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Innovation Policy

Innovation Policy is a branch of the Transportation Technology and Innovation Directorate at Transport Canada. It serves as the department's focal point for monitoring and providing policy advice on developments, trends and initiatives related to transportation innovation. In this role, the branch undertakes research and analysis on issues facing the sector, and participates in the development of policy frameworks aligned to Transport Canada's strategic objectives and the federal government's priorities for innovation.

Innovation Policy works to advance transportation innovation by identifying opportunities for innovative research to address sector challenges; establishing research and technology partnerships with industry, academia, other federal departments and other governments; advancing the dissemination of research, knowledge and intelligence; and encouraging skills capacity for an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

Innovation Policy and Transportation

The Government of Canada is increasingly focused on innovation as a means of improving competitiveness and productivity. In this broad policy context, Transport Canada is looking at ways to promote innovation in Canadian transportation. The department's leadership role as a knowledge broker and convenor/catalyst helps to advance innovative best practices, improved technology applications and enhanced sector research capacity.

Innovation is a significant factor in addressing transportation challenges, including: infrastructure degradation, congestion, volatile energy prices, environmental concerns, climate change impacts and changing demographics. In addition, innovation is key to driving the next generation of sector productivity gains and improving system performance.

The term "innovation" is defined in the broadest sense and refers to not only new and emerging technologies, but also new or better ways of using existing technologies. Equally important to innovation are research and development (R&D), business practices, policies and regulatory approaches, and skills and capacity building.

Innovation has always been a driving force to create jobs and maximize economic and social benefits, but in today’s knowledge-based economy, the importance of innovation has increased dramatically. Not only does innovation lead to increased productivity and long-term growth, it also lends resilience to industrial sectors through increased flexibility for both anticipated and unforeseen market changes.

Date modified:

2010-11-05

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