It's people who innovate: The right mix of innovation skills can turn capital and technology into business success

Innovation skills and tools to be highlighted at upcoming Business Innovation Summit

OTTAWA, April 14, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada's poor record of business innovation continues to hamper our country's competitiveness. A new Conference Board of Canada report, Skills for Business Innovation Success: It's People Who Innovate, highlights research, tools, industry perspectives, and strategies to bolster firm-level innovation in Canada through skills.

Firms consistently rank employee skills among the top four factors necessary for innovation success. Conversely, a lack of skills is frequently cited as an obstacle to firm-level innovation.

"Skills shortages and mismatches are not the only factors affecting Canada's weak innovation performance. Financing, using technology, and expanding into new markets are all essential to firm-level innovation. Each of these factors depends on skilled people. The right combination of skills, attitudes and behaviours in individuals and teams is critical to innovation and commercialization success," said Douglas Watt, Director, Industry and Business Strategy. "Canada needs to do more to develop, nurture and leverage innovation skills within people and within organizational cultures."

The Conference Board will highlight this report along with its other innovation work at the Business Innovation Summit 2014: Accelerating Corporate Innovation and Commercialization, on May 28 and 29 in Toronto.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Firms consistently rank skills among the top four factors necessary for innovation success.
• Canadian businesses often fail to commercialize their ideas and bring products and services to market.
• More education and training is needed to build innovation and commercialization skills. 

This latest report identifies the key skills that individuals and teams need to contribute to firm-level innovation. The Innovation Skills Profile 2.0 features four major innovation skill sets: creativity, risk-taking, relationship-building and implementation skills.

Canadian businesses often fail to commercialize their innovations. The skill sets needed to bring a new or improved product, process, or service to market and maximize its value are highlighted in the Commercialization Skills Profile: business management, capital-raising, collaboration, and sales and marketing skills.

In addition, the report highlights how education and training for skills development lays the critical groundwork for innovation by both individuals and companies. Canadian universities, colleges, and polytechnics play an important role in developing skills for innovation success through teaching, basic and applied research, experiential learning, and entrepreneurial studies.

This research was funded by the Council of Ontario Universities and the Conference Board's Centre for Business Innovation. Launched in 2012, the Centre for Business Innovation is a five-year initiative to help bring about major improvements in firm-level business innovation in Canada.

SOURCE: Conference Board of Canada

William Logan, Media Relations, Tel.: [phone] ext. 437
E-mail: [email protected]