During the 1990s, Canada opened a national agenda for research and innovation. And today, at Canada’s leading universities, top researchers train young adults in the skills they will later need to help Canada lead in diverse fields: How to question conventional wisdom, how to test new ideas rigorously, and how to implement innovations reliably. There remains, however, a serious skills gap that Canada must close to enhance our international competitiveness. Closing that gap is one of several items of “unfinished business” in the national innovation agenda.
University of Toronto President David Naylor will accordingly take Canadian Club members “inside” his institution to illustrate where Canada is losing ground in the global knowledge economy, and how governments and industry can work with universities to strengthen our competitive position. His insights will be particularly germane as the federal government moves towards its 2007 Budget, widely expected to lay the foundations for the Conservatives’ Science and Technology Agenda.
