Designing an effective forest sector research strategy for Canada

Sustaining high levels of productivity and productivity growth in the Canadian forest sector depends on rapid development and adoption of sophisticated technology for our forests, manufacturing facilities and products. Yet R&D expenditures in Canada lag those for most of its major competitors, suggesting that Canada is unlikely to produce the necessary technology on the schedule it is needed. This lack of investment in R&D stems at least in part from three factors: (i) the specific problems associated with being a net exporter with a large share of many global markets, (ii) the small size of Canadian firms when compared with our global competitors, and (iii) Canada's collective failure to articulate a widely-accepted forest sector strategy which guides the daily policy and management decisions of governments, industry and interest groups. This paper argues that an effective R&D strategy for the country involves rapid deployment of technological innovations, R&D targeted on the special features of Canada's forests and polity, and better links between strategies for the forest industry and the forest resource. Key words: forestry research, forest products research, research planning