Strong, Sovereign, Secure: CCI’s Recommendations to Improve Canada’s Economic Security

In response to the Government of Canada’s call for submissions on ways to strengthen Canada’s economic security, the Council of Canadian Innovators has developed a policy brief on behalf of our members.

Canada's economy operates within a global system where managing intangible assets like intellectual property is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge. This intangible economy drives innovation and business success, but Canada risks falling behind without effective strategies to generate and protect its IP. To stay ahead, IP management must be woven into all areas of economic policy, from research to trade agreements.

Canada’s economic security depends on strengthening its industrial capabilities, which means boosting our ability to produce and export advanced goods and services. A decline in this economic complexity threatens our long-term prosperity and weakens our position as a key trade partner and ally. We must take action to modernize our competition policies to counter anti-competitive practices.

Global value chains (GVCs) are now central to the world economy. The pandemic exposed weaknesses in Canada’s supply chains, showing the need for a more secure system. Since supply chains are deeply tied to GVCs, Canada must map, assess, and manage the risks within these networks to protect its standard of living and address security threats.

There are several specific steps that Canada can take to make our economy more resilient within GVCs which are highly dependent on intangible assets.

‍

Recommendations from the Council of Canadian Innovators:

1. Protect Canadian ideas and our capacity to innovate by taking a sovereign, security-informed approach to IP, data, and other intangible assets to maximize freedom to operate.

2. Protect Canada’s global security interests and our economic competitiveness by mapping, assessing, and acting to strengthen our position in GVCs.

3. Protect Canada’s capability to respond to economic and security threats at home with a policy approach that sees our standard of living and trade and technological competitiveness as fundamentally linked.

4. Protect free, open markets in Canada by enhancing competition law enforcement.

Read the full policy brief with further details here.

‍

Media Contact:

Nick Schiavo
Director of Federal Affairs
‍nschiavo@canadianinnovators.org

‍

About the Council of Canadian Innovators

The Council of Canadian Innovators is a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. Established in 2015, CCI represents and works with over 150 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies. Our members are the CEOs, founders, and top senior executives behind some of Canada’s most successful ‘scale-up’ companies. All our members are job and wealth creators, investors, philanthropists, and experts in their fields of health tech, cleantech, fintech, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation. Companies in our portfolio are market leaders in their verticals, commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, and generate between $10M-$750M in annual recurring revenue. We advocate on their behalf for government strategies that increase their access to skilled talent, strategic capital, and new customers, as well as expanded freedom to operate for their global pursuits of scale.