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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
Information Society research and analysis
Science and Technology activities

Information and communications technology

Workshop on ICT Measurement for Knowledge Economy, New Delhi, India, November 19-20, 2007

Statistics Canada was invited to participate in a workshop co-sponsored by the OECD and the Indian Department of Information Technology. The steady growth of ICT service activity in the Indian economy has resulted in a need to develop metrics of ICT measurement. SIEID was asked to make presentations on the “Framework for Collection of Statistics in OECD Countries” and on the “Experience in Collecting Internationally comparable ICT Statistics”, describing Statistics Canada’s experience with model surveys of ICT usage by individuals (CIUS) and by businesses and organizations (SECT). A presentation was also made featuring “The social impacts of ICT” in Canada. The workshop was attended by over 100 government officials, academic researchers, private sector ICT providers and members of various industry associations. For more information, please click here.

Digital Ontario Symposium, School of Environmental Design & Rural Development, University of Guelph, March 5-6, 2008

Statistics Canada was invited to participate in Digital Ontario, a symposium that examined governance, leadership, engagement and strategic partnerships for development in a digital age. The Information Society section of SIEID contributed to a plenary session with a presentation on “Internet use in Canada: Overview with a focus on regional connectivity”. Other topics covered trends and issues related to the access and use of high speed Internet across the country. The symposium was attended by over 100 academic researchers and government officials from various ministries and provinces. The symposium agenda and selected papers are available by clicking here.

2008 Statistics Canada Socio-economic Conference. Ottawa, May 5-6, 2008

The Information Society section of SIEID organized two related sessions—“Participation in the Information Society”—which included six research papers on a variety of Internet topics ranging from online privacy and security concerns to gender differences in use patterns. As well as analysts from Statistics Canada and other federal departments, these sessions featured an analysis of Canadian Internet use patterns by Dr. Catherine Middleton—Canada Research Chair in Communications Technology in an Information Society—and an international comparison of Internet use by Mr. Pierre Montagnier—a senior researcher with the OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry in Paris. For the conference agenda, abstracts and authors, please click here.

Information Society research and analysis

Studies have been released on Internet use, based on data from the 2005 Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS), including:

• A paper entitled ‘Getting a second opinion: Health information and the Internet’ was released in Health Reports, Vol. 19, no. 1;

• 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.

A study of Internet use and social cohesion, based on several sources, is forthcoming in the Connectedness Series (Catalogue no. 56F0004MWE).

Telecommunications and broadcasting

Annual Survey of Telecommunications Service Providers

The processing of 2006 data is on-going and the release of data is planned for June of 2008 in Broadcasting and Telecommunications (Catalogue no. 56-001-XIE, Vol. 38, no. 1). This will be the final release from this survey in its current form.

In order to avoid duplication, minimize response burden, make more efficient use of resources and promote coherence of the Canadian statistical system, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) have agreed to merge and harmonize three surveys of telecommunication services providers—two conducted by Statistics Canada and one by the CRTC. The new survey will meet the market monitoring needs of the CRTC and the needs of the System of National Accounts. It will be conducted for the first time in 2008 for the 2007 reference year and will use the online data collection platform operated by the CRTC. As a result, the current Annual Survey of Telecommunications and the Annual Survey of Internet Service Providers and Related Services are no longer conducted. Results are expected to be released in Summer 2008.

Quarterly Survey of Telecommunications Service Providers

The collection and processing of data from the redesigned Quarterly Survey of Telecommunications is on-going. The first release of the 2007 Quarterly data is planned for the second quarter of 2008.

Annual Surveys of the Radio, Television and Cable Industries

The 2006 statistics for the cable and other program distribution industry were released on December 7, 2007 in the Daily and in Broadcasting and Telecommunications (Catalogue no. 56-001-XIE, Vol. 37, no.2).

The collection and processing of 2007 data for the radio, television and cable industries is on-going. Data for these industries will be released in the Summer and Fall of 2008.

Canadian Internet Use Survey

The 2007 CIUS was conducted in October and November 2007, and findings are scheduled to be released in two phases: Internet use in the June and Internet shopping by November.

Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology

Final results from the 2007 Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology were released in April 24,2008.

Science and technology activities

Research and development in Canada

The service bulletin ‘Gross Domestic Expenditure on Research and Development, 2007 intentions’ (Catalogue no. 88-001-XIE Vol. 31, no. 8) was released on December 20, 2007.

Industrial research and development

The service bulletin ‘Industrial research and development, 2003 to 2007’ (Catalogue no. 88-001-XIE Vol. 31, no. 6) was released on November 20, 2007.

Federal science expenditures

The service bulletin ‘Federal government expenditures on scientific activities, 2007/2008 (intentions)’ (Catalogue no. 88-001-XIE Vol. 31, no. 7) was released on December 11, 2007.

Higher education sector research and development

The service bulletin ‘Estimation of research and development expenditures in the higher education sector, 2005/2006’ (Catalogue no. 88-001-XIE Vol. 31, no. 4) was released on August 31, 2007.

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

No updates to report.

Innovation

Innovation in manufacturing

Tables presenting results from the Survey of Innovation 2005 will be available in the Spring on CANSIM (Tables 358-0062 to 358-0117). Custom requests for non-standard tables are being produced.

Analysis of the micro-data of the Survey of Innovation 2005 by external facilitated access researchers continues. The OECD sponsored project to compare innovation in selected OECD countries is wrapping up with first results to be published soon.

Estimates from the Survey of Innovation 2005 were incorporated into the OECD’s Science and Technology Indicators Scoreboard 2007.

Innovation in services

Two working papers based on the Survey of Innovation 2003 have been released. These include:

Innovation in advanced technologies in manufacturing and logging

Data collection for the Survey of Advanced Technology 2007 is complete. This survey of advanced technology use was sent to almost 9,500 manufacturing plants and about 370 logging operations. First results are expected in early Summer 2008 with facilitated access research projects to follow.

A follow-up to the Survey of Advanced Technology 2007 has been carried out. This survey examines plants that modify or create technologies in more detail. First results are expected in Summer 2008.

Innovation in advanced technologies in mining

Lack of funding has resulted in the cancellation of this survey.

Community Innovation

No updates to report.

Commercialization

Data collection for the Survey of Commercialization 2007 is now complete with plans for release of a working paper in Spring 2008.

The 2007 Survey of Business Incubation is in the field. Preliminary results are expected to be available in Spring 2008.

Biotechnology

The 6^th ad hoc meeting on Biotechnology Statistics is scheduled for May 2008. The meeting will focus on impacts of biotechnology and methodological issues, following up on initiatives that began at the December 2006 meeting.

A paper entitled 'The Impact of Collaborations on Canadian Biotechnology Firms' was presented at the Statistics Canada Socio-economic Conference in May 2008.

Nanotechnology

At the OECD Working Party Nanotechnology meeting in November 2007 the first meeting of the Statistics and Measurement Working Group was held with Statistics Canada co-chairing with the OECD. The group adopted as a statistical working definition of nanotechnology, the ISO’s work in progress definition and began work on developing a statistical program framework. The Working Party Nanotechnology met again in April 2008 and the statistics group presented its framework for international comparable statistics program.

Functional Foods and Natural Health Products

The Functional Food and Natural Health survey, undertaken in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, is currently in progress and data are expected to be released in the Winter of 2008.

Knowledge management practices

Knowledge Transfers between Canadian Business Enterprises and Universities: Does Distance Matter?

This study examines whether the transfer of knowledge flows from universities to enterprises in Canada is hampered by the geographical distance that separates them. The transfer of knowledge flows are measured by the amount of R&D payments from business enterprises to universities that are directly reported in Statistics Canada’s survey on Research and Development in Canadian Industry. Data from the 1997 to 2001 surveys were used.

After controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, selection bias as well as for other covariates that could affect the extent of industry-university R&D transactions such as absorptive capacity, foreign control, belonging to the same province, past experience with a given university and other firm and university characteristics, it is found that a 10% increase in distance decreases the proportion of total R&D paid to a university by 1.4 percent for enterprises that do not report any codified transfer of knowledge flow, and by half as much for enterprises that report codified knowledge flows. The authors are Julio M. Rosa, SIEID and Pierre Mohnen, UNI-MERIT, Maastricht University, Netherlands, and CIRANO, Canada.