Tag Archives: Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance

Canadian commercialization survey

CATA stands for Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. I haven’t heard much about this group since they closed down their British Columbia office. It turns out they are still active and their latest project is a survey on commercialization in Canada. From the CATA commercialization project page,

The objective of this study, administered by CATAAlliance in partnership with University of Waterloo and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, is to identify what are the views of Canadian industry concerning effective commercialization of innovations – what works and what does not in Canadian industry attempts at being more effective in the global marketplace.

The performance of Canadian firms in commercializing innovation is a more essential economic factor than quantity of innovation if a large part of it is left sterile in the labs. Commercialization is perceived as the underperforming aspect of Canadian industry performance – especially among SMEs who need better ways and means to enhance their positions in the global marketplace.


Product innovation and new product commercialization receive the bulk of attention from researchers and policy makers. However, service innovations (whether production processes, marketing innovations, or organizational innovation) are just as important, especially that the service sector accounts for more than 70% of the GDP and more than 75% of Canadians are employed in the service sector. The results of this study will help Canadian Executives – in Industry as well as in Government – to assess their organizations impacts in matters of commercialization of innovation and to develop better practices and programs for ensuring Canadian industry competitiveness in the global marketplace.

The effort does seem to be heavily Ontario-inflected with one Alberta agency (Alberta Council of Technologies) listed as a sponsor and no other province represented. I suspect this has something to do with the difficulties of organizing any sort of effort across our very large country.

The survey part of the project remains open until October 1, 2011. A report based on the survey results and roundtable discussions (taking place Sept. 19, 2011) will be released October 24, 2011.