horse Mining Initiative, to guide federal-provincial-industry collaborations.
• Improve internal coordination, oversight and accountability to ensure effective and efficient policy implementation.

Introduction

The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) hosted an industry consultation session with the health and bioscience, digital and high-tech sectors as part of its National Conversation on Canada’s Innovation Strategy initiative. The consultation aimed to gather insights for shaping a flexible and adaptive innovation strategy that addresses both current and future needs of the sector. The discussion focused on three core topics:

• Emerging trends and challenges in the sectors
• Designing an innovation strategy to adapt to the emerging trends and challenges
• Priorities for a national innovation strategy

Emerging Trends and Challenges

Shift in Research Prioritization: Health research funding is increasingly moving toward short-term, government-prioritized projects, shifting away from investigator-driven and discovery-based research. This shift presents challenges in adopting long-term, high-impact innovations, as the lack of alignment in funding timelines can stifle breakthrough developments in biotech and health sciences.

Data Accessibility and Digital Health: Digital health technologies, such as virtual care and telemedicine, have rapidly expanded, especially post-COVID-19. However, limitations in health data accessibility and cybersecurity pose significant challenges, affecting the effectiveness of healthcare delivery and innovation potential in the sector.

AI and Digital technologies: Cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data are seen as key trends. AI has the potential to revitalize productivity in IT and Health sectors (e.g., in biopharma, particularly in drug development). Yet, obstacles like restricted data access and privacy concerns hinder its adoption. There are concerns that Bill C-27 and its AI regulations could stifle Canadian AI research. Supporting AI research, enhancing privacy-preserving technologies, and funding human-AI collaboration initiatives are key to realizing the full potential of AI in health and technology sectors.

Capital and Talent Gaps: Both health and digital sectors are affected by limited venture capital and talent shortages, which hinder growth and scalability. High tax rates and restrictive regulatory environments exacerbate these issues, reducing incentives for private sector investment and talent retention in Canada.

Sector-Specific Infrastructure Needs: The life sciences sector lacks critical infrastructure, such as wet labs and advanced manufacturing facilities, to support R&D and commercialization. Insufficient infrastructure funding limits Canada’s competitiveness in areas like clinical trials and scaling of advanced therapeutics.

Commercialization and Adoption Gaps: Although COVID raised awareness of biotech’s importance, Canada still struggles with commercialization. Canadian companies are facing difficulties in scaling manufacturing due to revenue-based eligibility criteria in support programs, a significant hurdle for life sciences companies needing inventory for regulatory compliance.

Designing an Innovation Strategy to Address Challenges

Building a Flexible, Adaptive Innovation Strategy 

Alignment Across Government and Private Sectors: An effective innovation strategy requires coordination among federal, provincial, and private stakeholders. Aligning strategies with clear role definitions for the government as funders and the private sector as implementers could help establish a sustainable and impactful innovation framework.

Human-Centered, Mission-Driven Design: A system-thinking approach that incorporates human-centered, mission-oriented principles is crucial to ensuring innovation benefits society broadly. Addressing health, economic, and social inequities through a holistic policy approach could allow Canada’s innovation ecosystem to be more inclusive and socially impactful.

Fostering AI and Open Access: Promoting open-access policies for AI and supporting foundational AI research can drive Canadian innovation. This approach encourages collaboration across sectors, particularly in health and biotech, by creating an ecosystem where resources and knowledge are shared to advance sectoral goals.

Addressing Structural Barriers to Commercialization and Scaling

Procurement and Market Access: Government procurement policies are critical to supporting domestic innovation. Many Canadian-developed products are primarily marketed in the U.S. due to limited domestic support, highlighting the need for policies that prioritize Canadian products and provide clearer commercialization pathways.

Infrastructure for scaling and manufacturing: Canadian life sciences face limitations due to inadequate wet labs and manufacturing facilities for advanced therapeutic production (e.g., cell and gene therapies), therefore there is a need for the targeted infrastructure funding. In addition, there is a need for dedicated commercialization facilities and infrastructure to support local biotech start-ups and enable them to compete on an international scale.

Developing a Talent Pipeline: The health and biotech sectors require targeted programs to build and retain skilled talent, particularly in clinical research and spin-off companies. Strengthening the talent pipeline could improve Canada’s capacity to innovate, especially in sectors where highly specialized skills are essential.

Learning from International Models: Examining international models in countries like Australia (tax incentives) and the UK (centralized healthcare system) offers valuable insights into addressing Canada’s structural barriers. Adapting elements from these systems could help Canada attract more clinical trials and foster a more competitive environment for life sciences and health tech.

Priorities for a National Innovation Strategy

Industry-Government Collaboration: Enhanced partnerships among industry, government, and academia are essential for addressing sector-specific needs and accelerating commercialization. Regional strategies, such as Ontario’s life sciences pathway, demonstrate the value of streamlined adoption and commercialization processes that could be applied nationally.

Long-Term Investment and Planning: Recognizing the lengthy timelines inherent in health and life sciences R&D is critical. Long-term planning, sustained funding, and a commitment to understanding the structural requirements of these sectors would enable Canadian innovations to reach their full potential and strengthen the overall ecosystem.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Sectoral Challenges: Health sector challenges are limited data accessibility, funding gaps for clinical trials, talent shortages, and the need for patient-centric innovations. In digital and high-tech, concerns focused on cybersecurity, AI, venture capital shortages, and a risk-averse mindset in Canada’s private sector.

Commercialization and Regulatory Needs: The biotechnology and life sciences sectors face challenges in scaling and commercializing innovations. Harmonized regulatory frameworks and economic incentives are needed to support commercialization and maintain global competitiveness.

Infrastructure and Human Resource Gaps:  A key barrier is the shortage of infrastructure and skilled human capital. Investments in infrastructure such as wet labs for advanced therapies and dedicated commercialization facilities, are critical. Additionally, integrating specialized AI and digital skills into workforce development is an important aspect to build a highly specialized talent pool.

Introduction

As part of the National Conversation on Canada’s Innovation Strategy initiative, the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) hosted three industry consultation sessions:  1) agriculture and agrifood, 2) advanced manufacturing and natural resources, 3) health, biosciences, digital and high-tech. The consultations aimed to gather insights for shaping a flexible and adaptive innovation strategy that addresses both current and future needs of Canadian industry. The discussion focused on three core topics:

• Topic 1 – Emerging trends and challenges in the sector
• Topic 2 – Designing an innovation strategy to adapt to the emerging trends and challenges
• Topic 3 – Priorities for a national innovation strategy

This cross-sector synthesis and summary identifies the common and recurring themes across all sectors for each topic.  It provides an overarching set of recommendations common across the three consultation sessions.

Emerging Trends and Challenges

Labor and Talent Shortages
Across sectors, labor shortages, particularly in skilled trades, technical roles, and specialized fields, were consistently identified as significant barriers. Each sector emphasized the need for talent and skills development, retention, and attraction, as well as specialized training programs that match evolving industry demands.

Regulatory Burdens
Across sectors, regulatory challenges were cited as significant barriers to innovation. Lack of clarity and consistency within the regulatory framework are causing delays, which impacts domestic and foreign investment and threatens competitiveness.

Capital and Scaling Constraints
Limited access to venture capital, high tax rates, and funding gaps are significant issues affecting SMEs and startups. Financial constraints hinder the ability of smaller firms to scale domestically, pushing some to seek foreign opportunities. Inadequate financial support to enable sustainable scaling within Canada, especially in high growth sectors is on-going challenge.

Infrastructure Gaps
Inadequate infrastructure is seen as a barrier to growth across sectors. Agriculture needs better rural digital connectivity, health sciences require more wet labs and production facilities, and advanced manufacturing faces a shortage of manufacturing infrastructure to support large-scale production. These gaps hinder the ability to conduct R&D, commercialize innovations, and expand operations domestically.

Environmental Sustainability and Climate Adaptation
There was a strong emphasis on sustainability and climate resilience across sectors.  Participants noted that most industrial sectors are fully committed to meeting carbon reduction, emission and sustainability policy goals, but need practical, economically viable strategies that balance environmental policy imperatives with the realities of competing in a global market.

Policy Misalignment and Lack of Coordination:
Policy misalignment, conflicting goals, lack of coordination within and across all levels of government and inadequate oversite, inadequate follow through and evaluation on policy implementation are key challenges in all sectors. Health and biotech sectors note that uncoordinated policies slow down processes like clinical trial approvals and AI regulation. In the agriculture sector, policies that lack the flexibility needed for practical application across diverse regions and scales of operation are a barrier to innovation.

Designing an Innovation Strategy to Address Challenges

Workforce Development and Skills Training
Developing a coordinated workforce strategy to address critical skill shortages is a priority. Public-private partnerships for apprenticeships, upskilling, and digital literacy programs are needed across all sectors. Closer industry-academia partnerships are crucial to ensure that training programs align with industry demands, enabling a pipeline of talent prepared for rapid technological advancements.

Adaptive, Innovation-Friendly Regulatory Frameworks
Modernization and harmonization of the regulatory system would address sector-specific challenges while supporting innovation, growth and competitiveness. Participants advocated for regulatory “sandboxes” as part of a more flexible regulatory environment, allowing controlled testing of innovations.

Public-Private Collaboration and Ecosystem Building
Each sector recommended strengthening public-private partnerships to foster collaborative innovation ecosystems, with a focus on translating research into market-ready solutions. There is consensus that an innovation strategy should prioritize industry-driven ecosystem capacity building that brings together academia, industry, and government to address sector-specific commercialization challenges.  Government procurement policies are critical to supporting domestic innovation.

Targeted Infrastructure Investments:
Investing in critical infrastructure across sectors was highlighted as essential to support innovation. Suggestions included expanding digital infrastructure in rural areas, building wet labs and specialized manufacturing facilities for health sciences, supporting scale-up, commercialization, pilot testing and demonstration infrastructure.

Sector-Specific and Regional Customization:
A sector-specific and regional approach to a national innovation was emphasized, recognizing that Canada’s geographical diversity and industry-specific needs require tailored solutions.

Accountability, Transparency, and Coordination in Policy Implementation:
Participants across sectors recommended stronger oversight mechanisms, clearer accountability structures, and transparent metrics to evaluate policy implementation. Improved internal coordination within and across government departments would support more effective and sustainable policy outcomes.

Priorities for a National Innovation Strategy

Long-Term, Outcome-Oriented Goals
Each sector advocated for a mission-driven strategy with long-term goals, especially to address the lengthy timelines inherent in R&D and commercialization. The strategy should set broad, adaptive goals with sector-specific pathways to achieve these outcomes.

Enhanced Industry-Academic Partnerships for Commercialization
Participants emphasized the need for partnerships between academia and industry to bridge research and commercialization gaps, with a focus on creating pathways from discovery to market. Supporting entrepreneurship within universities, fostering spin-offs, and establishing industry-led innovation hubs were identified as key methods to translate research into market-ready solutions that lead to tangible economic benefits.

Streamlined and Consistent Regulatory Frameworks:
Overall, there is a call for regulatory frameworks to be more adaptive and aligned with industry goals to enhance Canada’s competitiveness. Regulatory modernization is essential to support quicker project approvals, reduce costs, and foster alignment between regulatory standards and industry needs. Harmonized regulations across federal and provincial levels were seen as crucial for enabling the successful commercialization of Canadian innovations.

Capital and Scaling Support for SMEs
Providing targeted financial support to enable SMEs and startups to scale domestically was seen as essential. Participants recommended creating more accessible funding mechanisms, such as grants, low-interest loans, and tax incentives, particularly for high-growth companies across all sectors. These measures would enable SMEs to grow and remain in Canada.

Public-Private Partnerships and Sector-Based Strategies
A sector-specific, collaborative approach to a national innovation strategy was widely supported. Effective public-private partnerships, along with sector-specific strategies, would allow for better alignment between government and industry priorities, ensuring that each sector’s unique challenges and opportunities are addressed comprehensively.

Accountability and Follow-Through in Policy Implementation
Enhanced accountability measures and follow-through in policy implementation are needed to drive innovation. Effective implementation requires transparent metrics, regular evaluations, and a commitment to ongoing oversight. Enhanced coordination across government levels and departments is essential to maintain consistency and alignment with industry needs, creating a supportive environment for innovation. Participants recommended that policies be better aligned and coordinated within and across government departments to reflect the realities of each sector.

Focus on Climate Goals and Sustainability:
A national innovation strategy should prioritize alignment with Canada’s climate commitments, emphasizing sustainable practices across sectors. This includes supporting climate-smart agriculture, clean technologies in advanced manufacturing, and sustainable health innovations. Participants highlighted that policies should balance sustainability with economic feasibility to ensure adoption and long-term viability.

Conclusion & Recommendations

Workforce Development and Skills Training

• Develop a coordinated workforce strategy focusing on apprenticeships, digital literacy, and specialized training for evolving technological needs.
• Tailored programs should be implemented to increase completion rates in trades, support skill transitions, and ensure new talent pipelines in areas like AI, digital health, and precision agriculture.

Regulatory Reforms to Support Innovation

• Streamline and modernize regulatory processes to be more innovation-friendly, reducing approval times, simplifying compliance, enhancing transparency and improving regulatory adaptability.
• Introduce regulatory “sandboxes”, where new technologies can be piloted in a controlled environmental prior to regulatory approval.
• Develop sector-specific regulatory frameworks that address unique sector challenges.  Coordinate standards across federal and provincial government and create metrics for regulatory effectiveness and efficiency.

Ensure Policy Alignment, Transparency and Accountability

• Improve policy alignment with industry needs and strengthen internal oversight, transparency, and follow-through in policy implementation.
• Implement clear accountability structures to measure progress and ensure that promising policies translate into practical actions.
• Set up cross-sector working groups that include government, industry, and academia to guide policy development and implementation.
• Establish regular reviews and transparent reporting mechanisms to evaluate policy outcomes, making adjustments as needed to stay aligned with industry requirements.

Investment in Critical Infrastructure:

• Prioritize infrastructure investments, including supporting digital infrastructure for data-driven farming, wet labs for biotech, and manufacturing facilities for scaling production in advanced manufacturing.
• Such investments are foundational to enhancing Canada’s capacity for domestic innovation.

Support for SMEs and Startups:

• Establish funding mechanisms specifically designed to help startups and SMEs scale domestically.
• This could include venture capital incentives, tax credits, grants, and low-interest loans to alleviate financial barriers and reduce the need for companies to seek foreign investment. This will allow SMEs and start-ups to overcome growth and expansion challenges, making it easier for them to innovate and scale within Canada.

Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships:

• Build robust public-private partnerships to create innovation ecosystems that support the entire lifecycle of innovation, from research to commercialization.
• These ecosystems should foster collaboration between academia, industry, and government.
• Support industry-led innovation hubs and centers of excellence that align academic research with industry needs.
• Create incentives for partnerships that focus on commercialization, ensuring that R&D translates into tangible market benefits and economic growth within Canada.

Long-Term, Mission-Driven Approach

• Implement a mission-oriented approach to a national innovation strategy that incorporates a long-term vision and clear objectives.
• A national innovation strategy should seek a balanced policy environment that fosters competitiveness while promoting sustainability.
• Recognizing each sector’s unique challenges and strengths within this framework is critical.

Sector-Based Strategy and Regional Customization

• Adopt a sector-specific and regional approach to address Canada’s geographical diversity and unique needs of Canada’s industrial sectors

Commitment to Sustainability and Climate Goals

• Canada’s innovation strategy should align with climate and sustainability goals, encouraging sectors to adopt environmentally friendly practices that reduce carbon footprints.
• This can include supporting sustainable practices in agriculture, green technologies in manufacturing, and eco-friendly production processes in health.