News That Matters To You

By Mark Lowey
Calgary-based Avatar Innovations bridges the gap between rigid, safety-critical corporate structure and creative agility by training energy industry professionals in both leadership and technology development. The corporate venture studio empowers mid-career professionals to build and deploy workable solutions, from decarbonization in the oil and gas industry to improving electrical grid reliability, while retaining equity in their own innovations.

By Andrew Maxwell
Canada’s persistent productivity lag stems from a cultural preference for research over diffusion and adoption of new technologies, argues Andrew Maxwell of York University. To drive meaningful economic growth, the nation must shift from an invention-focused mindset to a systemic approach that prioritizes continuous improvement, rewards experimentation, develops management capability, and understands the social science of innovation.

By Mark Lowey
Canada has world-class AI research and talent but struggles to translate these advantages into domestic commercial success due to low corporate adoption of AI and procurement hurdles, experts told a Mitacs webinar presented by the Canadian Science Policy Centre. Bridging the gap between research, innovation and industry application, and buying from Canadian AI companies, are essential to retain talent and build a competitive national ecosystem.

By Mark Lowey
Canada’s health care system currently stifles domestic innovation by prioritizing lowest-bidder procurement over economic value to the entire system, experts told Research Money's 25th annual conference. They argue that shifting to a value-based model that rewards both clinical and economic outcomes is essential to fix this fragmented and risk-averse system and retain homegrown medical technology startups.

By Mark Lowey
Canada possesses the world-class research foundation necessary to become a global life sciences powerhouse, but experts told Research Money's 25th annual conference that achieving this requires a bold, unified vision and increased domestic capital. By fostering anchor companies and business leadership, Canada can transform its innovation spark into a sustainable life sciences economic engine that retains talent and intellectual property.

By Andrew Maxwell
Andrew Maxwell of York University argues that modern industrial success relies less on technical invention and more on the ability to integrate new technologies without destabilizing organizations. By treating adoption as a structured decision architecture, leaders can transform manufacturing into a competitive interface and accelerate innovation safely.

By Mark Lowey
Canada's fragmented and disconnected health care system faces a deepening talent crisis and innovation stall due to outdated bureaucracies, little multidisciplinary collaboration and a lack of accountability, industry and network leaders said at Research Money's annual conference. Integrating talent and technology adoption, and humanities and social sciences into training is essential to improving patient-centered care and addressing workforce failures.

By Andrew Maxwell
Canadian manufacturing leaders are operating on an obsolete framework as geopolitical shifts and AI-driven acceleration redefine industrial strategy, says innovation expert Andrew Maxwell at York University. He argues that companies must move beyond mere technology acquisition to adopt a model of organizational re-architecture and adaptive learning to survive in an era of permanent volatility.

By Andrew Maxwell
Canada consistently invents world-class technologies and scientific breakthroughs, only to lose their economic value to foreign companies, due to a structural focus on discovery over adoption. In an ongoing series on innovation, Andrew Maxwell of York University argues that to secure future prosperity, Canada must shift its innovation policy toward controlling downstream value through better institutional design and strategic scale.