DEEP Centre - Engineering Growth - Public Final Report

The findings and observations presented in this report reflect the views and concerns of forty traditional and advanced manufacturing executives across Canada and a select number of technology leaders and investment professionals. [...] Project approach and methodology The findings and observations presented in this report reflect the views and concerns of traditional and advanced manufacturing executives across Canada and a select number of technology leaders and investment professionals. [...] Although the interview sample consisted of executives from firms of varying sizes and different sectors, we found the most salient and meaningful way to parse the input on the themes above was to distinguish between the views and concerns of traditional manufacturing companies and an emerging generation of engineering-driven deep tech and advanced manufacturing firms. [...] Critical features of mature innovation ecosystems include the presence and quality of physical and digital infrastructure required for the adoption and advancement of new technologies, the availability of skilled labour and sophisticated management talent to drive innovation and sustain growth, and the density of entities operating within the ecosystem, including companies, research institutions,. [...] For example, several executives noted that competitors in the United States have responded to the extreme scarcity of skilled labour in the manufacturing sector by turning to automation to fill the gaps in workforce availability.