Innovation by any other name would smell as sweet

In my regular Globe (ROB) column that appeared on 30 Sept. I delight in pointing out the absurdities of most government “innovation” policies. Governments cannot create new ideas by fiat, so they really have two main strategies. One is to support institutions where innovation might occur (e.g. universities, institute of technology, NRC labs, etc.). The trouble with this strategy is that it is vulnerable to capture by politics and rapidly becomes watered down to a general transfer rather than anything genuinely linked to real innovation. The other approach is an incentives strategy that doesn’t attempt to pick winners but rather allows people who develop winners to capture a major share of the economic value created, through the tax system, protection of intellectual property, etc. There is lots in this latter agenda that remains undone, yet it is likely to be the approach that produces the most innovation.