The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) today released a report that summarizes a few key early results of the federal government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI).
Budget 2017 earmarked $918 million over five years for the Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI) to spur the creation of five “superclusters” across Canada, where the public and private sectors undertake collaborative research. The Government projects that this initiative will lead to the creation of 50,000 jobs, increase GDP by $50 billion over 10 years, and accelerate innovation.
“Based on an analysis of the Government data, the rate of project selection and implementation will need to materially increase to achieve planned timelines,” says Yves Giroux, PBO.
The PBO estimates that, in addition to the 45 projects that have been announced thus far, 355 new projects would need to be completed to meet the Government’s spending objective of $918 million by 2022-2023.
“We estimate that, if supercluster partners spend all the money that has been announced, roughly 27,000 direct jobs would be created as a result,” adds Mr. Giroux. “Based on the evidence and spending to date, it also seems highly unlikely that the Government will meet its objective of increasing GDP by $50 billion over 10 years.”
The report The Innovation Superclusters Initiative – A Preliminary Analysis can be found by visiting our website.
