Bridging Canadian Technology SMEs Over the Valley of Death

1 The author holds the Canada Research Chair on the Management of Technology in the Department of Manage- ment and Technology at the Université du Québec à Montréal. [...] A large part Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), the of the problem seems to be linked to the coun- National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the try’s limited capacity to grow these new technol- National Science Foundation (NSF). [...] Other The report correctly points out that the pub- similar programs include the Advanced Tech- lic policy environment for innovation in Canada nology Research Program (ATP) (Wessner, consists mainly of the Scientific Research and 2001) and the Small Business Technology Trans- Experimental Development Tax Incentive. [...] The last surge of such policies, mostly oriented to Fund Starvation stimulate university R&D, took place around I suggest that the major factor behind the the year 2000, with the launching of the Cana- poor growth performance of Canadian new dian Foundation for Innovation, Genome technology-based firms is fund starvation. [...] after the technology bubble, governments The solution may be the renewed engagement have reduced their investment in these key of Canada’s federal and provincial governments business areas, and the private sector has been in the backing of new technology-based firms.