Cisco Canada Submission — Improving Canada's Digital Advantage; An Unprecedented Opportunity

Summary

It's become a stark truth. Government leaders in every corner of the world are being confronted by increasingly well–documented forces that are shaking the very foundations of the economies on which they and those they serve, build and measure their lives. There's no doubt that in order to address these core realities, governments, including Canada's, are acting on what will undoubtedly be seen as defining moments of leadership.

Certainly, a part of this leadership is reflected in the Consultation Paper on a Digital Economy Strategy for Canada and the Government of Canada should be commended for this initiative. The paper sets the stage for the creation of a national strategy that's been long needed. The implementation of a robust strategy has the potential to position Canada to better address today's challenges, while repositioning Canada to seize tomorrow's opportunities. Cisco welcomes and appreciates the opportunity to comment.

By leveraging and driving the critical role that digital technologies and content play in our economy, Canada has an unprecedented opportunity not only to revitalize our ICT sector as a centre of excellence, but to also extend our digital knowledge base and capability across industries to stimulate innovation, entrepreneurship and economic success. Canada's capacity for innovation and the ability to absorb and deploy technology was recently ranked 18^th in the world.

We are falling behind in embracing the opportunities of a digital economy and their impact on our societal and economic well–being. This is a trend that must be reversed and we applaud Industry Canada for their leadership in developing an effective and sustainable strategy that establishes a national framework supporting and developing our ICT industry and digital capability.

We must recognize the vital role innovation and entrepreneurship play in our economy. Digital strength capability is a key foundation and enabler of innovation, productivity and global competitiveness. We must refocus on the strength of Canada's ICT sector and reignite R&D investment and innovation to build competitive industries of the future, create jobs, and drive economic growth.

A more prosperous and successful Canada will ensure higher level of economic output, global competitiveness and will ultimately drive a higher standard of living.

We are living in a global reality of pervasive connectedness. In the next two years, the median global broadband penetration rate will exceed sixty percent. Seventeen billion devices, many with heavy demands on the infrastructure, will be connected to the internet. In Canada, over two hundred and forty hours of video alone will cross the internet every second of every day. Internet traffic in Canada will continue to grow by forty percent year over year and mobile internet traffic will grow by a stunning one hundred and thirty–five percent, year over year. In less than ten years, well in excess of one trillion devices will be connected to the internet and essentially, to each other. These numbers speak to the staggering complexity and the pointed need for a long–term strategic commitment that governments, citizens and businesses must embrace.

This strategic commitment also needs to be made real; the worst possible outcome is for a Digital Economy Strategy that might well chart a plan for future prosperity, yet somehow stands alone from helping to address the needs and concerns of Canadians; Healthcare, Education, Taxes, Economic prosperity and the Environment.

While the five themes of the current Digital Economy Strategy consultation are clearly important, it is fundamentally essential that the Government of Canada take this opportunity to connect these issues to any Digital Economy Strategy and subsequent policies and their implementation.

In the 21^st century, the history of economic growth will be marked by governments investing in networks that promote the free flow of intellectual property and investment capital, labour and production in dynamic and responsive ways. Those who erect barriers that inhibit the open exchange of ideas and commerce will find themselves excluded from the networked markets of the future and, will be stripped of any hoped–for digital advantage.

We submit that against a backdrop of global competition and connectedness, this action needs to be seen as powerful as it is pragmatic. The consequences of inaction cannot be underestimated.

Submission

The Consultation's Five Themes

Theme 1 – The Capacity to Innovate Using Digital Technologies

A country's capacity to innovate, along with the knowledge and expertise it demands and creates, is critical to driving economic growth and to creating the conditions needed for sustainable prosperity.

It opens the field of worldwide commerce to small–scale entrepreneurs and nascent innovative practices. These entrepreneurial businesses exhibit the fast, innovation–led growth that pushes the technology frontier. Such processes don't occur without encouragement and investment. Venture capital structures and economic culture are keys to the successful nurturing of these companies.

It opens markets and creates borderless social connections that improve economic and social well–being. Network–powered growth is fundamentally redefining traditional models of innovation clusters. People and ideas are coming together without the need for geographical proximity. A huge opportunity in a country as large as ours.

It improves the free flow and development of all components of economic growth, including financial, intellectual, social, production, transportation, market, and public innovations that will redefine our economic future.

It provides the ability to cross institutional and national boundaries in order to conduct open discussions for achieving a sound national and international regulation and supervision framework.

Equally, the capacity to innovate needs to reflect the reality of a truly modern workforce and what that implies. Without taking the actions needed to create and grow one, the opportunities to foster and accelerate innovation becoming increasingly limited.

With the capacity to collaborate and communicate clearly and effectively, the ability to provide fast and reliable access to relevant information, the removal of distance as a barrier to teamwork, the anytime/anywhere expectations of all stakeholders, a modern workforce becomes the strategic innovation platform for a completely new dialogue, now and for the future.

Governments need to revisit past beliefs on what constitutes the right conditions for innovation. They need to look critically at what and who are required to help shape the policy, operational and leadership skills that their societies now expect and demand in order for innovation to take root.

The idea of a more collaborative organization is not new. But the concept of collaborative government is fundamentally changing. There are no alternatives but to embrace new models for engagement and collaboration. These new models begin not with new technology but with new relationships that begin with new processes supported by technology. Collaborative government is and must be the other piece of any capacity to meaningfully innovate.

The Digital Economy Strategy must also drive a new discussion and relationship with Small and Medium Enterprises and those entrepreneurs that can leverage an effective Strategy to help create lasting prosperity.

SMEs represent 64 per cent of economic output, 80 per cent of jobs and 85 per cent of all new jobs. Clearly, any major increase in productivity in Canada must come from engaging and supporting SMEs.

Yet Canada continues to be seen as a country that doesn't do enough to foster entrepreneurialism. Our focus often remains on incentives, benefits and support for more mature industries and large enterprises. If we want to turn the tide of productivity and innovation in this country, we need to shift our mindset to grow a real culture of entrepreneurship.

Our SMEs tend to currently operate focused on their day–to–day existence, which hardly gives them an opportunity to take a longer–term, strategic view and to consider how today's technology might genuinely accelerate their businesses. SMEs are spending less than half per worker on ICT than their counterparts in the US; further compounding matters, half of all Canadian SMEs spend less than 4% of revenue on ICT. Assuming 45 per cent of Canada's GDP is directly attributed to SME contribution, SMEs represented approximately $577 billion annually to our economy in 2009. If just 35 per cent of SMEs adopt ICT, consistent with its use elsewhere, there is potential for an incremental $17.1 billion to Canada's GDP.

We see this an imperative for the public sector and the larger private sector to help move our SMEs from tactical to visionary in their use of ICT. Currently the vast majority operate in standalone, business silos where their use of ICT is basic. Some are more strategic and use ICT for sales enablement, customer intimacy and improved productivity. Very few are world–leading and visionary in how they use ICT. These organizations appreciate that ICT drives the new and sophisticated collaboration required for national and global business success. There is a significant opportunity for a national framework that can make this happen.

Recommendations:

• Digital Economy investments should be made to enable growth in all industry sectors, as opposed to focusing solely on sectors that rely on technological innovation. Selective sectoral investments will do little in addressing the core issues and opportunities.
• With a specific emphasis on the SME, the government should broaden tax benefits and subsidies for companies procuring ICT tools.
• Accelerate Public Service Renewal with formal and sweeping commitments to the creation of a fully modern government workforce, a critical element of any digital economy strategy and another way in which the Government of Canada can be a model user
• In a joint public/private arrangement, create a national network of "Showcase Labs" or "Innovation Centres" that allow SMEs, Entrepreneurs, and others to understand, use and exploit the latest technologies.
• Government must lead, become a model consumer of ICT as a service and develop "success stories" around productivity increases and cost reduction realized from its own ICT use.

Theme 2 – Building a World–Class Digital Infrastructure

It's a widely–held view that this country needs to do more to unlock the potential of the new digital infrastructure, encouraging the creativity and innovation of consumers and entrepreneurs to create new social and business models and new consumption patterns. Broadband is now a major social infrastructure.

High speed broadband will enable next generation internet, radical new services and business models. It will unlock the growth potential of all businesses, provide a platform for improved school systems and enable a huge range of environmentally sustainable ways to work and learn. Fundamentally, widespread access to next generation broadband connections is an essential component of our economic future.

In addition to its overall economic impact, broadband also has an important effect on local economic clusters. It not only supports the establishment and growth of ICT–intensive businesses such as various types of outsourcing and new media, but also supports the productivity, competitiveness, and growth of traditional local clusters such as tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing. Studies in developed countries have shown that businesses with access to broadband were over thirty percent more productive than businesses without it. Equally, for every 1 percent of broadband penetration, employment is expected to increase by .2 to .3 percent. We've noted that the demand for next–generation broadband is growing significantly and in fact, that demand is accelerating.

Another cornerstone element of a world–class digital infrastructure which must be considered now is the Cloud; Cloud computing is a new computing model enabled by next–generation broadband that is already having profound effects. The Cloud computing conversation should not be put aside as something belonging in the technical domain or solely as a matter for technologists. While Cloud computing delivers technical infrastructure, services and software on demand, via the network, it's broader value cuts across everything discussed in this paper and as is contemplated by Canada's Digital Economy Strategy.

For example, in the SME context, Cloud computing can profoundly change the way such organizations access and use ICT products and services. Instead of owning and managing ICT products and services, or using a traditional outsourcing approach built around dedicated hardware, software, and support services, organizations employing cloud computing services can meet their ICT requirements using a flexible, on–demand, and rapidly scalable model requiring neither ownership on their part, nor provision of dedicated resources by a cloud services provider.

One of the many significant cloud computing opportunities for the Public Sector may be at the multi–jurisdictional and all–of–government levels. Around the world, public sector information management is clearly dominated by a silo model that sees most government organizations operating largely stand–alone information systems. One of the more intractable challenges faced by governments has been effective sharing of information technology resources.

It's reasonable to expect that cloud computing can address many of the real or perceived barriers that have prevented widespread adoption of shared services in across the Public Sector. With Cloud computing, we're finally reaching the point of maturity, sophistication, and flexibility needed to realize shared services objectives, resulting in more efficient and effective public sector information management and all of the benefits that this would deliver.

Cloud computing, whether in the Public or Private Sector context is further accelerating demand and it's imperative that this reality be taken into account as Canada's digital infrastructure is being repositioned, redefined and rebuilt.

In addition to the impact and opportunity for our citizens, Canada's global competitiveness depends on smart and rapid action to address such multiple infrastructure demands.

The following is a set of underlying broadband principles that we suggest every government use as the foundation of an explicit broadband strategy or plan that is, in turn, closely linked to the national economic and social plan.

Broadband Principles

• Broadband is an essential infrastructure and a critical enabler of economic growth, social inclusiveness, and effective government
• Broadband is technology–neutral
• A market–driven, competitive approach accelerates broadband deployment and use
• Government's objectives should be to eliminate barriers and bottlenecks, facilitate entry and drive down costs
• Government's role is to orchestrate, enable, facilitate, stimulate and provide
• There are a number of models for a competitive broadband marketplace
• Private and public sector roles are complementary and mutually reinforcing

Building on these principles and drawing from the fast–developing best practices of leading countries, we've identified five major action areas for an effective broadband strategy.

1. Policies and regulations affecting network market structures
   – Encourage competition and technology diversity in access to and provision of telecommunications services
2. Policies and regulations affecting content development and applications
   – Encourage multiple voice, data, and video content and service providers
   – Encourage open access to networks by content and service providers
3. Government operations and services, including spending power
   – Use broadband to support effective and efficient delivery of programs and services, including quality healthcare and education
   – Aggregate government requirements to create "demand pull" for broadband
4. Skills for information and communications technology
   – Increase number of university graduates in engineering and IT
   – Increase ICT technical training in colleges
   – Train new graduates and unemployed in basic ICT skills
   – Increase computer literacy of small–business owners, not–for–profits, teachers, and community group
5. Direct and indirect investment in infrastructure and access
   – Offer tax incentives
   – Award grants to community groups to develop plans for broadband usage and localized content
   – Provide computers to schools, community centers, students
   – Provide access to rights–of–way, ductwork, towers
   – Subsidize network providers to extend networks into unserved areas ahead of market demand
   – Invest in underlying core network in unserved areas

Clearly, Canada amongst others, has taken some of these steps, however governments around the world realize that there is now a next generation opportunity to revisit and reinvest. This includes matters of reach and competition of course. A balanced market environment considers the needs and investments already made by incumbent players, yet still provide incentives for newcomers.

At the same time, in order to build complementary wireless networks with the requisite speed for the applications of tomorrow, spectrum with a global footprint needs to be made available for wireless broadband on a technology and service neutral basis.

In addition to the role of regulation in shaping the competitive network environment, regulations, both ICT–specific and more generic, can have the effect of discouraging the establishment of content service providers and innovation in the development and deployment of useful content and applications. As seen with telephony, outdated regulation can generate barriers and constrain access to existing assets by inhibiting opportunities for reduced entry costs and technology promotion.

Much of the thinking in the regulatory arena is based on the legacy of the telephone industry and the historical regulatory environment in virtually every country around the globe. Very different conditions, however, surround IP–based content on broadband networks. Distance, duration and, to a large degree, usage (e.g., voice, data, and/or video) are no longer relevant, making the minute–by–minute billing increment of little value. Voice is just one application available to the end user.

Countries that have made great strides in broadband connectivity have evolved from a regulatory framework designed for a telephone monopoly to recognizing telecommunications as a platform for voice, data, and video convergence and treating networks as critical infrastructure to be used by a vast array of content and service providers.

It's important that rules are established to ensure that there is open access by application and content providers to the network. This provides the greatest potential for innovation and the development of content that people will want to use, including localized services and information. Regulators may also have some discretion in promoting broadband services that are viewed as being in the public interest. For example, in many jurisdictions, reduced rates have been approved for research, education, and other desirable and noncommercial uses.

Governments are also reallocating existing expenditures or providing new funding in health and education to connect schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, clinics, and other health facilities to broadband networks. This action will deliver high–valueadded programs such as distance education and remote diagnostics with high efficiency, on a very cost–effective basis.

These kinds of programs are making it possible for previously excluded individuals and communities to participate in the economy and society. There are many examples of such initiatives from governments around the world, including the Ontario Telemedicine Network, where some 3,000 health care professionals in more than 925 sites across the province are already delivering over 90,000 patient visits annually. We are just scratching the surface with initiatives such as this.

Lack of consistent next–generation broadband capacity across the country is a barrier to the rollout of such programs. Lack of capacity also denies convenient and equitable access to citizens and businesses that cannot access these services electronically. This is why many governments have used their own purchasing power and the aggregation of the government's own use of networks as a means of encouraging network providers to extend broadband coverage.

Combining the requirements for network capacity of all government departments, as well as the locations to be served, into one purchase can have a dramatic demandpull effect on broadband supply. Governments may go even further by requiring the underlying network provider to provide service to a wider geography than they currently serve in order to bid on or receive the government's business.

Governments around the world are becoming significantly more proactive in direct and indirect funding to encourage access to broadband or new broadband infrastructure.

Strategic investments may be required to establish a national infrastructure foundation on which private investments and local initiatives can be built. Unlike other basic infrastructure, which has usually been 100 percent government–funded, the required investments in broadband may be addressed through various forms of public and private investment. Private investment in networks and broadband service development is critical and has propelled the development of networks and the growth of connectivity in many countries. At the same time, in order to build complementary wireless networks with the speed needed for the applications of tomorrow, spectrum with a global footprint needs to be made available for wireless broadband on a technology and service neutral basis.

Governments are also providing significant indirect support for the extension of broadband through measures such as the provision of rights–of–way at little or no cost, or including the costs of necessary ductwork to enable future broadband deployment as part of other infrastructure investments. Given that rights–of–way acquisition and construction represent a large portion of broadband costs, it should be a requirement that the design and construction of new or expanded buildings, roads, bridges, railways, and power grids include broadband–ready capabilities.

This would not only reduce the costs of future broadband deployment, but would also enable future capability for the smart and connected operation and management of the infrastructure to reduce traffic congestion, reduce energy consumption, reduce ongoing management costs, and/or improve other outcomes. This is a current priority in many countries and is seen as a significant leapfrog opportunity for those who have yet to formalize such plans.

Smart grids will be at the core of our energy security and climate change solutions, and will make homes and buildings more productive and economical.

Broadband has the potential to improve the efficiency of electricity generation and use, enabling the transformation of the electricity grids by providing an end–to–end, secure communications fabric to help utilities companies optimize power supply and demand.

These Connected Grids are rapidly becoming top priorities for Governments to support, given their many benefits. In addition to environmental benefits and operational efficiencies, connected grids are for the first time, becoming fully Observable, Controllable, Automated and Integrated, all as a direct result of the availability of next generation broadband infrastructure.

Smart Grid and other mutually connected intelligent systems to manage the urban environment are powerful elements of a digital economy not only in the opportunities they create, but in the effect that a serious commitment to Smart Communities would have on the Canadian ICT industry itself, as the tools for truly intelligent communities are created. For the first time in history, a majority of people live in urban areas. Over the next five years, another half billion people will be reside in cities. By 2050, at least 100 new cities will be inhabited by more than a million residents. Developing the infrastructure of these new cities will require trillions of dollars. The environmental impact of this massive urbanization is without precedent. The need for all these cities to sustainably balance social, economic, and environmental resources is more critical than ever before.

Today hundreds of different systems and protocols across an urban center are not interoperable. When these systems are converged onto a single open–systems based network, significant opportunities for productivity, growth, and innovation can be unleashed.

Smart+Connected Communities changes the way cities, towns, and villages are designed, built, managed, and renewed to achieve economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Smart+Connected Communities will also transform the way citizens access e–government services, workspaces, transportation, safety and security, utilities, all through one network.

Smart Communities are an inevitability and with the creation of a world–class digital infrastructure, the opportunity for Canada is real and significant.

The opportunities created by Smart+Connected Communities, Smart+Connected Real Estate and Connected Grids could be key to the growth of the ICT industry. With the right Government support, the potential to establish Canada as a destination for global R&D and venture capital required to meet the challenges of the economic and social shifts currently underway, is profound.

The network has become the platform to address social needs and create new sources of growth. Next generation broadband will drive a new wave of innovation, productivity, economic growth and jobs. Everything from connected energy grids, buildings and communities to an active, independent ageing population and a reinvigorated democracy and will be inspired by it.

Recommendations:

• Create an aggregated nation–wide next generation network that lays the foundation for the digital economy and will help secure our sustained prosperity. A cohesive communications, collaboration strategy and platform to deliver health, education, services and research. Managed on a Federal–Provincial basis, this national next generation broadband network would be the engine of a world–class digital infrastructure.
• Through specific Government policies that would serve to draw global financial resources here, create and attract the expertise that positions Canada as a global centre for research and implementation of Smart Communities, Grids and Real Estate, nationally and globally, as a highly valuable export.
• Establish broadband performance goals that support specific public policy objectives (healthcare, environment, education…). As noted, making the digital economy and digital infrastructure more forcefully relevant in the everyday lives of Canadians is essential. This could also support a broader and accelerated dialogue on a roll–out plan for ultra high–speed broadband.
• Remove impediments to rapid capital re–investments, including the depreciation rules that force organizations to unnaturally limit their technology refresh plans.
• Ensure sufficient spectrum is available in large enough blocks for next generation wireless technologies to cover all geographies and close the digital divide.
• Implement policies and regulations such that the design and construction of new or expanded buildings, roads, bridges, railways, and power grids must include broadband–ready capabilities.
• Focus on Canada's overall broadband quality and to help ensure the ability to meet tomorrow's needs, aggressively pursue a strategy that supports service consistency.
• Create a national Cloud infrastructure, when combined with appropriate incentives, acts as a powerful accelerator for ICT adoption by SMEs.
• Coordinate and help incent the creation of a national Connected Grid implementation, as enabled by next generation broadband

Theme 3 – Growing the Information and Communications Technology Industry

Canada's ICT Industry is a significant employer and contributor to Canada's economic output and has the potential to build on its strengths. The challenge lies in the definition of the industry. In an era of pervasive connectedness, where every industry utilizes technology, the traditional definition of ICT blurs quickly. There are many companies in adjacent markets, who would consider themselves more as technology companies, as their own businesses and industries have evolved These are healthy outcomes and the consultation paper rightly points out that, with the right support and engagement, the industry can be the engine for a range of new products, services and businesses.

To move the agenda forward, it's necessary to consider the pre–commercialization challenges that often cause nascent players to not achieve their objectives or potential. As network technology now allows and very much to Canada's benefit, there is a distinct and very exciting opportunity to bring the various players into closer alignment.

The Government of Canada has significant policy, research and grants and contributions entities who should themselves be better aligned and coordinated. They can not only be responsive to the small and medium enterprises that should be the focus of growing the industry, their closer alignment and collaboration can also help these organizations move through their own business lifecycles with the right funding and support at the right time. This is central to the ability to connect to this important part of the private sector, aggregating resources and generally making the right people aware of what's available.

It's also important to connect the creative economy of arts and culture with the digital economy. It's a veritable certainty that new businesses will spring forward from this even more broadly creative combination. This connection can also come about through access to existing government and research networks, so that these artists can express their creativity differently and to a much wider audience.

In today's global economy, the innovation chain has become more dispersed and complex, independent of the sophistication of business relationships inside or outside existing hubs. The only way to keep innovating is to connect the dots through new paths. Co–locating all these participants in a unique physical place is increasingly difficult.

Connections can very much be at the community level. The Smart+Connected Communities initiative brings together a large set of partnerships, products, services, and solutions to address this significant emerging opportunity using the network as the platform. As noted, incenting the creation of products and services that support smart and connected communities will also fundamentally help to grow the ICT industry.

Further, there's an enormous opportunity for the industry and for the broader digital advantage that we are seeking to build. This opportunity is connected Real Estate, which has the potential to effect change on an exceptionally wide scale. Bringing real property assets into the 21^st century, through integrating systems, people and processes to create smart buildings, represents new opportunities for the industry, society and governments.

The Government of Canada is the country's biggest landlord and as such, the ability to manage this portfolio differently, not only provides the Government with an opportunity to be a model user, it can also deliver real and sustainable business, operational and employee benefits. On a national basis, the opportunity is powerful. With more than 925 million square metres (10 billion+ square feet) of commercial real estate across the country, making these facilities more efficient brings the potential for stunning benefits and for the creation of an expanded industry.

Recently, the Governments of Canada and Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the revitalization of Toronto's waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization. The Toronto Waterfront initiative represents a key opportunity for Canada to invest in and deploy a world–class connected community. Over the next 25 years, new business, residential and educational communities will be developed and connected in a global showcase.

A proposed Innovation Centre will be a hub for Living Laboratories to validate Smart and Connected Communities strategic solutions. These solutions potentially span Connected Healthcare, Real Estate, Transportation, Public Safety, Energy and Consumer applications. The potential arising from this initiative is very significant and could help position Canada as a centre of excellence in establishing these communities of the future.

There's a broader, related opportunity for Government itself and this relates to the re–engineering of work. Through the creation of an integrated workforce and a network of smart, sustainable work locations which can improve citizen service, including improved responsiveness to citizen and employee concerns, reducing costs and optimizing expense management, reducing the environmental footprint (including carbon emissions and energy use) and improving workforce quality, engagement, and performance, the Government can not only be a model, it can help reset the pace of such necessary changes.

These kinds of initiatives lead once again to the very real need for a more sophisticated approach to collaboration. The Government of Canada, with a nationally aligned research, policy, grants and contributions regime for example, could become a spectacular enabler and point–of–focus for these new collaborative models.

Recommendations:

• Review, realign and consolidate, the Government of Canada and other jurisdictional entities that support and enable the private sector creation of innovative technology products and services, in order to bring multiple business benefits to both the public and private sectors
• Utilizing the ability to integrate technology, a dynamic workforce and flexible work environments and given the unstoppable convergence of information, people, buildings, and devices, incent the creation of new models of work. The Government of Canada can also use such approaches to become a model user
• Establish a national Innovation Centre model, building on proven initiatives, further enriched by the engagement of all parts of the community and as enabled by a world–class digital infrastructure

Theme 4 – Digital Media: Creating Canada's Digital Content Advantage

Today, digital media is the most compelling platform to instantly and effectively reach customers, employees, partners, and students with important information, news, training, and events; it is effective because it preserves characteristics of face–to–face communication and brings both intimacy and immediacy to communications.

Studies show that people are far more likely to engage and retain information they can both see and hear. With digital media, it is possible to absorb and easily remember large amounts of often complicated information. Digital media is versatile; it draws viewers in whether the content is marketing, internal communications, training, advertising, or entertainment materials. More and more organizations are using digital media to deliver timely and targeted communications; it is creating a new kind of customer experience and facilitating business transformation.

Organizations of all sizes increasingly strive to improve external and internal communications in order to retain customers, compete, and grow their businesses domestically and globally. With digital media, organizations can provide direct, relevant communications, and create richer and more satisfying experiences for both customers and end users, ultimately accelerating business transformation across many aspects of the business.

By embracing Digital Media, organizations can:

• Learn: They can provide training to employees, customers, and partners while saving money on travel costs, in addition to providing classroom alternatives, reaching geographically dispersed students, and enabling project–based learning.
• Grow: They can expand revenue opportunities with product promotion and advertising opportunities.
• Communicate: Video is now secure and easy to create, search, and share, making it an easy, scalable, and cost–effective form of communication.
• Collaborate: Information sharing through video and digital media across organizations increases productivity, accelerates time to market, facilities faster decision making, and promotes sharing of expertise.

Digital Media, as the consultation paper calls out, represents a significant opportunity for Canada; however as with other elements of the strategy, if Canada wants to become a recognized leader, the time for real action is very much upon us. As we've noted earlier, Countries around the world are redefining what prosperity means for them and are positioning support for digital media enterprises high on their list of priorities.

Recommendations:

• The Digital Media segment of the ICT industry should be a focus area utilizing similar models and infrastructure commitments as needed for the broader ICT industry
• The creation of Digital Media expertise and businesses should be a key part of the creation of national Innovation Centres

Theme 5 – Building Digital Skills for Tomorrow

In the context of the preceding and the entire Digital Economy Strategy initiative, the importance of relevant skills development, cannot be overstated. Countries who demonstrate their commitment to advanced training and education have a natural advantage over those that don't. Canada is known for having a well–educated workforce, however there remains a growing concern that we'll be unable to deliver digitally–literate citizens into jobs that will simply demand them as a core–competency. This concern extends to age, gender and ethnic diversity, as it does to the growing digital skills divide, which is another alarming trend.

We are often asked why the private sector is so invested in education. We are interested because we know that education is the ticket to opportunity and prosperity. It enables all of us to become entrepreneurs, academics, business and government leaders. Our own future sustainability depends on the innovation and expertise of our employees.

We also know that even thought today's global digital economy provides numerous opportunities not available before, there is a still an undeniable need for universal access to quality education and visionary leadership.

We believe that the core of an excellent education system is based on talented teachers, strong system–wide leadership, solid and relevant curriculum and accountability for outcomes. However, another vital element is the integration of technologies that can fuel new forms of teaching learning, nurture 21^st century skills and to fundamentally prepare learners for participation in the global digital economy.

There are a broad set skills of required for success in the 21^st century; these of course include the core skills of language, math, science and arts and are further extended by 21^st century themes such as environmental awareness and the impacts of globalization. These are complemented by learning and innovation skills, information and technology skills and life and career skills.

Additionally, we need to train our citizens to have the capacity for problem solving and decision making; creative and critical thinking; collaboration, communication and negotiation; intellectual curiousity and the ability to find, select, structure and evaluate information. In so doing, we're also creating independent self–starters who are responsible, persevering, self–regulating, reflective, self–evaluating and self–correcting. Lifelong learners who are flexible and able to adapt to change.

Success in the global digital economy workplace will require systems that increase performance in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) disciplines. STEM skills are increasingly sought out by employers as a key source of innovation and growth. This does not diminish the need for focus on the humanities and the arts, which are essential to societal success and well–being.

We believe and our global work bears it out, that there are three significant barriers to be overcome if we are to truly be in a position to build tomorrow's digital skills.

The first barrier is access. Broadband access is an essential precondition for the effective use of collaborative technologies in teaching and learning. Canada is not among the countries that have put ambitious next generation broadband goals in motion, in support of their education systems.

The second barrier is traditional methods of training and development for teachers and administrators. Teachers will need a clear understanding of the educational benefits of new technologies and the most productive and creative ways to integrate digital resources into the curriculum. Leaders need to ensure that teachers develop the skills and capabilities needed to properly deploy these tools in support of teaching and learning.

The final barrier is design and the cooperation and new forms of collaboration required to provide consistent, focused and rich education experiences. A different national dialogue between educators and leaders will be central to success and proper alignment. Just as successful businesses deploy technology in a way that supports sound business practices, educators must deploy technology in a way that addresses fundamental 21^st century education objectives and encourages the active participation of each learner in the learning process.

Cisco's Networking Academy is one example of building digital skills in a 21^st Century educational model. It is a public–private education eco–system that not only prepares students for Cisco technical certifications, but also delivers a range of technical and business skills that can support students in the future as they further their educations, prepare for work outside the ICT industry, or start their own businesses. Students range from secondary school pupils to university students, to those later in life looking for a second chance.

Through a coordinated body, digital literacy skills must become a priority across the education spectrum and systems (including continuing education and retraining). Governments in Canada must come together to create the conditions and standards to address the pressing need for digitally–savvy students and citizens; it's no longer an option.

Recommendations:

• Create an integrated Digital Skills curriculum as part of the core education beginning at the earliest primary levels
• Promote transformative education via public–private partnerships that experiment with learning methods
• Use technology for remote teaching and training, sophisticated assessment, participatory methods and engagement of students outside the classroom.
• Ensure ICT is a core competence in teacher training.
• Ensure sufficient spectrum is available in large enough blocks for next generation wireless technologies to cover all geographies and close the digital divide.

We commend the Government of Canada and those Public Service leaders who have worked with the utmost diligence and professionalism in bringing this critical dialogue forward. The Digital Economy and its importance to our collective hopes for our economy, society and well–being cannot be overstated.

The focus, now, must turn to taking the combined voices of all who have responded to this request, from input and insight to action and leadership and to do so with the sense of commitment and urgency that this demands.

We very much look forward to continuing the Digital Economy Strategy discussion with the Government of Canada and other stakeholders. Cisco's dedicated employees and leadership in Canada and around the world stand ready to support an initiative which has the potential to ensure our future prosperity and to change Canada's place in the world.

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