CSPC 2018

Organized by: Council of Canadian Academies, Weronika Zych 

For more than 100 years, successive Canadian governments have bemoaned the country’s inability to grow firms into large, globally successful industry leaders. While much effort has been expended to address this issue, the results have been middling by most informed accounts. Indeed, over the last decade, several large-scale tech companies that Canada has grown have failed to thrive. That said, Canadians have become expert at describing the host of explanations behind the phenomenon: technical and management skills gaps, weak IP policies, inadequate venture capital, too much (or not enough) tax support, small domestic markets, and other factors. But we have not been equally proficient at identifying the causes and consequences of this failure to grow robust domestic tech companies in Canada. Perhaps a different approach is needed, with a different set of questions: Does it matter that Canada does not grow firms into large industry leaders? Do Canadians really want to scale companies? Or are we content attracting foreign subsidiaries with world leading research capacity and infrastructure, and exporting ideas and innovations to be developed in other markets? The panel includes industry and policy leaders, who will draw on current evidence and their own experiences to debate the causes and consequences of Canada’s failure to thrive and what steps (if any) should be taken.