Canada’s strength is in its knowledge, according to Judy Goldring, Executive Vice-President & Chief Operating Officer at AGF Management Limited.
“Where we add our strength and where we are competitive is in our knowledge-based society,” says Goldring. “We need to make sure we stay ahead of the curve on that, and the way to do that is to invest in research, to ensure that we have innovation.”
And Goldring happens to be an expert in investment. AGF is a global asset management firm, and they work closely with PhD students and other academics to better understand and predict how the market will behave.
“In the case, for example, of understanding and predicting where the market might perform and how the market might perform, whether it be fixed income or equities, incredibly innovative techniques are being used, and it really is about taking data and creating information,” says Goldring.
Goldring advocates for investing in basic research, creating new technological advances, and driving them all the way through to commercial solutions. But the basic seed for all of it remains the basic research that expands our knowledge base.
“The innovative economy is absolutely linked to research and research investment,” says Goldring. “It is going to be driven off of data, converting that data to information. It’s going to be looking at technological innovations and how can you leverage it for investment decisions and investment solutions. And it’s going to be about understanding the markets in a much more fundamental way, but driving that through the technological applications.”
