UTTRI associated faculty Professor David A. Wolfe, in a special to the Financial Post, outlines the need for a national innovation strategy to aid deployment of digitization and decarbonization throughout the Canadian economy.
In the article, Wolfe considers two major trends – the adoption of digital technologies, and the rapid shift away from carbon-based forms of energy to renewable forms – and their implications for innovation policy. These trends are accelerating, he says.
These trends will persist and gather speed as we move to reopen the economy after COVID.
Wolfe believes that Canada has solutions to meet the challenges of rapid change, but the creation and implementation of supporting policy is critical.
We need to think about how new forms of technology and innovation interact with nature and the environment and the extent to which they can improve or harm our prospects for sustainability and survival.
This creates the imperative to fundamentally reorient our innovation policies to pursue these objectives more effectively.
The piece is part of the Financial Post’s “The Innovation Imperative” series, written by academics from the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, exploring key innovation challenges facing Canada.
Related content
- Video: “The Future of Ontario’s Automotive Sector in the Age of Digital Disruption” presented by Professor David Wolfe, Co-Director, Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, at the 2019 Canadian AutoShow.