Charles’s favourite readings from 2022
I read about science, technology and innovation policy every day. There’s too much to read out there but here are my favorite articles from 2022.
Are science and innovation getting harder? This Twitter thread makes a good summary about the causes, but these two articles go deeper on the issue around innovation and science
Are you working on industrial strategies? The OECD put out this great paper on the archetypes of industrial strategies. I think it’s missing some ideas like who much government versus market control they have but still very useful
Speaking of the OECD, they did another fantastic paper regarding two important topics (1) the policy mix countries use to help scale companies; and (2) the policy mix countries have to help companies use data for economic benefit
I find policies promoting the economic use of data very compelling. The EU has nine data spaces to do just this. Their health data space has lots of exciting elements outlined here. I am looking forward to seeing the outlines for the rest!
Data privacy is always a hot topic, and this paper on the effects of GDPR regarding compliances costs and reductions in sales is really interesting
I also really liked this paper from the former ISED Minister Navdeep Bains and his DM counterpart John Knubley regarding a more strategic innovation strategy for Canada — what we’re getting right and where we could improve upon as we build back from COVID
ITIF has spoken about industrial strategies a lot this year too in the American context. This paper was my favorite from them, which outlines why a strategic industry policy is important and what one would look like
ITIF also writes a lot about the importance of advanced industries. This helpful index compares Canada and 9 other countries’s advanced industries
This paper focusing on the UK shows more quantitative evidence for how specific industries contribute to productivity growth/decline
While the original paper was 2021, this New Zealand take on the housing theory of everything introduced me to it this year… I find it hard to describe why housing is an innovation policy issue, and this paper really helped me articulate this better
There’s been lots of important EDI work this year too. This paper has really concrete recommendations for Indigenous economic reconciliation in Canada, which I think policymakers from across government can learn from
This sad statistic that women researchers receive fewer academic credits on published articles is a reminder how much more needs to change within academia
And then this book regarding the struggles of men/boys when it comes to education, work and family provides a good reminder that gender policy needs to be more expansive than how we approach it today
This paper provides new evidence about how insanely high share buybacks and dividends have become — representing 96% of net income for fortune 500 companies from 2012–21… Shocking!
Finally, I am excited to see the development of AI this year — whether it’s DALL-E generated Dany Devito Beanie Babies or GPT-3 helping kids cheat on homework. These two articles from Axios and the Atlantic go into some of these developments.
Happy reading!
