Put simply, Canada is facing a period of unprecedented challenges with a weak hand: declining productivity and erosion of our standard of living arising in large measure from the steady worsening of our innovation performance.

Originally published in Research Money: https://researchmoneyinc.com/article/the-economics-of-exclusion-why-canada-s-budget-leaves-its-future-behind- Budget 2025 offers a clear signal about Canada’s long-term priorities, and it also reveals a quiet but consequential gap. Only one percent of federal spending is directed toward Canadian youth, a group that today makes up 19 percent of Canada’s population. At first glance, this may seem like a narrow budgetary detail; however,

Source: Unsplash In his October 20, 2025 opinion piece for The Hill Times , "Innovation for a public purpose", Institute for Collaborative Innovation President David Watters argues that all federal support for innovation should be designed to serve a clear public purpose. He writes that since public money is used by governments to support innovation, its effectiveness must be measured by the public benefits it provides to citizens to improve their quality of life. David also

Executive Director

Source: Unsplash Canada’s Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Ecosystem is a derelict 60-year-old rusting “Knowledge Factory”, whose...

A Hill Times Op-ed written by ICI Canada's President, David B Watters. Watters explores the need to recognize technology as a way to...

A Hill Times op-ed written by ICI Canada's president, David B Watters. This op-ed explores our global challenges and our need to improve...