Canada not doing enough to support startups: report
Canada will miss out on opportunities that come with a growing digital economy if it doesn’t do more to help its burgeoning startups scale-up into multi-million dollar global companies.
That’s one of several conclusions reached by David A. Wolfe, co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, in a report published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
In the report, A Digital Strategy for Canada: The Current Challenge, Wolfe says Canadian governments and policy makers should do more to “assist companies that have demonstrated commercial potential to grow to a scale that helps them succeed in the global marketplace.”
“The reality is that, although Canadian entrepreneurs have developed exciting ideas and started innovative businesses, they lack the focused support they need from the government to expand these ventures on a global scale,” Wolfe notes in the paper.
“A steady flow of startups will not sustain momentum if these ventures cannot be transformed into successful global businesses. Without producing real results on this front, Canada will miss out on some of the most important opportunities.”
According to Wolfe, Canada has not focused on helping startup firms grow to a global scale and the government needs to recognize the challenges facing those companies looking to expand globally. He called on the federal and provincial governments to undertake a review of how startup firms – such as ones that have already achieved $10 million in revenues – can grow to a minimum of $100 million in revenues
“The review should consider the critical challenges facing these firms,” the report says, including expanding revenue, accessing global markets, recruitment and retraining, keeping talent in Canada and “ensuring adequate access to patient, long-term capital, not just startup venture capital.”
Overall, Wolfe concludes that Canada’s ability to be a leader in the digital economy “will depend on how effectively governments and policy-makers support Canadian firms in navigating these fast-developing challenges.”
Wolfe says any strategy brought forward by policy makers should have three goals: to promote rapid adoption of digital technologies across all sectors of the digital economy, assist companies that have the potential to scale-up globally and support companies that can bring “disruptive products and services” to markets around the world.
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