The Economic Role of R & D Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Economic Role of R & D - Essay Example However, behind all these, Canada seems to have been a very quiet spectator seeming lagging on the development bandwagon. The country seems to have been a very quite neighbour, dwarfed by the gigantic research and development machinery of the United States. Sancton1 abhors the seemingly backwardness and lack of initiative on the Canadian government to invest in research and development comparing the cities’ innovations that are left wanting as well as the seemingly lack of political will to support such investments that will lead to economic development. However, it is quite unfair to match the two nations evenly since there is a large difference between the dollars allotted by Americans to research and development than Canadians. Hence, it is only fair for any country with lesser resources to allocate these much more intelligently and therefore focus of the much needed improvements that are essential for the betterment of their constituents. Thus, even governments and non-pro fit organizations have adopted the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) postulated by Kaplan and Norton in order to be able to have a more strategically planned allocation of these resources. Of course these institutions work on a limited funding whereby there are the limitations of taxes and grants respectively2. Hence, in light of the aforementioned limitations, Canada cannot go toe-to-toe with its giant neighbour in terms of research spending. However, as Clark brings forward, the country has more consciously focused their research efforts in order to have more impact and to be able to bring in more economic developments given the limited amount of funding available3. A Parallel Flux There has been an increasingly similarity though on the forces that affect the two countries. The impact of the forces has steadily been having the same effect on the US and Canada whereby there has been an increasing similarity in the responses of the two countries as the effects of such forces affec t the two countries in almost the same way. However, as mentioned, the capability of the latter seem wanting as compared to the former4. Indeed, Canada needs to step up on the research and development area since the competition globally has likewise become stiffer. Of course Canadians will want to enjoy the same economic prosperity by the other countries, especially its peers among the advanced economies. There have been improvements that have crept at towards the close of the last century5. However, these changes have not moved fast when the speed of the global economy shifted to a higher gear when the technological innovations kicked in during the past decade. Indeed, the only effect of the housing crisis of the US in Canada was the dampening in the demand for housing needs, particularly lumber, which goes to show the extent to the disparity between the neighbouring economies. Focused Improvement In effect, the country has to really focus its efforts to improve their research and technology. Basically, economics is about allocating scarce resources and Canada knows that compared to its giant neighbour, their resources are indeed lacking. However, research truly involves more than funding since it also involves the intelligence of researchers and of course their creativity which cannot always be calibrated. But, given the realities, the