Old manufacturing dogs can learn new tricks: Professor Harald Bathelt leads U of T innovation study

October 5, 2011

See an interview with Professor Harald Bathelt on Business News Network.

A study of innovation activity in Canada’s Technology Triangle since the onset of the 2008 recession shows that traditional manufacturing industries have fared much better than expected, contradicting what some analysts suggest are the best bets for future prosperity.

The study, led by Professor Harald Bathelt, Canada Research Chair in Innovation and Governance in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Geography and Program in Planning, shows that traditional industries in the Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph metropolitan regions of southwestern Ontario were well prepared to deal with the effects of the global financial crisis due to ongoing innovation and diversification stimulated by prior economic crises.

Continue reading at the Faculty of Arts and Science.