Winning Globally

Direction: Stuck

Risk: Medium

Pace: Lagging

This pillar focuses on the extent to which our companies are achieving global scale through innovation and sustained investment.

We also assess how well we are doing in creating Canadian-grown global champions.

Growth at a glance

Aspirational targets have been set across the three pillars to attain long term, inclusive and sustainable growth.

GDP per capita ($)

GDP per capita — perhaps the most important metric of economic success — remains below pre-pandemic levels.

Why it matters

Without growth in GDP per capita, our living standards and real incomes will stagnate going forward.

Source: World Bank

Scale Through Innovation

Business investments in R&D (% GDP)

Business spending on research and development continues to stagnate and lag behind our peers. This suggests that Canada’s weak private sector contribution to innovation threatens our ability to build a competitive advantage.

Investment in productive tangible assets per worker ($)

Canada increased its investment in M&E in 2021 but we still lag behind our peers. Canada won’t meet its target on investment per worker under current trends.

Investment in intellectual property per worker ($)

Spending on intellectual property has struggled to break much beyond the two-per-cent-of-GDP threshold over the past two decades.

Canadian Global Champions

Global market share in key sectors (#)

Canada suffered a major setback in global corporate leadership rankings last year. The number of our companies that are among the most valued in their industries (top 10 globally) fell to 13 in 2023, from 20 in 2022.

Average export value per SME ($)

Canada has seen an increase in “narwhals” in 2023. The country has exceeded its target of 17 “narwhals” and currently sits at 23.

Number of “narwhals” worth $1B+(#)

Our export performance has finally fully recovered from the pandemic losses and has been growing faster than the rest of the economy, aided by higher commodity prices. Our share of the U.S. market is also inching higher, which is another gauge of success