Saskatchewan Innovation Week on Sept. 27-Oct. 3 saw two prestigious events take place in Saskatoon: the Manning Innovation Awards and STEMfest.
“The purpose of the week is to celebrate and bring attention to the successes that the province and the benefits the province has received from innovation to recognize innovators in the province and encourage and continue the momentum of innovation and creating innovation in Saskatchewan,” said Jerome Konecsni, president and CEO of Innovation Saskatchewan.
When Konecsni talks about innovation, he means the translation of knowledge into something of value, whether that value is commercial, economic, environmental, or social, and it can occur in the private or public sector.
“The key for us is it’s implemented and it’s a creation of some value,” he said.
Innovation Saskatchewan is a provincial government special operating agency responsible for providing management advice and direction for the province related to innovation and its innovation investments. Some of the organizations Innovation Saskatchewan is responsible for are the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, Canadian Light Source, the Global Institute for Food Security, the Sylvia Fedoruk Center for Nuclear Innovation, and the Petroleum Technology Research Centre.
“Innovation is an important part of Saskatchewan’s history, and continues to play a key role in the diversification and competitiveness of our economy,” Innovation Minister Jeremy Harrison said in a news release. “In the past eight years, significant investments have been made in public research and innovation, helping attract world-class researchers and research institutions. This week we are proud to recognize these achievements, along with the many people that are advancing innovation in Saskatchewan.”
The Manning Innovation Awards are meant to recognize and encourage innovation in Canada, while STEMfest is a gathering of those in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) to share success stories, general education, and examples of innovation.
One of the ideas Konecsni wants to get across with the week is that innovation is a multi-disciplinary endeavour and needs more than just scientists and mathematicians. He says innovation also requires social scientists to help with implementing science and technology and people in communications who can take complex scientific ideas and make them understandable to the general population.
“It truly is an endeavour of a wide range of people,” he said.
Konecsni said Canada is losing ground to other countries in the realm of innovation and productivity, but not because people here aren’t as skilled, but because technology is not being used and taken advantage of to the fullest extent.
“We really believe innovation and STEM is critical for maintaining our standard of living,” he said.
