Canada has good prospects in the data-driven economy and has an opportunity to capitalize on its assets by substantially expanding public sector investment. Prosperity in the knowledge-based and data-driven economy will be based on ownership of rent-generating assets. Data and data-driven intellectual property retention policies are needed. Inward technology-seeking foreign direct investment should be viewed through a different policy lens than traditional inward investment in the industrial sectors. A data governance regime is required to create competitive market conditions under technological conditions that drive the emergence of superstar firms and “winner-take-most” economics. Canada will need to develop its regime in the context of free trade agreement commitments to the free flow of data and data localization prohibitions.
