The Geography of the Creative Process
Much of my work is about understanding the role of location in the creative process and how it pertains to the economy. This paper published in the Journal of Economic … Continue reading
Benchmarking Canadian Cities in North America
In 2012 Consider Canada commissioned Local IDEAs to produce a benchmarking system for their 11 city-regions. The purpose was to identify the North American cities with the most similar economic … Continue reading
Urban Form and the Knowledge Economy
I presented a paper at the 2012 Association of American Geographers Annual Conference in New York, NY entitled ‘Knowledge Neighbourhoods: Urban Form and Evolutionary Economic Geography’. The paper is currently … Continue reading
IPAC 2014
I will be one of the Thought Leaders on Creativity and Innovation in the 21st Century City at the 66th IPAC National Annual Conference in Edmonton, AB on June 2 & … Continue reading
City-region Profiles
This post provides links to data profiles of Canadian city-regions. These profiles were produced for the Innovation System Research Network’s (ISRN) five-year study (2006 – 2010) of Creativity and Innovation … Continue reading
Creativity and Innovation in Canadian City-regions
The Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN) completed a SSHRC-funded five-year study (2006-2010) of Creativity and Innovation in Canadian City-regions. There were 15 case studies in total as well as country-wide … Continue reading
The Geography of Unemployment
This animation shows local levels of unemployment in Canada and the United States over a twenty year period culminating in the recession years at the end of the previous decade. It … Continue reading
The Creative Economy in Muskoka
Executive Summary Over the past decade, urban and rural communities in Canada and around the world have begun to encourage a creative economy as a mechanism to use local assets … Continue reading
Impact of the Arts in Huntsville
Executive Summary This report argues that arts & culture should be placed at the centre of economic development strategy for The Town Huntsville. While the direct impact of the arts … Continue reading
Innovation and R&D Profiles for 11 City-regions
Consider Canada commission Local IDEAs to prepare a series of reports on the state of the 11 cities that they represent. One set of these reports used a range of … Continue reading
ISRN Book Launch
The InnovationPolicyLab INVITES YOU TO ATTEND THE ISRN VOLUME SERIES BOOK LAUNCH Friday,June 6, 2014 3:30 PM -6:00PM First Floor Library at 315 Bloor Street MunkSchoolofGlobalAffairs Please … Continue reading
Anchor Firms and Clusters
Executive summary The main purpose of this report is to assess the relative impacts of industrial clusters and anchor firms on economic prosperity. Industrial clusters are known to provide economic … Continue reading
High Growth Firms and Clusters
Report Highlights Over half (55%) of all high growth firms are located within just 13 local clusters 58.3% of all aerospace HGFs are in just four clusters (Montreal, Winnipeg, Toronto, … Continue reading
Cluster Research
The Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN) undertook a SSHRC funded 5-year study on industrial clusters in Canadian city-regions from 2001-2005. Initially the project was a set of qualitative case studies … Continue reading
Welcome to the Local IDEAs Blog
Welcome! The purpose of this blog is to provide an outlet for the work being done by Local IDEAs (Indicator Database for Economic Analysis) at the Munk School of Global … Continue reading
Local IDEAs 
OPINION – No Life on MaRS?
News broke today about a possible scandal involving the Liberal Government and the MaRS Discovery District, a science and technology incubator located in Toronto. The story (being put forth by the Conservative Party) is … Continue reading →