Industrial Policy in Canada’s Innovation Economy

Industrial policies have a long history of use globally as governments look to implement policies to support economic growth. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has made it vital for countries to be at the forefront of technological innovation in areas such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence and robotics. However, Canada has a poor performance record of commercializing innovative technologies and risks being left behind as other countries race ahead to support their domestic industries. Through case studies of Canada, the USA and Australia, three policy recommendations – improving cross-country policy coordination, reviewing existing programs to ensure policy objectives are being met and creating sectorspecific support programs – are presented in this paper to support Canadian policymakers in creating a new paradigm for the use of industrial policies to improve the strength of the domestic innovation ecosystem.