OTTAWA – Statistics Canada recently released the results of the Innovation and Business Strategy survey, 2022.
Innovation activities encompass all developmental, financial, and commercial efforts aimed at creating new products or introducing new business processes. These activities can also result in the acquisition of valuable knowledge or information, even if an innovation isn’t introduced within a specific timeframe.
According to the 2022 Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy, software development and database activities (24.7%) were the most common innovation activities. They were followed by employee training for innovation projects (22.6%), research and development (20.9%), marketing and brand equity activities related to innovation (19.9%), and the acquisition or development of advanced technology (19.1%).
Overall, the percentage of businesses engaged in innovation activities dropped to 47.2% in 2022 from 52.5% in 2019. Marketing and brand equity activities linked to innovation saw the largest decrease, falling from 25.3% in 2019 to 19.9% in 2022. This decline was offset by increases in software development and database activities (from 19.9% in 2019 to 24.7% in 2022) and intellectual property (IP) activities (from 9.0% in 2019 to 11.9% in 2022).
The tendency to engage in innovation activities among different business sizes remained consistent from 2019 to 2022. Large businesses (66.5%) were still the most likely to undertake innovation activities, followed by medium-sized businesses (53.7%) and small businesses (45.0%).
Innovation activities are significant across various industries. In 2022, the information and cultural industries (67.8%) had the highest rate of innovation activities, followed by manufacturing (64.5%), professional, scientific and technical services (62.7%), and utilities (58.3%).
Businesses with extensive transnational relationships were more inclined to engage in innovation activities in 2022, with multinational businesses more likely to innovate than non-multinational businesses. In 2022, over 6 in 10 multinational businesses (66.9%) engaged in innovation activities, compared to about 4 in 10 non-multinational businesses (44.2%). Additionally, Canadian multinational businesses (78.9%) had a higher propensity to innovate than foreign multinational businesses (61.6%) operating in Canada.
The Importance of Innovation Activities
Innovation activities are key to introducing new products and business processes, filing for intellectual property protection, and accessing government support. A strong link exists between innovation activities and innovation itself. In 2022, 89.9% of businesses that engaged in innovation activities introduced an innovation during the 2020-2022 period, compared to approximately 55.7% of those that did not engage in such activities.
Business Examiner Staff
