Canada's National System of Innovation

Charles R. Crawford, a former associate professor of computer science at
York University, is a computer-programming and mathematics consultant.

A country’s national system of innovation (NSI) comprises “its
innovating firms, universities, and public laboratories, together with
the institutions (public and private) that finance innovation.” This
study describes Canada’s NSI in the early 1990s, tries to identify
strengths and weaknesses, and concludes with suggestions of possible
trends in economic development.

An introductory chapter defines terms and gives examples of NSI’s in
different countries. Chapters 3–5 summarize and analyze the responses
to questionnaires sent to over 500 public and private laboratories
engaged in research and development in Canada in 1992–93. Chapters
6–8 focus on the issue of internationalization, the effect of
multinational corporations, and the possible development of a North
American system of innovation. The final chapter summarizes the history
of Canada’s NSI and outlines several general conclusions. Chapters
3–5 were coauthored with André Manseau and Chapter 8 with Benoоt
Godin.

Canada’s National System of Innovation is a well-documented,
technical study in economics, but it avoids the question of evaluation.
Although innovation is defined as “new or improved products
successfully taken to market,” the authors do not make clear how
improvement and success are measured in this context.