Canada’s Innovation Policy’s: An Analysis for Policy Learning and Change due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Economies across the globe have been challenged and impacted with constant change such as climate change, increasing population diversity, migration flows and the significant impact of technology. In 2020, the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be an intense challenge for economies, where its impact has caused some countries to either fall or adapt and thrive to new ways of doing business and innovating. The case of the Canadian economy currently demonstrates a more challenging recovery than other countries such as New Zealand, which saw a very brief recovery stage and is now moving on to their normal economic activities that were present prior to the pandemic. Economic shocks typically foster more change and adaptability to government approaches and policies. This paper explores if and how innovation policies in Canada are changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in comparison to Ontario’s and New Zealand’s innovation policies. To do so, this paper proposes a policy-learning analytical framework based on innovation policy intentions, innovation policy networks and innovation policy experimentation. Three aspects of innovation are analyzed: R&D, entrepreneurship and SME activity. The paper discusses Canada’s policy learning and the economic barriers brought to light by the pandemic with the federal governments risk aversion, short-term policy approaches, lack of proactive innovation policy networks and experimental policy transparency. The paper proposes three recommendations for policy learning based on the discussed barriers: establishing a long-term innovation strategy with diverse policies that reflect the dynamic stages of innovation, fostering proactive collaborative innovation policy networks and creating transparent innovation policy experiments. All of these recommendations would be an initial step for Canada to begin establishing an innovation policy structure and economy built for opportunities for policy learning in a post-pandemic world.