University of Calgary for the Western Canada Growth Strategy Consultation
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From: Barbara Wright <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2018 8:01 AM To: Engages‐Mobilisation (WD/DEO) <wd.engages‐[email protected]> Subject: Submission for Western Canada Growth Strategy Good morning, Please find attached the submission from the University of Calgary for the Western Canada Growth Strategy consultation. We hope you are still able to accept this feedback. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Regards, Barb Barb Wright Director, Government Relations Government and Community Engagement University Relations MB 3rd Floor | P: 403.210.6134 | C: 403.671.3840 UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY __________________________________________________________ SUBMISSION TO THE CONSULTATION ON THE WESTERN CANADIAN GROWTH STRATEGY Prepared for: WESTERN ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION CANADA 2 Introduction The University of Calgary would like to thank Western Economic Diversification for the opportunity to provide input into the Western Canada Growth Strategy. We appreciate the federal government’s commitment to working proactively with diverse stakeholders to create a “Made‐in‐Western‐Canada” growth strategy and value the opportunity to provide input into its development. This strategy will provide an important policy framework that will build on western Canada’s existing strengths and ensure a prosperous future. The following submission from the University of Calgary considers the challenges and opportunities facing western Canada, identifies initiatives and approaches that are currently underway to support economic growth and that could be expanded, and offers recommendations that will help western Canada’s economy to thrive in the future. We have focused our recommendations on policies and key initiatives to develop the talents of western Canada’s workforce and to promote innovative research and technology commercialization in sectors with particularly bright economic futures. We focus on talent development, research, and technology commercialization in this submission because this is where the University of Calgary excels and is how it fundamentally helps drive economic growth in southern Alberta and Canada‐wide. The University of Calgary is a global intellectual hub located in Canada’s most enterprising city. It provides a spirited, high‐quality learning environment, where students thrive in programs enriched by research, hands‐on experiences, and entrepreneurial thinking. By immersing students in an environment rich in curiosity, diverse ideas, and global perspectives we develop creative, confident citizens who think critically and contribute value to their communities. We integrate entrepreneurial thinking throughout our students’ educational experiences, so they learn to identify opportunities, collaborate and build partnerships, embrace differences of opinion, and create a prosperous and sustainable future. Our new initiatives such as the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, the Life Sciences Innovation Hub, and the Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies (CDL), offer students, faculty, and researchers the tools – mentorship, advice, and access to financing – to take their ideas and discoveries and turn them into viable companies, thus further breaking down the wall between the academy and the economy. Our research excellence allows us to provide students with unique experiences and skills development opportunities, while generating new ideas that promote prosperity and improve the quality of life for all Canadians. Western Canada’s economic future holds substantial potential. However, that potential will only be met if Canadians invest in initiatives that encourage entrepreneurship, foster innovation, and increase economic participation among Indigenous peoples and other underrepresented groups. Western Canada’s universities, and the University of Calgary in particular, are ideally positioned to work with both government and industry on these initiatives to create the diversified and resilient western Canadian economy of the future. 3 1. What does a stronger western Canadian economy look like ten years from now? In 2028, a stronger western Canadian economy will be diversified across a range of sectors, from agriculture to data‐driven professional services, with more workers and firms producing research‐ intense, innovation‐heavy goods and services. Its value chains will be integrated with not just the rest of the Canadian economy, but the North American and global economy as well. Western Canadian firms will compete and win market share around the world. Diversification will be the key to this stronger economy. A western Canadian economy that is more diversified than today’s economy will be more resilient in the face of exogenous shocks. It will recover faster from recessions, and pivot rapidly to new opportunities. A downturn in one sector (such as the decline in oil prices in 2014) will cause less negative spillovers to the rest of the economy. A more diversified economy will also export a broader range of goods and services to more foreign markets as western Canadian firms will be positioned to compete on a global basis. Canadian universities through the highly qualified personnel they train and the innovation they spawn, play a critical role in creating this diversified, stronger economy. While Canadian universities are already research powerhouses that provide Canadian society with substantial economic and social benefits, building the diversified and resilient western economy of the future will require dedicated effort and new measures. These include: Nurturing western Canadian clusters in financial services, health and life sciences, agriculture and agri‐food, clean energy, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other sectors within an innovation ecosystem that develops the talent, research and technologies businesses need to thrive. Creating an environment where entrepreneurs have access to the business advice and support they need to experiment with new business ideas, and access to the capital they need to turn those ideas into reality. Facilities like the University of Calgary’s Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking and business incubators and accelerators such as Innovate Calgary, UCalgary’s new Life Sciences Innovation Hub and the CDL – Rockies (where firms have raised almost $14 million of venture capital since 2017, compared to $37 million in all of Alberta that year)1 are invaluable for reaching this goal. Ensuring western Canadians have access to an education system that nurtures their talents, allowing them to find the highest and best application for their passions and talents, thereby growing labour productivity. 1 Amanda Stephenson, “U of C program for startups to double in size; new focus on energy technology,” Calgary Herald, September 20, 2018, <https://calgaryherald.com/business/local‐business/u‐of‐c‐program‐for‐startups‐to‐ double‐in‐size‐new‐focus‐on‐energy‐technology>; CVCA, Venture Capital & Private Equity Market Overview 2017 (Toronto: Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association, 2018), 7. 4 Widespread adoption of new technologies – from low‐carbon energy sources to machine learning – which will both spur growth in the legacy economy and help new industries emerge. This future economy will be built on innovation: not just incremental improvements in products, services, and how firms do business, but also a culture of constant learning, embracing scientific discovery, and an entrepreneurial mindset that combines new and old ideas in novel ways. When these factors come together, the results can be remarkable. Take Parvus Therapeutics, for example, a biopharmaceutical company that is developing treatments for autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 diabetes (Canada has one of the highest prevalence rates of childhood Type 1 diabetes in the world). Parvus is not a spin‐off of a global pharmaceutical company. Instead, it was born of technology discovered in a University of Calgary lab, where researchers decided to take on the risk and challenge of turning that research into a viable health sciences enterprise. A diversified economy, boasting higher labour productivity and higher wages will ultimately yield a higher quality life. An economy that is robust to shocks means that governments will have more predictable tax revenues, allowing them to better satisfy society’s demands for health care, environmental protection, infrastructure, and other public goods. Western Canada’s future economy will still rest on a foundation of its existing strengths. These include a growing and well‐educated workforce, a stable political and regulatory environment, a robust domestic market (Alberta’s population alone has grown by over a third since 2001), proximity to the US market and the burgeoning Asia‐Pacific – via the major ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert – and an abundance of mineral wealth. These legacy strengths will be combined with new ideas and technologies, with a larger labour force (including people from marginalized groups who have not participated fully in the formal economy in the past), and with an entrepreneurial mindset that combines the old and the new to create and unlock value. Recommendations: Implement measures such as expanded work‐integrated learning (WIL) to develop and retain a skilled, flexible, and industry‐ready workforce. Focus on deploying policies that incentivize – or reduce barriers to – research commercialization, with a particular focus on clean energy and greenhouse gas‐reducing technologies, life sciences, agri‐food,