How Innovative are Canadian Firms Compared to Some European Firms? A Comparative Look at Innovation Surveys

This paper investigates the comparability of the 1999 Canadian Survey of Innovation with the European Community Innovation Surveys for 1997/1998 (CIS2). Four European countries are compared to Canada: France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. Differences in terms of design and implementation of the survey and formulation of the questionnaire are pointed out. Proposals are made to harmonize the two datatsets and make them comparable as much as possible. Different innovation indicators -- percentage of innovators, sale of innovative products – show different results across countries. Canada leads the pack by far if we consider the percentage of innovating firms in the respective country samples, however it ranks last if we consider the share in sales of innovative products. Canada, Germany and Ireland seem to be relatively similar regarding the percentage of first-innovators (a narrower definition of innovation). France and Spain lag behind in this regard but seem to have a high intensity of first-innovators among the innovators. Results also show some common trends for all countries studied. Firms in high-tech sectors are more frequently innovative and reach a greater share of revenue from innovation than firms in other sectors. Large firms are more often innovative but size is not always a good predictor for the percentage of revenue from innovation.economics of technology ;

Comparing the Innovation Performance in Canadian, French and German Manufacturing Enterprises

This paper compares pairwise the innovation performance of Canada with France and Germany, respectively. The comparison is based on two ordered probit models with sample selection, one where innovation is measured by the introduction of new-to-the firm products and one where it is measured by the introduction of new-to-the market products. The econometric analysis attempts to explain part of the country differences as the result of the sectoral composition of output, and the effects of size, environment conditions (proximity to basic research and competition) and innovation activities (internal R&D, the number of innovation activities, cooperation and government support). The Canadian firms benefit from being larger and more numerous in receiving government support, but suffer from a lack of competition and internal R&D. These structural effects combined, while informative, are not enough to explain a lot of the basic pattern of innovation revealed by the raw data. If we take the stronger measure of first-to-market innovation as a yardstick of innovation, the observed pairwise country differences are less strong, and our model explains a little bit more of the observed differences. Cette étude compare les performances d’innovation entre le Canada et la France d’une part, et entre le Canada et l’Allemagne d’autre part. La comparaison repose sur deux modèles de probit ordonné avec sélection. Le premier mesure l’innovation par l’introduction sur le marché de produits nouveaux pour la firme, le second par l’introduction de produits nouveaux pour le marché. L’analyse économétrique essaye d’expliquer une partie des différences nationales d’innovation par la composition sectorielle de la production, l’effet taille, les conditions environnementales (proximité de la recherche de base et concurrence) et les activités d’innovation (R-D interne, nombre d’activités innovantes, coopération et support gouvernemental). Les firmes canadiennes tirent avantage de leur plus grande taille et sont plus nombreuses à recevoir du support gouvernemental. Par contre, elles souffrent du manque de concurrence et de R-D interne. Au total, la prise en compte de ces effets structurels est certes révélatrice, mais n’explique qu’une faible partie des différences bilatérales dans les processus d’innovation. La mesure plus forte d’innovation par l’introduction de produits nouveaux pour le marché réduit les différences observées et les explique un peu mieux.innovation, international comparisons, innovation, comparaison internationale

How Innovative Are Canadian Firms Compared to Some European Firms? A Comparative Look at Innovation Surveys

This paper investigates the comparability of the 1999 Canadian Survey of Innovation with the European Community Innovation Surveys for 1997/1998 (CIS2). Four European countries are compared to Canada: France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. Differences in terms of design and implementation of the survey and formulation of the questionnaire are pointed out. Proposals are made to harmonize the two datatsets and make them comparable as much as possible. Different innovation indicators -- percentage of innovators, sale of innovative products show different results across countries. Canada leads the pack by far if we consider the percentage of innovating firms in the respective country samples, however it ranks last if we consider the share in sales of innovative products. Canada, Germany and Ireland seem to be relatively similar regarding the percentage of first-innovators (a narrower definition of innovation). France and Spain lag behind in this regard but seem to have a high intensity of first-innovators among the innovators. Results also show some common trends for all countries studied. Firms in high-tech sectors are more frequently innovative and reach a greater share of revenue from innovation than firms in other sectors. Large firms are more often innovative but size is not always a good predictor for the percentage of revenue from innovation. Cette étude examine à quel point l'enquête innovation canadienne de 1999 et les enquêtes communautaires européennes d'innovation CIS2 de 1997/1998 sont comparables. Quatre pays européens sont comparés au Canada: la France, l'Allemagne, l'Irlande et l'Espagne. Nous faisons ressortir des différences dans la réalisation de l'enquête et la formulation du questionnaire. Nous proposons des façons d'harmoniser les données pour les rendre aussi comparables que possible. Les performances entre pays diffèrent suivant l'indicateur retenu. Le Canada est loin en tête sur base du pourcentage d'innovateurs,0501s se classe en dernière position sur base du chiffre d'affaires en produits innovants. Le Canada est à peu près à égalité avec l'Allemagne et l'Irlande pour ce qui est du pourcentage d'innovateurs dans le sens plus strict d'une première sur le marché. La France et l'Espagne sont moins performantes à cet égard,0501s pas dans la proportion d'innovateurs au sens strict parmi les innnovateurs au sens large. A côté de ces differences se dressent aussi des régularités, telles qu'une plus grande propension à innover dans les enterprises des secteurs high-tech ou de grande taille. La part du chiffre d'affaires en produits innovants est également plus élevée pour les firmes des secteurs de haute technologie0501s pas nécessairement pour les grandes firmes.Innovation, indicators, international comparisons, Innovation, comparaisons internationals, indicateurs

Comparing the Innovation Performance of Canadian Firms and those of Selected European Countries: An Econometric Analysis

This paper follows on Therrien and Mohnen (2001). Here, we compare the innovation performance of manufacturing firms in Canada and four European countries - Germany, France, Ireland, and Spain - on the basis of an econometric model that identifies some of the determinants of the probability to innovate and of the intensity of innovation. We estimate jointly a probit for the incidence of innovation and a censored ordered probit for the intensity of innovation. The analysis is performed on the data from Statistics Canada's 1999 Innovation Survey and Eurostat's second Community Innovation Survey. Due to administrative constraints, data from Europe and Canada cannot be pooled together. From the estimates we compare and disentangle the observed and the expected innovation intensities in Canada and in Europe, using the framework developed by Mairesse and Mohnen (2002). Canada has a higher proportion of innovating firms but a lower share of innovative sales for its innovating firms. From the two effects combined we expect a typical Canadian firm to have a slightly higher share of innovative sales. The effects of firm size, cooperation in innovation, and government support make Canadian firms slightly more innovative than European firms, whereas the sectoral composition of output, the pressure of competition, the scope of innovation activities, and the novelty of innovation confer a slight advantage to Europe. Cette étude fait suite à celle de Therrien et Mohnen (2001). Cette fois-ci, nous comparons les performances en matière d'innovation des entreprises du Canada et de quatre pays européens - l'Allemagne, la France, l'Irlande et l'Espagne - à partir d'un modèle économétrique, où nous identifions quelques-uns des facteurs qui déterminent la probabilité d'innover et l'intensité d'innovation. Nous estimons conjointement un probit pour la probabilité d'innover et un probit ordonné pour l'intensité d'innover. Pour des raisons administratives, nous ne sommes pas en mesure d'empiler les données canadiennes et européennes. Ensuite, nous comparons les probabilités et les intensités d'innover observées et attendues en utilisant le cadre de décomposition développé par Mairesse et Mohnen (2002). Plus d'entreprises innovent au Canada que dans les quatre pays européens, mais parmi celles qui innovent les européennes ont un plus grand chiffre d'affaires en produits innovants. La taille des entreprises, la coopération en innovation et l'aide gouvernementale favorisent l'innovation au Canada, tandis que la composition sectorielle, la pression concurrentielle, le nombre d'activités innovantes et le degré de nouveauté des produits confèrent un léger avantage aux entreprises européennes de notre échantillon.Innovation surveys, innovativeness, international comparison, Enquêtes innovation, innovativité, comparaison internationale

Innovation and Productivity: Summary Results for Canadian Manufacturing Establishments

Lagging innovation performance is seen as a key factor explaining weak productivity growth in Canada. This article uses data from the Canadian Survey of Innovation 2005 and the Annual Survey of Manufactures and Logging (ASML) to estimate an econometric model linking innovation and productivity in manufacturing firms. Our main findings are that firms with higher innovation output (measured by innovation sales per employee, i.e. sales of new and improved products per employee) achieve higher labour productivity, even when size of firm, intensity of human and physical capital, and labour productivity at the beginning of the period are taken into account.

Do Canadian Firms Respond to Fiscal Incentives to Research and Development?

This study examines the effectiveness of R&D tax incentives using an unbalanced panel of 434 Canadian firms. Not all firms in the sample are R&D performers. A B-index summarizing the various tax incentives for R&D is constructed for each firm, taking into account individual ceilings in the use of the relevant tax incentives. A generalized Tobit model with fixed effects is estimated. A one percent increase in the federal tax credit to R&D yields an average of 0.98 additional R&D expenditure per dollar of tax revenues foregone (for firms with a ceiling in their use of federal tax credit). Using the same measure on firms which are not subject to a ceiling, we obtain 1.04. Tax transfers represent more than 80% of the cost of government support to R&D. Cet articleétudie l'effet des incitatifs fiscaux à la R&D à partir d'unéchantillon non cylindré de 434 firmes canadiennes (dont certaines ne font pas de R&D). Avec les données de Compustat, nous estimons un modèle Tobit généralisé (à effet fixe). Ce modèle détermine notamment l'effet du prix effectif de la R&D (indice-B tenant compte des différents plafonds dans l'utilisation des incitatifs fiscaux) sur le stock de la recherche. En augmentant d'un pourcent le crédit d'impôt fédéral à la R&D, nous obtenons en moyenne 0,98 de dépenses additionnelles de R&D par dollar de dépense fiscale (firme ayant un plafond d'utilisation du crédit fédéral). Ce résultat est majoré à 1,04 pour les firmes pouvant utiliser la totalité du crédit fédéral. Le transfert fiscal représente plus de 80 % du coût du soutien à la R&D par le gouvernement.Tax incentives, R&D, generalized Tobit panel, Canada, Incitatifs fiscaux, R&D, modèle Tobit généralisé, Canada

Are feeding preferences of white-tailed deer related to plant constituents?

Controlled feeding experiments can provide valuable insights into food selection of herbivores. We conducted cafeteria trials on captive yearling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) during 2 years to determine feeding preferences in relation to plant chemical constituents, i.e., nitrogen and fibers. We simultaneously offered 8 species of cultivated and wild plants in monthly foraging trials conducted from June to October. We predicted that species preferences would be positively related to protein content from June to August and to digestible energy in September and October. As predicted, crude protein (CP) was positively related to feeding preferences, particularly as summer progressed. Feeding preferences were also negatively related to fiber content, especially in early summer. Our results indicate high protein needs over the complete growing season for yearling deer but a decrease in overall plant selectivity as summer progresses. Our results also suggest that deer browsing on cultivated plants might be due to higher CP content of cultivated plants than wild plants. To prevent deer impact on crops, managers should favor regeneration of plants rich in CP content in forests

L-ornithine-L-aspartate in experimental portal-systemic encephalopathy: therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of action

Strategies aimed at the lowering of blood ammonia remain the treatment of choice in portal-systemic encephalopathy (PSE). L-ornithine-L-aspartate (OA) has recently been shown to be effective in the prevention of ammonia-precipitated coma in humans with PSE. These findings prompted the study of mechanisms of the protective effect of OA in portacaval-shunted rats in which reversible coma was precipitated by ammonium acetate administration (3.85 mmol/kg i.p.). OA infusions (300 mg/kg/h, i.v) offered complete protection in 12/12 animals compared to 0/12 saline-infused controls. This protective effect was accompanied by significant reductions of blood ammonia, concomitant increases of urea production and significant increases in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glutamate and glutamine. Increased CSF concentrations of leucine and alanine also accompanied the protective effect of OA. These findings demonstrate the therapeutic efficacy of OA in the prevention of ammonia-precipitated coma in portacaval-shunted rats and suggest that this protective effect is both peripherally-mediated (increased urea and glutamine synthesis) and centrally-mediated (increased glutamine synthesis)