A culture of innovation doesn’t happen by accident, but by countless daily acts and sustained efforts over time. It happens because we make it happen. It happens because we believe that to be innovative lies at the heart of what it means to be Canadian. To ask, ‘How do we do things better?’—and then do just that—is part of the basic makeup of our country.” – The Right Honourable David Johnston, 28th Governor General of Canada and Chair of the Rideau Hall Foundation

Key Findings

Culture of Innovation Index, Dimensions of Innovation, Canadians’ Openness to Risk, Why Canadians Value Innovation, Innovation Among Institutions, Who’s Driving Innovation?, Engagement in Innovation.

About the Culture of Innovation Index

Developed by the Rideau Hall Foundation in partnership with Edelman Canada, Canada’s Culture of Innovation Index measures how we approach and value innovation in all spheres of our society. It includes perspectives from more than 2,900 Canadians, across all provinces and territories.

Now in its third year, RHF will uncover how the Index has continued to change and evolve over the past 3 years, in particular, among the current COVID-19 environment. We will deep dive into the top dimensions of Diversity and Collaboration with a particular focus on the impacts on these dimensions to better understand how recent experiences have impacted the way Canadian values related to innovation may have shifted.

Culture of Innovation Index

The overall Culture of Index score is based on how Canadians rate different dimensions that drive innovation. We define innovation as creating or improving new or different products, processes or ideas; adopting new technologies or procedures; or working with others to improve service or make something better in business, government, or in society.

Innovation Index Score

View how Canada’s Culture of Innovation has changed year over year, based on how Canadians value several key dimensions of innovation.

40 different measures of innovation were used to assess Canadians’ perceptions towards curiosity, diversity, collaboration, risk-taking, openness to technology, and creativity.

Correlation analysis, principal components analysis, and reliability analysis were run across these 40 statements to identify which have the strongest predictive value within each respective innovation input.

Two statements were identified as the most representative for each innovation input, and one statement from each input was identified as the predominant driver of the overall innovation index.

The average (mean) scores for each key statement were then used to calculate the innovation input indices.

The Index scores below indicate Canada’s overall Culture of Innovation and the dimensions that make up a Culture of Innovation in Canada.

*Small base size prohibited analysis among other ethnicities.

Dimensions of Innovation

Several different aspects drive a culture of innovation, from diversity and collaboration to creativity and curiosity, risk tolerance and openness to technology.

Dimensions Contributing to Culture of Innovation

View the strongest contributors to an overall culture of innovation based on Canadians’ opinions, and how those views have shifted year over year, and by age, gender, ethnicity, and region.

For each statement, please rate how much you agree or disagree with that statement using a 9-point scale (1 means “strongly disagree” and 9 means “strongly agree”).

Canadians’ Openness to Risk

Openness or aversion to risk is an important measure for understanding Canada’s culture of innovation. See how Canadians perceive our country’s risk tolerance.

Risk Aversion in Canada

View how Canadians’ perception of our openness to risk has changed year-over-year.

Do you consider Canadians to be open to risk or more risk averse?

Why Canadians Value Innovation

From improving health to bolstering our economy, Canadians have different reasons to value a culture of innovation. Discover the outcomes of innovation Canadians see as most important.

Top Desired Outcomes of Innovation

See how Canadians rank desired outcomes of innovation, and how that’s changed year over year. 

Which of the following outcomes of innovation would you want to see for Canada? Please select up to 3 responses.

Innovation Among Institutions

From the private sector to not-for-profits and government, different institutions all have a role to play in building a culture of innovation. View which institutions are considered leaders in innovation and which are perceived as lagging.

Ranking of Institutional Innovation

View which institutions Canadians perceive as Innovative, plus break down the data by year, age, gender, ethnicity and region.

Based on your own experiences with these entities, please indicate how innovative or open to change you feel they are using a 9-point scale (1 means “strongly disagree” and 9 means “strongly agree”). Data represents Agree to Strongly agree, % selected 6,7,8,9.

Who’s Driving Innovation?

From individuals to institutions, there are many people in our society who can drive innovation. View who Canadians believe is responsible for fostering innovation in our society.

Responsibility for Innovation

View which groups Canadians perceive to be responsible for fostering innovation in our society, plus break down the data by year, age, gender, ethnicity and region.

Whose responsibility is it to foster innovation in a society? Please select up to 3 responses.

Engagement in Innovation

There are many ways that Canadians can engage with innovation, from improving processes to seeing innovation in the news. View different ways that Canadians are engaging with innovation.

Engagement in Innovation

View how Canadians are engaging in innovation, plus break down the data by year, age, gender, ethnicity and region.

For each statement, please rate how much you agree or disagree with that statement using a 9-point scale (1 means “strongly disagree” and 9 means “strongly agree”). Data represents Agree to Strongly agree, % selected 7,8,9

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