May 6, 2021

Digital Policy Salon: The Europe Edition

By ICTC-CTIC • Issue #42 • View online

Welcome to the 42nd issue of the Digital Policy Salon briefing.

This week, our briefing has a European flair. We’re pleased to release our newest research, Just Press ‘Print’: Canada’s Additive Manufacturing Ecosystem, which investigates the Canadian additive manufacturing (AM) industry and considers the case study of Germany as an AM leader for Canada to emulate.

Europe continues to feature in our newest blog post, where we discuss how CETA—Canada’s trade deal with the EU—is impacting municipal procurement and in turn the fortunes of Canadian tech startups. Our interview piece features an in-depth conversation on the future of mobility with the leader of a 10,000 KM European Hyperloop network to-be that plans to transform continental travel. In this week’s “what we’re reading” (and listening to!) we look into the growing momentum of calls to reform global corporate taxation, along with a conversation with leaders supporting France’s move towards “25 unicorns by 2025.”

Finally, we hope that you’ll join us later this month, for an event led by ICTC’s Olivia Lin on The Future of Precision Agriculture and Forestry.

- Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

Policy Updates 🇨🇦

EU Policy Update

Europe passed legislation last month to establish Horizon Europe, a research and innovation program worth €95.5 billion in funding over 7 years, starting in 2021. Horizon Europe follows Horizon 2020, which ran from 2014 to 2020 with a budget of €80 billion over 7 years.

What’s new in Horizon Europe?

Just under €54 billion (57% of the total funds) will be allocated to solving six global challenges. Some of these challenges, termed clusters, are health; digital, industry, & space; climate, energy, & mobility; and food, natural resources, & environment.
Approximately €25 billion (26% of the total funds) is earmarked to support open science and technology research and innovation.
Finally, with a budget of €10.6 billion over 7 years, the European Innovation Council will help scale startups and SMEs through its accelerator program, dedicated equity fund, and support for emerging tech research.

Like with Horizon 2020, there are a number of ways non-EU countries can participate in Horizon Europe. However, negotiations are still ongoing, meaning it is not yet clear what this will look like for Canada.

Canada Tech Policy Updates

Canada’s long-awaited privacy legislation, Bill C-11 is being held up in Parliament over a jurisdictional debate. Bill C-11 was first introduced in November 2020 but has not yet passed its second reading as MPs have been unable to decide which committee should study the Bill.

As the dust settles following last month’s Budget proposal, privacy and data experts weigh in on the role of the newly proposed data commissioner. While some see a possible role for the commissioner in areas not already accounted for by the privacy and competition commissioners, others see potential for overlap and confusion.

A recently published Canadian study suggests that synthetic data can be used in place of real clinical trial data in healthcare studies. Synthetic data is artificial data generated from real datasets using machine learning techniques. It is one possible to tool to help solve data challenges in healthcare, such as data access and individual privacy. - Mairead Matthews

Our Perspective

How the CETA Trade Agreement Is Making Municipal Procurement More Accessible for Canadian Tech Startups

Mairead Matthews

Canada’s trade deal with the European Union, CETA (Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement), came into force provisionally in 2017 as it awaited further ratification by its member states. Since then, CETA has cleared the way for Canadian companies to pursue new business opportunities in Europe, eliminated tariffs and duties on approximately 98% of goods traded between Canada and the EU, and established more flexible worker mobility provisions. Apart from this, CETA is also making procurement more accessible to Canadian tech startups by breaking down regional silos in municipal procurement. Read on to find out how.

Read the full article here 📝

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Special Events

You're Invited to an ICTC Discovery Forum

Join Olivia Lin, Jr. Data Scientist at the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), along with her esteemed subject matter experts on Wednesday, May 26th from 1-2 pm EDT as they dive into the growth opportunities and advanced technologies that are driving Canada’s precision agriculture and forestry sectors.

This event will be hosting 3 unique presentations from Canadian subject matter experts:

Leveraging Precision Forestry Technologies for Enhancing Decision Making in the Forest Sector - Daniel Mazerolle, Director of Strategic Operations, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Natural Resources Canada
Precision Forestry: The growing trend in forestry to leverage new technologies, data and analytics to drive efficiency and growth - Doug Jones, Senior Vice President, Solutions and Innovation, Remsoft
Digital Phenotyping for Crop Breeding and Precision Agriculture - Dr. Raju Soolanayakanahally, Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

*A question and answer session will follow the presentations, allowing participants to interact with the presenters.

Register here 🗓

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Interviews in the Field

Travelling Jetsons Style: Hyperloop and the Future of Mobility

Alexandra Cutean

Our conceptions of mobility are rapidly changing. When, how, and where we travel shifted colossally over the last year. Global traffic congestion dropped and, as once-crowded freeways began to unclog, an inverse correlation between COVID-19 infections and public transit surfaced. In January 2021, public transit use in Canada was down nearly 75% from the prior year. Simultaneously, online shopping skyrocketed and, suddenly, freight transportation and supply chains became part of public discourse.

What does the future of mobility hold? How has our experience with a global pandemic shifted our views on the transportation of goods and people? Have proximity preferences permanently changed—and if so, what does that mean for existing modalities and infrastructure? These and other questions remain to be answered, but undoubtedly, the very nature of mobility is rapidly evolving, and technology is the heartbeat of this change. So, why not dream big? Why not envision a whole new era of transportation, built specifically for the modern world?

Recently, ICTC’s Senior Director of Research & Policy sat down with Mars Geuze, Chief Commercial Officer of Hardt Hyperloop. Hailing from Delft, Netherlands, the home of Europe’s RoboValley, Hardt is leading the vision of a 10,000 KM European Hyperloop Network. Powered by renewable energy, Hyperloop vows to recalibrate the future of continental travel.

Read the full interview here 🎙

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What We're Reading

The four-decade decline in global corporate tax rates

(Reuters)

U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans to raise taxes on corporate America could put an end to a four-decade global drop in corporate taxation levels.

Governments worldwide are desperate to raise extra revenue to rebuild their pandemic-ravaged economies and corporate taxation is becoming an obvious target after decades of decline.

To finance a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure investment plan, Biden wants to lift the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and scale back loopholes that companies can use to cut their tax bills.

Talking Points:

Taxes on American corporations are only the beginning of this story. Last month, Biden also proposed “sweeping global tax reforms” intended to target major multinational brands that take advantage of their global status and variation in national tax rates to pay minimal taxes. As Reuters notes, corporate tax rates in many OECD countries have nearly halved since the early 1980’s, when free market policies in the UK and the US first took hold.

The Biden administration’s proposal is in line with tax reforms envisioned by the OECD, and other similar steps towards taxing multinational corporations are building momentum worldwide. Germany’s finance minister suggested that a global tax agreement could be in place by this summer. Meanwhile, the EU has “agreed in principle to introduce a digital levy,” which would aim to help EU countries recover from the pandemic by taxing tech giants. Further still, some countries are moving forward with digital taxes before international digital tax rules are set in place—the UK and France have implemented digital services taxes, while a Canadian public consultation on a digital services tax is currently underway. - Khiran O'Neill

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What We're Listening To

Startups and the State: Growing French Tech

(Exponential View with Azeem Azhar)

In less than a decade France has gone from tech backwater to the startup engine of the EU. It recently celebrated its 12th company to achieve a $1 billion valuation and is well on the way to President Macron’s goal of “25 unicorns by 2025.” Kat Borlongan, director of La French Tech, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how her government taskforce has been working to effectively drive growth in the French startup scene.

Talking points:

The first half of this interview is a straight-forward celebration of France’s “offensive strategy” to develop a strong startup ecosystem. Azeem and Borlongan dive into key strategy elements including: strong regulation for tech sovereignty; a visa system fast-tracking four-year renewable, family-inclusive resident permits for anyone, from anywhere in the world, regardless of education; as well as direct investments from the public investment bank Bpifrance. But keep listening and you’ll discover a country questioning the ethics of traditional startup ecosystems. Under Macron, France is redefining who startups serve and ensuring equitable talent support. As Borlongan puts it: “for a long time talent has been about finding the best wherever they are and bringing them in. But it’s not anymore. Now it’s also making sure that entire people who have been left out of the French tech revolution can find a door to open that will let them in.” - Maya Watson

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Research Visualized

Additive Manufacturing Market Size: History and Forecast - Source: “3D Printing Trends 2020: Industry Highlights and Market Trends,” 3D Hubs.

While initially used for rapid prototyping and testing, Additive Manufacturing (AM) is now used for small-batch manufacturing, customization, repairs and spare part manufacture, and even some large-batch serial production. According to the Wohlers Report 2020, the value of all AM products and services worldwide grew by 21.2% percent in 2019 to a total of US $11.87 billion. The figure includes sales of industrial 3D printing systems, desktop 3D printers, feedstock materials, parts, software, and other services from vendors. This estimate of the AM market size represents a near doubling since 2016, when it was valued at US $6.06 billion. Growth in AM is driven by both the adoption of AM technologies by new organizations and an increase in AM uptake among existing users of the technology.

Private and public investment in AM has also seen similarly impressive growth over the last few years. Venture capital (VC) investment in AM companies from 2016 to Q3 2020 has topped US $4 billion. In 2019 VC funding in AM startups had a record-breaking year, with over US $1 billion invested. Given the economic turmoil and volatility in financial markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 is expected to see a scale back in VC deals. There has, nonetheless, been investment of over US $600 million in AM startups through Q3, including major funding rounds for Canadian companies Equispheres and Aspect Biosystems. Similar growth has also been observed in mergers and acquisitions activity in the AM market with an increase in deals between traditional manufacturers, AM equipment manufacturers, and companies across the AM value chain.

Much recent investment in AM has gone into industrial and production applications. Other salient trends emerging in the AM space include an increase in adoption among industrial users and an increase in adoption for end-part production. More companies are also investing in AM, and those investments are more significant. While there are still key challenges that need to be overcome for wider industrial adoption—increasing reliability, reducing raw material costs, especially for metal AM, and further promoting education and training on the various AM technologies—the overall outlook for the global AM market is positive.

Our Research

Just Press “Print”: Canada's Additive Manufacturing Ecosystem

Maryna Ivus, Akshay Kotak, and Chris Herron

Canada’s diverse Additive Manufacturing (AM) ecosystem boasts several world-renowned firms adopting the technology, and notable success in niche areas such as metal powder feedstock, metal AM research, and applications in aerospace and health sciences. But Canadian AM also faces challenges such as slow industry adoption, partially due to cost and uncertain return on investment.

AM is poised to impact global manufacturing paradigms. Decades of technological advancement have led to a proliferation of new AM use cases. The global AM ecosystem is currently growing at 24% a year and is expected to reach US $35.0 billion by 2024.

“Additive Manufacturing is ushering a new era in manufacturing and industrial applications, enhancing productivity and lead times while empowering sustainable production. With such endless possibilities, the adoption of 3D printing is poised for strong growth in Canada.” - Namir Anani, ICTC President & CEO

AM advantages include agility, customizability, and flexibility, which has made it ideally suited for prototype manufacture of highly complex parts in low quantities. But AM has the potential to move beyond prototyping. It can be incorporated into traditional manufacturing paradigms, to assist in the production of legacy components, and to reduce costs in packaging, logistics, and inventory management.

This report also explores the following in detail:

AM technologies, their advantages, limitations, and applications in key sectors
Strengths and weaknesses of Canada’s AM ecosystem, the diversity of AM firms, industry bodies, and educational institutions
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canada’s AM ecosystem
Policies to promote post-pandemic growth of Canadian AM, including investments in education and other forms of assistance

Read the full study here 📖

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Twitter Highlights

European Parliament

@Europarl_EN

Horizon Europe will be a crucial part of Europe’s recovery by helping the EU’s health systems prepare for future crises and supporting industry and small firms after MEPS approved the research programme's budget
https://t.co/gwUrE9YxIl

7:43 AM - 28 Apr 2021