IT’S TIME FOR CANADA to take a coherent and holistic approach to creating a national digital strategy.
We need an overall vision to guide the current social and economic transformation in the interest of all Canadians, otherwise, debate will be mired in the arcane and fragmented languages of broadcasting regulation, copyright revision, technological innovation, cultural subsidies, and broadband infrastructure.
For Canada to compete in a digital world, we urgently need to integrate these often conflicting narratives, or we risk being left behind.
Digital Britain raises the bar for Canada
The release of Digital Britain this past June draws attention to a need for Canada to have its own vision and integrated policy. This uber policy statement shows how a nation can create a policy framework for digital technologies that fosters the creative industries, generates innovation in technology, and drives economic growth. Digital Britain covers the entire digital landscape, from content production to digital literacy to universal broadband access; from revisions to copyright laws to fostering digital innovation. While the UK’s solutions may not be our solutions, their integrated approach is a great model for Canada.
Nor is Britain the only nation that gets it. Other developed countries (such as Germany, New Zealand, France and Australia) have already completed weighty deliberations and have penned similar policy documents.
A Digital Strategy for Canada: Key Issues
What then will a digital strategy for Canada entail? Nordicity sees three key areas that need to be addressed by an effective digital strategy: digital literacy and skills, culture and infrastructure.
Digital Skills: Once a rarified ability, digital literacy is now a basic skill. Digital is the new steel and use of digital technologies is critical to Canada’s industrial success. It is a transformative force reshaping society in a way not felt since the industrial revolution. We must recognize this change and orient our education, government services, professional development, and industrial policy accordingly.
Culture: The culture and entertainment industries face challenges in making a successful transition to digital platforms. They face diminished protection from regulation and have limited fiscal room for new expenditures. Moreover, it is yet uncertain which business models will work in the increasingly digital world. To succeed, Canada must sell to the world, but our undercapitalized cultural producers often have to sell all their intellectual property (IP) rights just to make the cultural product. Facing this reality may require substantial changes in our cultural industry support mechanisms.
Infrastructure: A modern society needs a first-class digital infrastructure to empower its citizens with access to knowledge, services, and employment opportunities. We have a fabulous communications networks and innovative companies that bring products to the world. Yet we have slipped to 10th place (from second) in broadband accessibility over the last 6 years. We need to be creative to devise ambitious but reasonable targets for high speed standards and wireless infrastructure to serve our geographically diverse population.
Canada is committed to switch over-the-air broadcasting from analog to digital, but we haven’t figured out the right incentives to do so, or how to reach all the rural and remote TV viewers.
Along with communications infrastructure, we must ensure that proper incentives are in place to encourage innovation in digital media from all fronts – technology, content, and services.
Setting the agenda
Without a national digital strategy, there will be no overall vision to direct this watershed social and economic transformation. Rather, debate will remain stuck in the arcane and fragmented languages of broadcasting regulation, copyright revision, technological innovation, cultural subsidies, and broadband infrastructure. Solutions will continue to be piecemeal, and decision frameworks reactive and narrowly defined.
Granted, we shouldn’t stop everything so we can put all the pieces together. But we need a clear vision and an integrated, comprehensive digital strategy to realize all its benefits. This kind of strategy will help Canada come out of the recession with a competitive advantage in some of the fastest growing areas of the global economy.
How we make this happen
Industry associations, cultural organizations, corporate stakeholders and regulators alike are realizing that a national strategy is timely. Recently, we heard appeals from ITAC, the CRTC and NFB – so the interest for this kind of policy solution exists. In framing a digital policy though, Canada should develop a process that overcomes the polarization that ensues from the fragmented responsibility of Industry Canada, CRTC, and Canadian Heritage.
Here we can learn from our British counterparts. With Digital Britain, the UK avoided the sclerosis of a royal commission by setting up a more nimble ministerial process. It involved roughly the equivalent of Industry Canada, Canadian Heritage and Human Resources Development, but was fully endorsed and empowered by the Prime Minister. One lesson is that this process has to be supported at the highest political level. We need to fully engage the political process, so that a national digital policy is viewed as strategic to Canada’s future prosperity.
We don’t need a royal commission, nor should there be a narrowly defined task force. Rather, we should create a high-level, fast-moving, and authoritative national digital panel that reports to a special cabinet committee. The panel could do the consultation while the committee could decide on specific initiatives within the national framework. This process should have a defined life, and seek the views of both the public and stakeholders. Of course, it should use the new tools of social media enabled by the Internet to help carry out its mandate.
Canada needs an integrated framework to pull all the pieces together – a national digital strategy. Let’s get back to being a leader and create our own digital future.
Peter Lyman is the senior partner of consulting firm Nordicity, which recently published an issues discussion paper entitled, Towards a National Digital Strategy.
