A way to foster innovation: a venture capital district from Silicon Valley and route 128 to Waterloo Region

Although the US economy is traditionally cited as the model, there are other technology frontier examples, such as Canada, arising from strong linkages among firms, research communities, the financial community and government. This paper compares the most important American districts—Route 128 and Silicon Valley—with the Waterloo Region of Ontario. Second, it focuses on the linkage between venture capital and Canadian universities and shows some successful cases of knowledge and technology transfer at the University of Waterloo. Taken together, these sections provide a snapshot of the nature and status of technology transfer at Canadian universities and how it compares with that in the US.