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Read about recent releases, updates and new activities in the areas of information and communications technology, and science and technology. 

Information and communications technology
Science and technology

Information and communications technology

WPIIS Notes

The 11^th Session of the OECD Working Party on Indicators for the Information Society (WPIIS) took place in London on May 21, 2007. A significant part of the session was devoted to the upcoming 2008 OECD Ministerial meeting “The Future of the Internet Economy” to be held in Seoul, Korea, 17-18 June 2008. http://www.oecd.org/document/19/0,3343,en_2649_33757_38051667_1_1_1_1,00.html

The WPIIS agreed that its main contributions to the Ministerial meeting would be a statistical compendium of relevant indicators currently available for OECD and non-OECD countries, an assessment of the most important data gaps in this domain and suggestions for future indicator development and analytical studies.

The agenda also addressed a variety of topics including the development of ICT related definitions and classifications http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/49/17/38217340.pdf, measuring security and trust in the online environment, measuring user generated content on the web, assessing the impact of ICTs with official statistics and new indicators of e-business and e-government deployment and use. It is expected that final versions of selected documents discussed at the meeting will be released on the OECD web site late in 2007, including:

• Using official statistics to measure the impact of ICT  [DSTI/ICCP/IIS(2007)1];
• Security and Trust in an online environment, DSTI/ICCP/IIS(2007)4;
• Measuring user created content, DSTI/ICCP/IIS(2007)3.

Workshop on the economic and social impacts of broadband communications, London, May 22, 2007

The workshop “Economic and Social Impacts of Broadband Communications: from Measurement to Policy Implications” was attended by academics, policy analysts and statisticians.

The morning session focused on reviewing recent evidence and ongoing work examining the impact of broadband on productivity and economic performance. The afternoon session first focused on ICT-enabled changes in production location and impacts on employment. This was followed by a review of the impacts of broadband roll-out on digital content, households and time-use, and on e-inclusion.

The workshop agenda, selected papers and presentations are available at this address:
http://www.oecd.org/document/48/0,3343,en_2649_33757_38697712_1_1_1_1,00.html

The outcomes of this workshop will feed into the Working Party on the Information Economy (WPIE) contributions to the 2008 Ministerial.

Upcoming events

OECD week in Ottawa, October 1-5, 2007:
October 1-2: Meeting of the Working Party on Information Security and Privacy
(WPISP)
October 3: Technology Foresight Forum on the Participative Web (http://www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_21571361_38620013_38620440_1_1_1_1,00.html)
October 4-5: ICCP (Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy) Meeting—Mid-term review

WPIE meeting
December 5 and 6, 2007, Paris

ICCP meeting
March 13-14, 2008, Seoul.  Approval of final deliverables for the Ministerial

WPIIS meeting:
April 29-30, 2008 in Paris

Information Society research and analysis

Over the last year, several studies have been conducted on the factors associated with Internet use, based on data from the 2005 Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS):

A paper entitled ‘Factors associated with Internet use: Does rurality matter?' was released in the Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin (Catalogue no. 21-006, Vol. 7, no. 3) on September 13, 2007.

A second paper ‘A new benchmark for Internet use: A logistic modeling of factors influencing Internet use in Canada, 2005' will be published in the Government Information Quarterly (Vol. 24, no. 4).

‘Connecting Canadians: Use of the Internet for government on-line', is set to be published in the Connectedness Series (Catalogue no. 56F0004MIE, no. 15), Fall 2007.

Other planned releases include a study on the use of the Internet for learning (Education Matters, Catalogue no. 81-004), as well as a detailed gender analysis of Internet use (Connectedness Series, Catalogue no. 56F0004MIE).

Telecommunications and broadcasting

Annual Survey of Telecommunications Service Providers
The 2005 data will be released in The Daily in the fall 2007. 

Quarterly Survey of Telecommunications Service Providers
Selected statistics on telecommunications services industries for the third and fourth quarters of 2006 were released on March 5, 2007 and May 14, 2007.  The next release is planned for the first quarter of 2008 and will cover the first two quarters of 2007. The release will be based on a redesigned survey.

Annual Surveys of the Radio, Television and Cable Industries
The 2006 statistics for the television and radio industries were released on July 4, 2007 and August 8, 2007. In both cases the release was accompanied by a new and more detailed publication, that is, ‘Television Broadcasting Industries, 2006' (56-207-XWE, free) and ‘Radio Broadcasting Industry, 2006' (56-208-XWE, free).

The processing of 2006 data for program distribution industries is on-going and the next release is planned for October, 2007.

Canadian Internet Use Survey
The 2007 CIUS will be conducted in October and November 2007, with findings released in two stages: Internet use in the spring 2008 and electronic commerce in the fall 2008.

Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology
The 2007 Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology is currently underway.  Collection will take place over the winter and results are expected in the spring 2008.

Science and technology

NESTI Notes

The 2007 meeting of the OECD's Working Party of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI) was held in Paris, June 11th and 12th.  There were over 110 participants from 32 countries, as well as a number of international organizations. For the first time, the meeting welcomed delegates from Chile and the participation of NEPAD (New Programme for African Development).

After six years as the Chair of NESTI, Dr. Fred Gault (Canada) will step down to allow rotation in the leadership of this challenging group. While this was Fred's last meeting as the NESTI Chair, he will continue to be involved in the preparation of the 2008 meeting.

Implications of Blue Sky Forum for NESTI agenda
The main messages from the Blue Sky II conference held in Ottawa (September 2006) were discussed, as well as the decision at the May OECD Ministerial to adopt and implement an Innovation Strategy along the lines of the OECD Job Strategy.

There was support for existing work and the improvement of methodological guidelines in the areas of science, technology and innovation, as well as for engaging in analytical activities, such as the exploitation of micro-data sources to conduct impact analysis. The need for initiatives to promote a closer collaboration with policy groups (such as the joint NESTI-TIP workshop) was stressed. Resources, human and financial were a recurring issue, which raised the need for priority setting, especially in light of the potential burden of the Innovation Strategy on NESTI's work programme. www.oecd.org/sti/blueskyconference.

Innovation
An update of the joint NESTI-WPIA project on exploiting innovation survey micro-data to develop policy relevant indicators and carry out empirical analysis was presented. The four analytical topics on which teams of researchers are working are: (1) innovation and productivity (led by Norway); (2) international channels of knowledge transfer (led by Belgium); (3) technological and non-technological innovation (led by the UK); and (4) innovation and IPRs (led by France).

Results of this work will be presented at a technical workshop on November 13, 2007, followed by a one-day policy oriented conference on November 14. Reports will be published in 2008 and a possible second phase for this work is already being discussed. 

The work on the patent Manual is proceeding well and NESTI delegates were invited to get directly involved in its review. A survey of the use of patents by businesses is being coordinated. The survey is run by the European Patent Office in EU countries and by Tokyo University in Japan.

Human resources in science and technology (HRST)
A building-blocks approach to the development of HRST measurement guidelines was discussed, as well as initial proposals for two work modules: one on researchers and post-docs and one on exploiting the potential of existing surveys and administrative data to analyze the role of human S&T resources in innovation and economic performance. There is general support for a building-blocks approach to developing indicators and methodological guidelines in this area, as well as a wish to see a conceptual framework developed into which these blocks would fit.

There was also support for new projects, but limited commitment due to a lack of resources. With the exception of Russia and Belgium, most interventions supported efforts on the exploitation of existing data rather than developing new surveys. It was proposed that an inventory of HRST measurement practices and data sources could be useful to identify gaps and help set priorities. The US National Science Foundation offered resources to compile such an inventory.

Biotechnology statistics
The template for a regular biennial collection of biotechnology statistics was presented. The template was well received and delegates look forward to the publication of a new OECD Biotechnology Statisticsin 2008/09. In view of the recent methodological developments in biotech, as witnessed by the results of the December 2006 Biotech impacts workshop, NESTI approved a proposal for a 2008 meeting of the Ad Hoc group on Biotechnology Statistics.

Nanotechnology measurement
An OECD Working Party on Nanotechnology has recently been created. Its first meeting was held on May 8^th and 9^th in Leuven, Belgium. A proposal to develop statistics and indicators on nanotechnology, as a co-operative effort of NESTI and the newly created Working Party, was discussed. 

NESTI agreed to participate in a workshop on nanotechnology involving policy analysts and statisticians with a view to creating an ad hoc group on nanotechnology statistics to serve the newly created Nanotechnology Working Party.

Internationalization of R&D
A summary of work carried out to date by the task force on R&D internationalization and others was presented and some options for future work were discussed. It was agreed that the work of the task force should continue, in order to extend the 2006 pilot exercise to other countries, to look closely at the ongoing collection of R&D inward and outward data in the context of the OECD Activity of Foreign Affiliates (AFA) database, and to develop methodological recommendations for the measurement of international R&D transactions. Italy has agreed to lead this work.

Research and Development (R&D)
NESTI celebrated 50 years of R&D statistics at the OECD.

The UNSC has approved the capitalization of R&D and work will continue to implement it in National Accounts. A meeting of the joint Task Force of NESTI and the Canberra II group was held in April 2007 and discussed the latest developments in countries (in particular R&D Satellite Accounts), as well as the contents of the new Handbook on Measuring Intellectual Property (HMIP) that is being drafted by the OECD and which includes a chapter on the treatment of R&D in National Accounts.

Having completed its mandate the Canberra II Group will no longer exist as such, but a joint expert group with members from both NESTI and the OECD Working Group on National Accounts will be set up to pursue this work.

The group expressed great interest in the results of the NESTI questionnaire on R&D tax incentives and options for future work, as well as in continuing to compile statistics on indirect government support to R&D. This will be done in close collaboration with taxation experts and innovation policy colleagues. France has proposed to organise a workshop on R&D tax incentives in collaboration with the OECD (December 2007) and this initiative was welcomed by NESTI.

Science and technology activities

Research and development in Canada
The service bulletin ‘Estimates of total expenditure on research and development in the health field in Canada, 1989 to 2006 (Catalogue no. 88-001-XIE Vol. 31, no. 2) was released on March 30, 2007.

Industrial research and development
The annual publication ‘Industrial Research and Development: Intentions 2006' (Catalogue no. 88-202-XIE) was released on July 31, 2007.

Federal science expenditures
The service bulletin ‘Biotechnology scientific activities in federal government departments and agencies, 2005/2006'(Catalogue no. 88-001-XIE Vol. 31, no. 3), was released on May 11, 2007.

Higher education sector research and development
No updates to report.

Human resources and intellectual property
No updates to report.

Federal science expenditures and personnel, intellectual property management annex
No updates to report.

Intellectual property commercialization in the higher education sector
The 2006 survey is now in the field.

Innovation

Innovation in manufacturing
Tables presenting results from the Survey of Innovation 2005 are being prepared and will be made available on CANSIM.

The following two presentations were made available at the Statistics Canada Socio-economic Conference 2007 presenting results from the Survey of Innovation 2005:

Analysis of the micro-data of the Survey of Innovation 2005 by external facilitated access researchers has begun and results of two studies have been published:

SIEID, in collaboration with Industry Canada, is participating in an OECD sponsored project to compare innovation in selected OECD countries. Researchers in the participating countries are developing common econometric models. Canadian researchers are participating in two of the projects, one studying the relationship between innovation and productivity and the other on the sources of international technology transfer.

Innovation in services
A presentation was made at the Statistics Canada Socio-Economic Conference 2007 which proposed the use of NAICS 5417: Scientific Research and Development Services firms in the RDCI database to determine venture firms:

Innovation in advanced technologies in manufacturing
Final preparations are underway for the mail-out of the Survey of Advanced Technologies in Manufacturing 2007 which will be in the field in September 2007.

External facilitated access researchers have published an analysis of data from the 1998 Survey of Advanced Technology in Canadian Manufacturing which was linked to the 1998 Annual Survey of Manufacturers:

Community Innovation
No updates to report.

Commercialization
A working paper titled ‘Report on Interviews on the Commercialization of Innovation' (Catalogue no. 88F0006XIE2007, no. 004) was released on July 16, 2007.

Consultation on the redesign of the Survey of Business Incubator 2005 is currently underway.  The redesigned survey is expected to be mailed out in November with preliminary data available in March 2008.

Biotechnology

Results from the 2006 Bioproducts Development and Production Survey are scheduled for release in the fall 2007.

Technological change

No updates to report.

Knowledge management practices

No updates to report.

Another Statistics Canada innovation…

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