How to Strengthen Canada’s Knowledge Based EconomyPart-1) Introduction
Canada has been in a relatively comfortable position, having reasonable economic activities and a good standard of living thanks to its abundant natural resources. But more recently strong global competition in the critical natural resources sector, along with boom-and-bust cycles, have raised challenges for Canada's economy. We have had very little economic diversification; Investment in R&D has not been translated to improved productivity; The country faces increasing environmental concerns especially for its approaches to natural resources extraction and utilization. These factors call into question the sustainability of the current Canadian model of wealth creation and social advancement, and with it the future of the country. Canada needs to make a bold move for creating a sustainable economy and a social well-being for its population by:
Canada has two types of assets for wealth /job creation and social advancement: natural resources and knowledge/creativity of peoples. The first one depletes as it is used but the second one would improve the more it is utilized. It is a much smarter strategy to increase innovation based part of economy by using the creativity of Canadian. This will enable not only sustainable economy but also more jobs/wealth and social advancement and better environment conditions for Canadians. This way of strengthening Canada’s knowledge based economy is urgently needed. In next parts of this posting, we will discuss how these changes can be implemented. |