At times, it flirts with being an overused buzzphrase. But to attendees at Nova Scotia鈥檚 first Innovation Summit, the 鈥淚鈥� word is critical to the province鈥檚 future.
鈥淣ova Scotians have many innovative ideas,鈥� said Premier Darrell Dexter, introducing the summit last Tuesday. 鈥淏usiness, industry and all levels of government need to work together to support that innovative spirit.鈥�
The summit brought together public and private stakeholders from industry, business and academia to develop strategies around a more systemic approach to innovation.
Dal Vice-President Research Martha Crago, who hosted the two-day event, defined innovation as 鈥渃reating value from new ideas.鈥� But ideas alone aren鈥檛 enough, explained Dr. Crago in her introductory remarks: it takes an ecosystem to create that value, 鈥渢he interaction between key elements and ingredients that brings new ideas to market 鈥� as new products, processes or services.鈥�
As you might well expect, universities are one of those key ingredients.
鈥淥ne advantage you have here [in Nova Scotia] is a world-class university,鈥� said keynote speaker Tom Jenkins, executive chairman and chief strategy officer of OpenText, later encouraging attendees to 鈥渙rganize around Dal鈥� when it comes to innovation.
At several point in his address, Jenkins, a tech pioneer who chaired the Government of Canada鈥檚 Research and Development Policy Review Panel, discussed how links with university research and a collaborative 鈥渂arnbuilding鈥� atmosphere were key factors in the rise of an innovative tech culture in Waterloo, Ontario.
鈥淚t takes a community to raise an innovative company,鈥� says Jenkins. He also said that research into big data 鈥� oceanographic data in particular 鈥� represents a huge opportunity for Nova Scotia. 鈥淵ou should be world leaders on this.鈥�
Building a bridge between knowledge and need
The spark behind the Innovation Summit was last year鈥檚 trade mission to Israel, . 鈥淲hat we saw created excitement and led to numerous conversations,鈥� said Dr. Crago. 鈥淲hen we came home, some of us thought we should share what we learned and expand the conversation to people here and around the world.鈥�
It鈥檚 not easy, though, to be more competitive and innovative in a global economy. 鈥淭his is hard,鈥� as Jenkins bluntly put it.
One of those challenges is figuring out how best to leverage ideas and expertise from universities. Eric Grimson, chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered insight into how his university has become renowned for doing just that, detailing a number of cross-disciplinary programs that, as he puts it, 鈥渆mbeds innovation in our DNA.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 no single piece to that ecosystem, no one place where you go if you want to be involved in innovation and entrepreneurship鈥�. No one unit owns entrepreneurship. No one unit owns innovation.鈥�
He stressed that in an age when grads are looking to start businesses earlier in their careers, universities need to development curricular structures that encourage interaction, collaboration and cooperation across units. 鈥淭hat [one great] idea may come from a collaboration between a biologist and a computer scientist, and if they鈥檙e sitting in separate units with big barriers between them, we don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 going to help.鈥�
That interdisciplinary spirit was evident throughout day two of the conference, where Dal was well represented on the session鈥檚 breakout panels. The agriculture panel featured two representatives from Dal鈥檚 Faculty of Agriculture: Sean Myles (Canada Research Chair in Agricultural Genetic Diversity) and Richard Donald (associate dean, external strategic partnership and interim associate dean, Research). And on the oceans panel, Marlon Lewis (chair, Department of Oceanography) and Doug Wallace (Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Science and Technology) engaged in a discussion moderated by Jim Hanlon, CEO of the Halifax Marine Research Institute.
King鈥檚 President George Cooper and Dal President Tom Traves were also part of the proceedings, speaking to delegates on Wednesday afternoon about translating the event鈥檚 discussions into action, and working to answer the questions that Dr. Crago kicked off the event with.
鈥淗ow can we best generate good ideas that meet a need?鈥� she asked. 鈥淎nd how can we get those good ideas to create more value in the market whether it is through goods and service innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation and market innovation?鈥�
The innovation discussion will continue this May at the third installment of the in May, which brings toegether business and academic thought leaders to discuss Atlantic Canada's opportunities in a changing global economy.