Canada is a prosperous country, but this prosperity is being stressed by demographics, pressures on the public purse, and low productivity growth. To maintain the nation's high quality of life, prosperity must increase while remaining sustainable. Combining Tom Brzustowski's extensive knowledge of government, industry, and academia, The Way Ahead, articulates a strategy for moving the Canadian economy towards higher-value products based on research and development, describing the practical steps government, industry and academia must take to improve things in the short term and prepare strategically for the long term. He recommends increasing productivity growth by embracing an economy based on innovation, prioritizing research and development, marketing Canadian products internationally, and encouraging entrepreneurial activities in all sectors. Ultimately, increasing prosperity will require a new level of understanding, strategic coherence, and mutual support between the private and public sectors in Canada, a challenge that the author feels Canada is prepared to and absolutely must face.

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Tom Brzustowski is RBC Professor of Commercialization of Innovation at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, and Chair of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo. His remarkable career as an engineer, researcher, professor, and public servant spans more than 40 years. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2006, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.