When local venture player Mark Skapinker of Brightspark said that the Ontario venture industry was underperforming the rest of Canada, people took notice. Ontario is home to Canada's foremost universities, Toronto's biotech resources and the Kitchener - Waterloo technology cluster. With assets like these the province should be leading the rest of Canada not following it. Is there a place for government involvement in the VC sector? Take a look at the role government played in Oklahoma:

A state authority created to build Oklahoma's venture capital industry has had an economic impact of nearly $1 billion, according to a study by a Phoenix-based consulting firm.

The study, conducted by Applied Economics, estimates that the Oklahoma Capital Investment Board has had an impact of $881.3 million on the Oklahoma economy as a result of its 13-year administration of two programs -- the Venture Investment Program and Oklahoma Capital Access Program.