Message from the President

Reading a recent article helped me gain a new perspective on the term “innovation”.  The article was a commentary written for the Globe and Mail by Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and chair of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity.

Dean Martin draws a fine distinction between innovation and invention. He notes that invention relates to creations or discoveries that are entirely new, and are often driven by the inventor’s curiosity or expertise. He also makes the point that “inventions may not have any real use.”

He goes on to suggest that “innovation is customer-driven, providing a new product or process that adds value to somebody’s life. Innovations improve economic or social well-being.”

I believe that Dean Martin’s thoughts are right in line with the way we approach innovative municipal infrastructure at Communities of Tomorrow. When we examine the technologies and concepts that come to us, we always ask the question: “who will benefit from this?” Taking that approach keeps us focused on supporting work that has potential to demonstrate real benefits in terms of creating infrastructure products and services that satisfy the needs of the primary customer - municipalities.

Keeping our focus on the end-user is the reason we recently launched the Communities of Tomorrow Municipal Infrastructure Innovation Fund, to support projects that have clearly demonstrated potential to serve the needs of municipalities, and to create new economic activity in Saskatchewan. You will find more detail about the fund in this month’s e-newsletter.

Returning to Roger Martin’s article - I was particularly struck by one of his recommendations for public policy to encourage innovation. He calls for “designing innovative educational programs connecting inventors who care about innovation with business people wanting to transform inventions into consumer-relevant innovations.”

I think that neatly describes a great deal of our work in building networks between municipalities, companies, and researchers in Saskatchewan. We continue to strive to bring together those with the ideas and products, those that need them, and the resources to make them a reality.

I encourage you to read Roger Martin’s entire article. It is available online at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/its-innovation-that-matters/article1599801/ .