Ottawa 2020

Economic Strategy

5.2 Strategic Direction 2: Share knowledge and ideas

Ottawa must actively pursue collaboration between knowledge institutions-public and private research centres, colleges and universities and hospitals-to create a critical mass of shared knowledge. This knowledge must be shared with all participants in the economy.

The progression of knowledge from ideas to competitive intelligence to implementation demands strong collaborative linkages within and between industries, clusters and economic sectors-both public and private. Ottawa must actively pursue such collaboration by convening stakeholders. Stakeholder groups must build bridges between knowledge institutions-public and private research centres, colleges, universities and hospitals-to create the critical mass of shared knowledge. Linkages must also be forged between and within the industry clusters to ensure that discovery and development stages of the innovation pipeline are firmly connected to the deployment stage.

One way to refocus marketing strategies and increase entrepreneurial energy is to increase linkages between mature enterprises in the industry clusters and Ottawa's small- and medium-sized enterprises-both export-oriented and in the market sector. This will create a synergy of knowledge and ideas to advance development of innovative products and services in both sectors. Increased energy and innovation in the economy creates favourable conditions for competition and strengthens the cluster supply chain.

Next: 5.2.1 Collaborative linkages