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Ontario’s RIN Dares Venture Where More TBED Must

December 19, 2007

By creating Ontario’s Regional Innovation Networks (ORIN) three years ago, the provincial government experimented with how to establish customized systems-specific, but network-integrated approaches to strengthening and supporting regional innovation. The early successes of the 12 Regional Innovation Networks (RIN) scattered across the vast province are described in a November report, The Critical Role of Regional Innovation Networks in Ontario’s Economy, and the result of the $13 million initiative of the Ontario Minstry of Economic Development is a potential model for other states and provinces to consider.



A longer explanation is required, however, to substantiate that conclusion.

 

First is to identify the problem of plenty. One now can walk into nearly every major city in the U.S. or Canada and find a vast collection of organizations, programs and tools designed to support employment growth and business competitiveness.

 

While most may be serving particular audiences well, there is ample opportunity for duplication of services, rivalry and competition for limited financial support from sponsors or public agencies. Additionally, potential clients can become confused or discouraged navigating the alphabet soup of TBED and economic development agencies.

 

The problems can become exacerbated by competition among neighboring cities, suburbs vs. central cities, rural areas vs. metro areas, and state vs. state. As each reader knows, these artificial political boundaries have little to do with how we live our lives. We easily drive across these barriers to partnership for economic growth to go to work, do our shopping and enjoy recreational opportunities.

 

Second is the need to redefine and focus on collaborating regions. Knowledge and innovation are even more immune to the petty designs of our antiquated political system of townships, counties and even cities. Research has shown that the economic benefits of a particular business or university, as well as the knowledge generated within these institutions, spills over into the surrounding region. While the World Wide Web may eventually minimize the localized effect of spillovers, the ORIN project demonstrates regions – specifically learning regions that display some competence or record at innovation – should be the unit of study and strategy for state and provincial TBED efforts.

 

The Critical Role of RINs points out regionalism, alone, is not a panacea. The ORIN project grew out of the findings from a series of regional cluster studies conducted across Ontario in 2003-2004. The paper points out the studies found “extreme program, policy, and communication silos among regional institutions and government offices of economic development and business attraction. The result was a disconnected and in some cases competitive business support infrastructure incapable of growing the provincial economy or promoting innovation.”

 

The challenge for the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development was to break through the silos and improve province-wide accessibility to the resources already in place to support commercialization and innovation.

 

Third is to establish a systems approach to TBED. The solution is a systems approach toward a specific goal – in Ontario’s case, commercialization and innovation support – that can be adapted to the unique qualities of each particular region’s opportunities and weakness, yet integrated to draw on the strength of the larger network.  

 

The concept of a regional innovation system is based on the idea that the innovation capacity of people within a specific geographic area is dependent on the presence and health of all of the elements necessary to foster, nurture and sustain:

  • A yearning for investigation and a wonder for discovery;
  • A respect for experimentation and failure;
  • The opportunity to succeed commercially, and,
  • The willingness to challenge and if necessary overturn established practices and products.

For Ontario, based on the case studies from the first two years of operation that are presented in the report, the 12 RINs seem to be working. Initially overly focused on life sciences, the RINs have adapted to the abilities and strengths of each region of Ontario. Collaboration among the RINs and the partners within each RIN appears to be a significant component of their early successes. The network includes 18 universities, 11 colleges, 13 hospitals, 6 research institutes, all of the commercialization branches of regional, provincial and federal governments, hundreds of business support organizations, and thousands of innovation-based companies.

 

From the larger policy perspective, a critical ingredient for the ORIN success may be the substantial carrot the Ministry dangled before the regions to encourage collaboration. The initial investment of $13 million helped draw experienced leadership for each of the RINs – a second critical ingredient for success. A third ingredient was the flexibility in approaches each RIN has been enabled to take along the theme of developing an integrated province-wide commercialization support system. The sectors served vary from alternative energy, nanotechnology and life sciences, to information systems, forestry and mining technologies.

 

The common elements of the RIN agenda, the report highlights, include consistent client focus by:

  • Being connectors of research, business, project and social networks;
  • Helping to co-locate complementary and converging activities physically or virtually; and,
  • Serving as collaborators among entities within and outside the RIN to identify and break down barriers to commercialization and innovation.

ORIN began as a pilot project slated to end in 2008. Like most other geographically based TBED efforts that are achieving societal goals, the RINs model does lend itself well to a market-based revenue stream. As a result, continued financial support from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development is required to sustain and expand the promise shown already from the early results of the ORIN.

 

The Critical Role of Regional Innovation Networks in Ontario’s Economy is available at: http://www.utoronto.ca/onris/research_review/Related/DOCS/RIN2007_ReportMRI.pdf

 

More information on ORIN is available at: http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/english/programs/RIN-Program.asp

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