First of all, the data show that business is the weak link in our innovation. That might be surprising. We are praised for our investment in knowledge industries. But business itself is not keeping up with the business productivity of other countries.
Why is it not happening? In my experience, it is not happening at the board level because boards of directors themselves are not properly tuned in to the immense value of intellectual property. Intellectual property is now easily between 70% and 80% of the saleable assets of most modern corporations, even corporations not in the business of creativity. Yet because it's invisible, as our first questioner asked, it's hard for boards to get around it.
Here's what's straightforward to do: put it on the agendas of boards of directors colleges. It's not on the Rotman agenda, and it's not on the McMaster agenda. It's not on the governance guidelines of the TSX or of the securities regulators in each of the provinces.
You get what you measure. You tell people this is what the performance metrics are, and that's what you will get back. It's as simple as that. It's worked for businesses ever since they discovered that mantra.