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For the time being Canada has a real advantage in attracting labor. It won't last forever though. The real problem facing Canada is a lack of coherent, fact-ba
by jgmjgm 9y ago
For the time being Canada has a real advantage in attracting labor. It won't last forever though.
The real problem facing Canada is a lack of coherent, fact-based innovation policy. We have an innovation tax credit that is proven to be the most inefficient in the developed world. Companies love it because they get free cash (the program is also known as the "free money" program). As someone who has worked in tech in Canada I have never, ever heard anyone say that the credits made research possible. This is work that was going to happen anyway.
I recently heard Perrin Beatty from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce speak. He argued that the government should no longer conduct long-term pure research but should switch to improving incremental innovations because that what companies need. Mr Beatty, a life long politician who inherited his wealth, made it clear that he doesn't have a clue about industrial R&D or the incentives underlying the different players. (Obviously, I've chosen a side in this debate...)
As a Canadian this upsets me because there is a long history of poor government investments, and putting political agendas ahead of economic ones. I have a feeling that in four or five years the current feel-good story will end with a lot of money spent but not a lot of actual money made. Or, more typically, Canadian mid-sized tech companies sold to foreign buyers.
In short, there are many things governments do very well here. Industrial policy does not seem to be one of them.
- throw940427 9y agoI work for an e-commerce company in Canada. Essentially a glorified custom shopify site. I watched a guy write a time sheet that said how many hours he spent on "R&D" by coding ruby on rails. I think this is the program you're talking about. I forget how many thousands of dollars we got for that piece of paper. It wasn't that much, but still outrageous.
- nick_ 9y agoYep I've only seen misuse of the SR&ED program, assuming that's the program you're talking about.
- jgmjgm 9y agoYes, it is. I have a contact that does consulting for one of the big accounting firms. SR&ED credits are their bread and butter. A large part of his job is to figure out how to get more companies to qualify as doing R&D. Doing R&D to bake better bread? Check! Trying to make a better newsletter online? Check! (Not kidding!) Look for your local SR&ED consultants and see if you can get a map of where they are located. Then tell me this program isn't a huge waste of money. There are a lot of people employed in the job of making companies look like they are innovative... Don't even get me started on these tech hubs. Yes, they are important but they have a vested interest in getting companies through them. To date, there are very few statistics on dollar value invested and actual returns. i.e. there is no hard data supporting these hubs aside from anecdotal evidence. Lots of public money gets invested in them though.