Building Technology Clusters

		ICT/Life Sciences Converging Technologies Cluster Study
		This report is a Comparative Study of the Information and Communications, Life Sciences, and Converging Next Generation Technology Clusters in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.
		Produced in partnership between Industry Canada, National Research Council, the Canadian Biotechnology Secretariat and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
		Introduction
		Executive Summary

The growing international wave of innovation driven at the local level is based on public and private sector teamwork, partnerships and networks. Canada, given its vast geography, relatively small and dispersed population, and the predominance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), has taken a collaborative approach in building community innovation over the past decade.

With its world-class R&D, its renowned Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) to provide technology advice and support to SMEs, and its Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI) as a national information resource, NRC plays a leading, dynamic role in many Canadian communities, helping to increase their capacity in key technology fields through jointly developed innovation strategies.

Increasingly, innovation has taken the form of community-based "technology clusters", a term that describes the growth of a significant concentration of innovative companies around a nucleus of R&D facilities. In recent years, NRC's research institutes have become central hubs for dynamic technology clusters from coast to coast.

NRC's cluster development efforts serve four strategic national goals:

• Create a globally competitive research and technology base for cluster development at the community level
• Support community leadership, champions and knowledge-based strategies
• Work with stakeholders to leverage funding and new investment in community clusters
• Stimulate the emergence of new firms, jobs, exports and investment growth