Research

Centre activities will be in three core areas:

• Research
• Outreach
• Education

The focus of the Centre's research efforts will be on harnessing the appropriate expertise to address policy issues associated with the digital economy. The general approach will involve sponsoring research projects of either topical or long run interest. The selection of topics, the number of research projects, and their financing will be determined annually. There is not a shortage of potential topics and the topics are expected to address both more immediate concerns as well as addressing issues whose concern is less immediate but whose importance will become more evident in the long run. An important objective of the CDE@ research program will be to sponsor research projects that identify both potential issues and appropriate policy responses that can be taken to mitigate, if not preempt, significant negative shocks.

The objective of the CDE@ is a steady stream of research output, including research reports and working papers; policy notes; and fact backgrounders. 

• CDE@ Policy Notes are shorter discussion papers on key policy issues and reviews of international research and policy debates. 
• CDE@ Fact Backgrounders will present relevant industry statistics and/or provide commentary on Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) statistics, as well as third party use of those statistics.

Our deliverables consist of research, academic training and outreach. The list below is the level we will be at during the second academic year of operation (2012-2013). We aim for half that output in our first or ramp up year. 

• Release  an average of 6-8  CDE@ Policy Notes per year. CDE@ Policy Notes are shorter discussion papers on key policy issues and reviews of international research and policy debates
• Release Fact Backgrounders which present relevant industry statistics and/or provides commentary on CRTC and OECD statistics
• Release an average of 2 research reports per year
• Organize one Roundtable per year.  These will be invitation only events in order to facilitate discussion between stakeholders on more specific content for a narrower audience
• Develop webinars on key policy and research issues
• Fund graduate students to work on practical and policy related issues for their Master’s thesis and Doctoral dissertations
• Offer one to two courses per year at the Haskayne School of Business and/or economics department
• Fund graduate students to study and conduct research on practical and policy related issues

The Centre’s publication efforts, particularly in the form of CDE@ Policy Notes, but also in the form of its educational programs, involve important outreach elements. The CDE@ will host conferences, roundtables, symposia, workshops and seminars on specific policy issues. A core mission will be to act as a facilitator between government, academics and policy analysts. Two key elements of the program will be the development of a research report series (that will be disseminated to key policy-makers and media) and the development of regular conferences and workshops that will create an important bridge between academics, regulators, and industry. An important role that the program can play is hosting conferences that include the independent perspective of academics.

Policy forms will be organized on a regular basis. The policy forums will include the presentation of projects completed within the CDE@ and will also be used to invite international experts to Canada to present their research and policy experience. The first forum was organized in September 2011 and focused on the use of spectrum auction design to foster competition in Canadian Wireless Markets.