Alain Bealieu, from DirectionInformatique, writes a very interesting report – in french - about the Canadian and Quebec IT industry. The key figure is that Canada ranks now in 27th place for innovation. They raised issues like lack of investment, lack of government support and lack of talent.
It always surprises me how big monolithic companies like CGI are allowed to talk about innovation. It surprises me how SGF, a financing agency that specializes in heavy industries, forestry, huge industrial projects and long-term partnerships are allowed to talk about entrepreneurship. These are the kind of organizations that will invest when there is a 0% proven risk or when you target Fortune 500 companies. These organizations advised Quebec companies to rationalize everything, processes, technologies, management and are then suprised how there isn’t much innovation around. Yeah, you made sure you killed it.
I liked however Yves Pelletier, from DRM Conseil, who said: “Il manque un leadership et une vision d’ensemble.”
People in Québec should realize that innovation = ideas and ideas = people
