A POLICY AGENDA FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY - David Wolfe - INNOVATION POLICY LAB WORKING PAPER SERIES 2016-02

While the current era of information technology began in the 1970s with the invention and rapid diffusion of the microprocessor, the development of optical fiber, and the simultaneous digitization of telecommunications with the introduction of the first digital switches, the full effects of the digital economy was not felt until the mid-1990s when the introduction and rapid adoption of the Interne. [...] Previous generations of federal innovation policy, from the failed experiment with Microsystems International in the 1960s to the more successful example of the Microelectronics and Systems Development Program of the 1980s (among other initiatives of that period) contributed directly and indirectly to stimulating the growth of some of Canada's most successful information technology firms that, in. [...] The recent demise of Nortel, the buyout of key telecom firms like JDS Uniphase and Newbridge Networks and the substantial downsizing of RIM/Blackberry all point to the challenges of growing and sustaining indigenous Canadian firms in the digital economy. [...] A recent policy report from the Connect Innovation Institute at the University of California San Diego drew attention to the central role played by the manufacturing sector in A POLICY AGENDA FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY PAGE | 15 process and incremental innovation and the long-term implications of a decline in the sector’s ability to innovate. [...] The NNMI model, in particular and the new institutes it is establishing have significant bearing for the competitive standing in a range of technologies and industries in the manufacturing sector of the Canadian economy.