NBIF Is A Strong Supporter Of The Innovation Map – Huddle

FREDERICTON – There are several recommendations in the University of New Brunswick’s recently unveiled innovation map for the country, and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) shares in the commitment.

The map was created by UNB and Global Advantage Consulting Group, showing where and how R&D takes place.

As a partner of innovation in the province, NBIF was involved in reviewing the map’s drafts, providing input and helping to arrive at the final recommendations.

Huddle spoke with NBIF about why mapping out the innovation ecosystem is necessary and what else needs to be done.

Director of Research Laura Richard says innovation is key to an economy’s growth.

“The more innovation we have, the more prosperous we’ll be,” she says.

Yet, New Brunswick ranks among the lowest in Canada when it comes to R&D performance. Only about 1 percent of the $34.5 billion spent on R&D across the country was spent in New Brunswick.

Approximately a third of all R&D in the province is done by the private sector, much lower than over 50% across Canada. The province’s share of Canada’s real GDP has also declined by around $1 billion between 2013 and 2017.

Currently, there isn’t a provincial strategy focused on innovation, that’s why it’s so important to have this map now, Richard said.

“This maps out the current state, the money, who are the players, and does some key comparisons with other jurisdictions. Using that, we can identify gaps and look at what actions we need to take to improve,” Richard said. “Decide collectively what it is we can do in order to improve innovation here in New Brunswick?”

The map lays out several recommendations to boost innovation in the province, all which NBIF stands behind, have been pushing the lever forward on 3 of them for more than 10 years

The first of those is the recommendation to increase the talent pool, something so important for any jurisdiction that wants to be innovative.

“In the work we do with startups, one of their key complaints is the struggle to get the right people here to do their business…that’s why people have to leave New Brunswick,” Richard said. “In the end, if you don’t have the people, you can’t do the work. So, it starts with having the people.”

That’s why so many of NBIF’s programs are directed at talent development, including scholarships, which in 2019 recruited 200 students to study applied research at New Brunswick universities, student internships, that since 2016 has funded projects supporting the training of 573 students, and professor recruitment, recruiting more than 75 professors to the province since its founding in 2003., among others.

The second is the recommendation to enhance technology adoption among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in New Brunswick.

NBIF has funded more than 500 applied research projects. This has encouraged businesses to invest in R&D and boost adoption of new technologies through the innovation voucher program.

Under this program, NBIF offers to cover 80 per cent of the cost for a New Brunswick SME’s R&D project, in partnership with a local researcher, that would help the business grow. In 2019 alone NBIF worked with 102 different non-academic partners in research projects and since 2016 facilitated the creation of 437 unique partnerships between researchers and industry, government and not for profit organizations.  By doing all of this is supports technology transfer from universities to commercial application.

NBIF also enables companies to participate in research by contributing cash, expertise, materials or other in-kind offerings that can help tackle an industry need.

The third recommendation is supporting collaboration between higher education, provincial and federal governments, and non-profit organizations. Already something it pushes for day in and day out, NBIF sees itself playing an even more active role.

NBIF plans to use the map when speaking to its government funders and other agencies so that opportunities for action can be identified and planned out.

“It will still require coordination from the government, for example, to make sure that we are working with each other and not against each other. Now, with the map, it’s clear what we need to work on and what we can do together,” Richard said.

Enabling stakeholders to collaborate more efficiently and effectively is key for the map to lead to real results.

“All of the right people are in the room, everyone is interested and engaged, so I think what needs to be done now is for all of us to coalesce around this and put in place a concrete action plan,” Richard said.