What happened: Two reports published today argue British Columbia’s ability to embrace and support innovation will be key to the province’s economic prosperity in a rapidly changing world.
Why it matters: Without rent revenues from natural resources, B.C. would need an additional $2.5 billion invested in research and development to maintain or grow the province’s pre-COVID level of gross domestic product per capita, according to B.C.’s Innovation Commissioner.
Embracing technology and fostering innovation will be key drivers of British Columbia’s economic prosperity, according to two separate reports published Monday.
The final report from the province’s Emerging Economic Task Force argues B.C. needs to build on its strengths in technology and invest further in innovation to improve business productivity and increase incomes.
Embracing technology and innovation is the first of five priority areas that will help B.C.’s economy thrive over the next 25 years. The 14-member task force made 25 recommendations to government and its partners across those five areas, which include leveraging the green economy, building a highly skilled and adaptable workforce, demonstrating public sector leadership and ensuring an effective ecosystem that enables the flow of products, people and ideas.
Under the banner of technology and innovation, the report calls for B.C. to strengthen its ecosystem for commercializing and scaling up companies, and to become a global leader in smart regulation.
"The Emerging Economy Task Force looked at the most current innovations, consumer behaviour and economic sectors to identify where B.C. is going in the future," said Michelle Mungall, B.C. minister of jobs, economic development and competitiveness in a news release issued Monday.
"This important work allows us to prepare for the opportunities that lie ahead – and this report can't come at a better time. As we plan to build B.C. back from COVID-19, our economic recovery needs this forward thinking so we can create family-supporting jobs across British Columbia."
The report coincides with the release of the final report from B.C. Innovation Commissioner Alan Winter, which outlines five short-to-medium-term recommendations to help the provincial government retain ideas, people and businesses capable of growing significant B.C. companies.
The recommendations include funding innovation precincts across B.C., supporting the development of emerging technology clusters, using the government’s CleanBC plan to drive economic growth, protecting intellectual property and investing in talent retention strategies.
“The economy of the future will be information-based. With intangibles growing in importance, B.C. needs to put a greater emphasis on how we will prepare and compete,” Winter wrote in his report, which noted that without rent revenues from natural resources, B.C. would need an additional $2.5 billion invested in research and development to maintain or grow the province’s pre-COVID level of gross domestic product per capita.
