Vanguard Magazine

32 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com T Technology by louis Ross I n Canada, it appears that there is not a well thought out strategy to support emerging technology development and commercialization. What we have is a piecemeal plan with missing links to transition new technology from the R&D stage to commercialization. Additionally, there is a shortage of experienced, "internationalised" management that is needed to lead tech companies to market, and a lack of a vibrant private equity/venture capital industry that can lead and syndicate invest- ments in domestic companies. These weak points can be overcome in due time with smart policies toward supporting R&D, such as the very useful and efficient R&D Tax Credit regime and a few success stories that can attract people and capital. Another very important potential source of support for Canadian R&D and commercialization capabilities is the Industrial Technology Benefits (ITB) program — a key part of the Canadian defence procurement initiative that includes a number of large contracts that are expected to be is- sued over the next several years after considerable delays. Considering the costs of these delays, and plans in the U.S. to facilitate fast-tracked private sector procurements and support of new technology acquisition — Canada will need to transition from the seemingly never-ending "research and study mode" to an active management and decisive decision-making mindset. This is required to take advantage of the opportunities to build new high-value-added, high-tech industries in Canada. The type of technology development that needs to be funded in Canada should be directly aligned with the needs of those aero- space and defence contractors bidding on the procurements, and they should also focus on "dual-use" technologies that are not only mission critical on the defence side, but also have very large commercial market applications in multiple industry sectors. They should demand specialised skills, have large barriers to en- try, and be implemented in areas where the success of one com- pany and may lead to the development of an entire industry clus- ter. Intellectual property, especially patents, are another important yardstick to determine how competitive a company or industry is, and the patent strategy needs to cover the most important com- mercial markets where licensing and sales activity will take place. Again, we are talking high-value-added technologies that cannot be developed in a few weeks or months on a shoestring budget with a couple of people writing code or engineering something that can be done easily anywhere in the world. Lastly, it needs to serve Canada's domestic economy, where job creation and the nurturing of specialised skill sets take place in- country as much as possible and the domestic economy receives sufficient enough benefits as a whole. In the U.S., the most important commercial technologies and largest markets were produced from defence related expenditures that preceded mass commercialization over decades. Throughout the post-war period, the U.S. has been the leader in this area by having both the largest commercial market and the largest de- fence budget. The commercialization of the computer, wireless communications, the Internet, and virtual and augmented reality are just a few of the many cases to illustrate this point. The U.S. defence spending is largely the reason why Silicon Val- ley exists today. Its companies were built on years of defence con- EmErgIng TEchnology commErcIalIzaTIon An Opening fOr CAnAdA tO SuppOrt

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