From the industrial through the ongoing computing and communication
revolutions, science and technology have improved the quality of life in
industrialized societies and enriched our understanding of the world
around us. We have benefitted from new products and services ranging from
pharmaceuticals to computers, the capacity to grow more food and access
more minerals and energy, and the ability to move faster and further than
ever before. These improvements are largely the result of innovation — new
products or processes — based on scientific knowledge, which is generated and
applied by people skilled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM). STEM skills cover a wide range of knowledge and skill types, from the
technical training needed to operate sophisticated equipment, to world-leading
research in physics or biotechnology, all contributing to a prosperous society.
High-level STEM skills are important to advancing the frontiers of scientific
knowledge, but so is having a broader STEM-literate population. The adoption
of new technologies is often not possible without STEM-literate individuals with
complementary skills who can turn ideas into products and services, and put
them to use. Hence, improving the quantity and quality of all types of STEM
skills can be important in increasing economic productivity of Canada’s labour
force and fostering long-term growth of living standards.
Scientific advances and technological innovations raise living standards by
increasing productivity (economic output per unit of labour and capital
input). Advances in technology allow workers to produce more in less time
using fewer inputs of capital and resources. STEM skills help raise productivity
over the long term by contributing to technological progress. People with
STEM skills are needed to create scientific advances; to apply these advances
to develop technologically improved products, equipment, and processes; and,
most importantly, to get the most out of new technologically sophisticated
equipment and processes. Although there are many types of innovation that
can increase productivity, long-term productivity growth seems to rely ultimately
on scientific and technological progress. Having the appropriate level of
STEM skills and STEM literacy in the labour force may therefore be necessary
(but not necessarily sufficient) for technological innovation in the long term,
although the relationship between available skills and innovation is highly
complex. Innovation is a non-linear and dynamic process that occurs within
a complex ecosystem of actors, with firms as the central agents of innovation
(see CCA, 2013c, 2013a).