Apparently there is a real disconnect brewing between the Conference Board of Canada and Legatum Prosperity Index. One ranks Canada 4th in Entrepreneurship and Innovation out of 106 countries while the other ranks Canada 14th out of the 17 OECD countries. Interestingly enough the same 17 OECD countries are in both rankings. 4th versus 14th thats quite a difference.
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Here is what the two have to say:
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Canada provides a highly conducive environment for business, although technology exports are low
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Canada has an excellent technological infrastructure for business: internet bandwidth and the number of secure servers are very high, and personal computer ownership is the highest in the world at approximately 94 personal computers per 100 people. Just two formal procedures are required to start a business, thereby encouraging entrepreneurship, and 194,000 new Canadian enterprises were started in 2007, the sixth highest in the world. Canada achieves a high score for the value added in its service industry, and it ranks in the top 10 countries for royalty receipts, suggesting that Canadian companies are able to commercialise their intellectual property. Canada’s score is lowered by its very low levels of high-tech and ICT exports, which rank the country around 30th in both variables. Spending on R&D is 1.9% of GDP, which places Canada just outside the top 10 nations on this variable.
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How does Canada perform on innovation overall?
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Despite a decade or so of innovation agendas and prosperity reports, Canada remains near the bottom of its peer group on innovation, ranking 14th among the 17 peer countries.
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This does not mean that Canadian inventions are themselves inferior. In fact, Canada produces some great inventions and inventors.
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Canada’s low relative ranking means that, as a proportion of its overall economic activity, Canada does not rely on innovation as much as some of its peers. Overall, countries that are more innovative are passing Canada on measures such as income per capita, productivity, and the quality of social programs.
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Pretty significant disconnect between the Conference Board of Canada and Legatum Prosperity Index. Personally I would put my money on the Legatum Index.
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Ian Graham

Filed under: Featured, Innovation by Ian
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