Canadian Government Executive - Volume 27 - Issue 02

14 / Canadian Government Executive // March/April 2021 INNOVATION We also deliver major programming, and we support research. If you think of the laws, regulations, and programming for the busi- ness sector in this country as a public policy value chain, we’re active along all parts of that value chain. And our goal is to make sure that we don’t have weak links — that the various interventions we’re making are mutually reinforcing, for the benefit of a strong business sector and economy. Q: What is an example of an inter- vention the government has made to support a more innovative economy? Government can be a convener and a facili- tator. For example, there’s a lot of research on how innovation clusters form and why they work. In a cluster, you’re in an environ- ment in which it’s more likely that the col- lisions will happen that enable you to take your idea from concept all the way to a func- tional business. Moreover, when clusters get going, they become magnets that attract others. The government’s Supercluster program aims to help foster that kind of environment, in high-potential sectors that may currently lack scale or that are missing ingredients, and where state support can help take it over the top. The program brings together differ- ent actors that may not necessarily run into one another and incentivizes collaboration and collective action — facilitating those collisions and that dynamism. These programs are business-led; they are self-governed by an industry board. The typical Supercluster has a number of anchor firms, but also startups and small and me- dium-sized enterprises, as well as academic, not-for-profit, and government members. Q: Can you give an example? Canada has an enormous agriculture sector and is a world leader in the production of plant protein. And there is exciting innova- tion going on in the plant protein sector: All you have to do is go into your local specialty grocery store and look at many of the foods on the shelf. The Protein Industries Supercluster brings together the farm sector and the proces- sors, but also the technologists and the in- novators. Take canola, for example. That crop was invented in Canada in the 1970s and for decades has been one of our most important agricultural exports. But most of the processing and value-added activity was being done abroad. One of our most famous agricultural innovations wasn’t being used to its fullest potential in Canada. The Super- cluster is changing that, catalyzing partner- ships to develop new breeds of high-protein canola and roll out innovative technologies to transfer the crop into new food and feed products. Q: What have been the results of the Supercluster program so far? It’s a new way of working, and it brings people together who you would not neces- sarily think would be actively collaborating, so it took a bit of time to get off the ground. Participants have had to figure out who to partner with, and then how to partner with one another. But it’s taken off, and early re- For example, we were facing the challeng- es of climate change pre-pandemic. That hasn’t gone away, and, in fact, the pandemic has illuminated for many how Mother Na- ture can throw a disruptive curveball at so- ciety and how important it is to deal with systemic risks. The emergence of the digital economy was also a major priority prior to the pandemic. Well before it hit, the gov- ernment announced a digital charter of 10 principles that would guide its development of new rules for the digital economy. And as we’ve seen during the pandemic with re- mote work and businesses moving online, this charter is just as important today, if not more important. Q: What is the role of your depart- ment in confronting these challenges? My organization plays an important role in bringing to bear all the various tools we have to support a dynamic and innovative econo- my. We do that in support of four ministers with wide-ranging mandates, such as inno- vation, tourism, small business, and rural economic development. And of course, we are one department working with a larger federal team. I am a civil servant — I don’t run a pri- vate business — and the government’s job is not to substitute for the role of the business sector. But my organization is responsible for setting the rules of the game. From the formation of a business to the dissolution of a business and everything in between, we’re responsible for the related laws and policies, such as for firm incorporation and for bank- ruptcy and insolvency. The rules of the road matter; you could have great program- ming, but without the right rules, business activity can be stifled. People need to trust the platforms they’re using.