Canadian Budget Promises Innovation Money For Research With Profit Potential

The Canadian government's budget for 2010 includes $200 million in funding for practical research. "The federal government plans to boost Canadian productivity by increasing investments in scientific research and innovation – measures that in the long term are intended to drag Canada out of its pool of red ink." says the Globe and Mail. “These investments will help create clusters of great new jobs on the frontiers of knowledge,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told the House of Commons.

Claiming a victory in the budget is the Association of Canadian Community Colleges after a $30 million was directed at research conducted in community colleges, “This is a real recognition of the work we do.” said James Knight, association's president.

Good news! 

Twitter Taking Notice Of How Users Interact

Twitter has been sitting up and taking notice of how it's users interact with each other and is rolling out some "new" features based on those observations. Over the next several weeks, Twitter users will see two new features, Lists and Retweets, both of which have spawned from user-generated innovation.

According to this New York Times Article "“Twitter’s smart enough, or lucky enough, to say, ‘Gee, let’s not try to compete with our users in designing this stuff, let’s outsource design to them,’ ” said Eric von Hippel, head of the innovation and entrepreneurship group at the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. and author of the book “Democratizing Innovation.”"

Innovations such as the referral of other users by the "@" symbol preceding their user name and the "#" tag identifying a topic where also user generated and are very much embedded in the Twitter vernacular.

Report: Canada Lagging Behind In Innovation

A report released Wednesday suggests that Canada is lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to business innovation. Robert Brown, the chair of a panel assembled by the Council of Canadian Academies, and an author of the report said "Too few Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs choose strategies that emphasize innovation,"

When compared to other countries, the report found that Canadian businesses are relying on outdated business models, are slow to incorporate new technology, follow the lead of other countries and don't get the same payoff from research spending. Innovation is defined by the report as "... new or better ways of doing valued things. An 'invention' is not an innovation until it has been implemented to a meaningful extent,"

Source: CBC

Appliances of the future found in present day Japan

c|net's news.com has an interesting video of innovations in appliances and furnishings that are finding their way into the Japanese households. From space saving kitchen appliances to bedrooms designed to put you to sleep and gently wake you up, it's all ingeniously thought out. I can't wait to see these products hitting the North American market!