Advocacy
The Council of Canadian Innovators exists to optimize the growth of Canada’s innovation-based sector by ensuring Canadian tech and public-policy leaders are working together to improve Canada’s innovation outputs.
Access to Talent
Great Canadian companies need access to great talent to scale-up and compete globally.
Since its very earliest days, the Council of Canadian Innovators has championed of policies like the Global Talent Stream, allowing for international technology professionals to quickly come to Canada and fuel the growth of our homegrown firms.
CCI also engages with post-secondary institutions, allied organizations and governments across Canada to ensure that education and skills development is aligned with labour market needs in the innovation economy.
Stock options are crucial tools for attracting and retaining top talent in the tech industry. CCI is a vocal advocate for favourable stock option policies, ensuring that high-growth Canadian tech companies can offer competitive packages to the world's best talent and solidify Canada's reputation as a prime destination for tech professionals.
We encourage policymakers at all levels to remember that innovation is first and foremost the product of human ingenuity, and the best talent is the key factor in globally competitive companies, and economies.
Access to Capital
Growth capital is a core ingredient of scale-up technology companies, and it can be the key factor in whether a promising Canadian innovator is able to maintain their momentum and reach their full potential.
When a company is in its scale-up phase, that’s when governments can see the greatest possible return on investment. CCI advocates for governments to improve non-dilutive sources of capital for high-potential firms on competitive terms.
CCI’s longtime advocacy has focused on streamlining the tax credit criteria to make it more predictable and simpler for firms to navigate, as well as expanding the scope of SR&ED to cover key elements of the technology commercialization process.
Recognizing the paramount importance of research and development, CCI actively champions government programs focused on technology commercialization. We work to ensure that Canadian innovators have the financial support they need to break new ground, and do the necessary work to turn research into innovative commercial products.
CCI has also supported venture capital investment programs, including the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, which makes more growth capital available to Canadian firms through private funds.
Access to Customers
Scale-up companies are, by definition, revenue generating firms that have found product-market fit for their innovations, and they are in a rapid growth phase. Governments can play a role in propelling that momentum and ensuring that our most promising technology companies achieve their full potential.
Procurement is the most powerful economic development tool available to the government, and if used strategically, it can not only fulfill public sector needs with cutting-edge solutions, but it can also stimulate key sectors and help drive growth.
Domestic procurement strategies can have a dramatic multiplier effect on the capital invested into the innovation ecosystem. A purchase order from the government is worth vastly more than an equivalent-sized economic development grant. This is because a government contract is an important validator for business, attracts more private capital investment, and allows the business to scale-up.
CCI also advocates for trade agreements that put Canadian companies on a level playing field with their global competitors, allowing for innovative companies to sell internationally and drive prosperity here in Canada.
Marketplace Frameworks
Regulatory structures are a key factor in the landscape of the innovation economy. Intellectual property law, global standards and data regulations shape a company’s freedom-to-operate. Freedom-to-operate is one of the most important factors for national success in the innovation economy. If Canadian companies are boxed out of global competition by IP rules or unfair trade agreements, all other efforts to support the domestic technology sector will be hampered.
CCI advocates for clear and interoperable regulatory frameworks and policies which put Canada’s scale-up firms on a level playing field with their global competitors.
Sectoral Strategies
Innovation doesn’t just happen in an app on your phone. CCI works on behalf of our members in a range of sectors, to ensure that policymakers are supporting innovative growth in every corner of the Canadian economy. Our work includes policy advocacy in: