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NewsThis section will keep you updated on important business news stories in the Windsor-Essex Region, named Best Small City for Investment by FDI Magazine. Auto Sector Told to InnovateWednesday, Nov. 25, 2009
Canada's automotive industry must be a leader in innovation if it hopes to ride the anticipated wave of recovering vehicle sales, a leading researcher says. "We have probably operated in a reactive mode for too long; we have not been a technology leader," said Peter Frise, scientific director and CEO of AUTO21" a University of Windsor based research centre of excellence that co-ordinates automotive research at post-secondary institutions across the country. "We've been a technology follower and I think we need to make sure we're out front." Meanwhile, tougher fuel-efficiency standards as well as the shift from larger, heavier vehicles to smaller, lighter vehicles has intensified the need for research and development. At a time of unprecedented change in the auto industry, Canada lags other industrialized countries in business innovation, said Frise, who spoke on Tuesday at a Toronto conference sponsored by the Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy. "Canada has invested very, very heavily in universities and research infrastructure over the last 10 or 15 years, yet our innovation performance relative to other G8 countries is actually rather poor," he said. "We need to find a way to connect those very large investments to the needs of the economy in a much more direct fashion." Canada has a huge stake in an industry which generates 400,000 direct and indirect jobs and produces between 2.3 million and 2.8 million vehicles a year, said Frise. Although North American vehicle sales are expected to rebound in the years ahead, recovery will be slow, depriving cash-strapped companies of resources needed to finance research and development, said Frise. "At the very time you need to be innovative, you need to drive costs out of your system," he said. "You need to bring new products to the market but you don't have the sales which generate enough revenue to sustain those kinds of activities. That's a big, big challenge." Research efforts and dollars also must be directly tied to the needs of industry and the economy, he added. Frise said AUTO21 is exploring new ways of maximizing research efforts between industry, government and academia. "We have to use all the assets we have in the most effective possible way and those are the things we are advocating," he said. " The market will continue to recover slowly. To be one of the players in that improved market, our companies have to be innovative, produce high-quality products that are responsive to market desires and needs, and they have to do it quickly." Article Credit: |
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