How Canada can become an innovation superpower
Israel is an economic miracle. As Dan Senor and Saul Singer put it in their acclaimed international best seller, Start-Up Nation:
How is it that Israel — a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources — produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the United Kingdom?
Senor and Singer wrote the book — literally — on how Israel did it. Start-Up Nation remains a timely read for any serious entrepreneur, economist, or public policy maker — in Israel, Canada, and beyond.
So what can Canadian governments and innovators learn from Israel? Answering that question — and showing our policy makers the answer — is a key part of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affair’s (CIJA) work on the innovation file.
That work started earlier this spring when CIJA answered Minister Navdeep Bains’ April 14th call for the non-profit sector to contribute to Canada’s Innovation Agenda. Our goal is to initiate a discussion on what Canada can learn from Israel, the “start-up” nation.
The perception that Israel’s exceptional culture of innovation is entirely due to organic characteristics inherent only to Israel ignores the reality that Israel’s rapid rise as a model of innovation is largely a result of early, ongoing and extensive involvement by government. Our briefing to Minister Bains touches on policies, initiatives and legislation that offer best practices for consideration as components for Canada’s Innovation Agenda.
In addition to communicating to government, we believe it’s vital that people like you — the innovators and entrepreneurs of Canada — also know the lessons we can learn from Israel. Our goal is to encourage you to join the conversation and help Canada growth hack a renewed and intensified focus on innovation. That’s why we’ve made our ebook available to you for free.
If you want to learn more, or if you’d like to get involved in our work, please reach out to CIJA’s Matt Godwin.
