AND NOW THIS

The next industrial revolution needs a Prosperous Growth plan.

A few months ago in this space I irreverently outlined Canada’s fundamental need for a National Strategies Strategy. The policy problem is that far too many national strategies are currently being developed in vacuums and silos in isolation, one from the other. A National Strategies Strategy would aim to bring together all Canadian stakeholders, perhaps at a foundational event or summit, for cross-disciplinary strategy- setting that would devise evidence- based intelligence on how Canada — as a diverse nation — can set up a system that would allow our best minds, institutions and diverse cultural communities to establish a national strategic hierarchy of strategies.

Such a coordinated national effort remains an essential component of a reinvigorated and prosperous Canadian economy, but much more needs to be done at the micro- spacial level, within individual firms and industries, as we prepare for the prosperity we all hope to achieve. With all that in mind, I have developed the next foundational phase for Canada’s national economic renewal. This overarching national objective, identified and defined as Prosperous Growth, can only be achieved via micro-strategic initiatives to Square the Prosperous Growth Circle.

Prosperous Growth — or PG — is the target, the small circle at the beating heart of the Canadian economy. PG is that illusive, almost Hindu-like nirvana all businesses strive to achieve. Even defining it is a challenge, but PG is perhaps best viewed as Growth that enhances Prosperity, and Prosperity that enhances Growth. A more refined definition will be spelled out in my forthcoming book, Circle-Squared Revolution ™ : How Exploding Jargonism is Changing Money, Management and Making Business Crazy.

There is no space here to review all the elements of the Circle-Squared Revolution, but suffice to say that the objective is to build a dynamic innovation ecosystem within corporate Canada that will foster a critical mass of creative talent whose core competencies will be focused on thriving within what is shaping up as the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions.

Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum, believes the Fourth Industrial Revolution — now underway — is breaking out at an exponential rate, disrupting almost every industry in every country: artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, energy storage, quantum computing.

While this revolution is galloping through the world, a fifth is also underway. Peter Marsh, a Financial

Times correspondent, writes that “The fifth industrial revolution has been triggered by a set of converging trends that alter how manufacturers organise and compete. The changes include increasing ability to combine technologies including electronics, biotech and novel materials; greater opportunities for customisation of products; and the growing use of global information pathways and supply networks.”

As t he CircleSquared graphic demonstrates, these revolutions in physical and technological convergence can only be captured via a parallel ability to combine concepts of innovative governance and firm-level adaptation of enhanced value metrics that break new ground.

Smart innovation would be a good starting point. Plain old innovation, as with plain old infrastructure, is of no use in itself. Smart innovation is the stuff that builds the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions. Other familiar policymaking concepts — diversity, benchmarking, sustainability, productivity, transparency — need to be rethought and combined to take advantage of the dramatic transformational change now engulfing the world economy. If we don’t Square the Circle, the Circle will Square us. You get the drift.

PROSPEROUS GROWTH— OR PG — IS THAT ILLUSIVE, ALMOST HINDU-LIKE NIRVANA ALL BUSINESSES STRIVE TO ACHIEVE