In their day to day life, human beings are involved in a wide range of activities to produce the necessities of life. In the other reports of this series, production has been depicted in a back box with knowledge as one of its inputs. Human production activities are so diverse that correct classifications are always required to organize them properly. Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing Mining and quarrying Manufacturing Electricity, gas and water Construction Wholesale, and retail trade and restaurant and hotels Transport, storage and communication Financing, insurance, real estate and business services Community, social and personal services Activities not adequately defined In Canada, as well as in the US, the Standard Industrial Classification - SIC is the dominant sectoral classification. The stage or level of innovation is another criteria to organizing the businesses.
Innovation can appear in all sectors of activity , whether traditional, or high-tech.
Innovation classification is based on the knowledge input of a production and should be depicted independent from sectoral classification. A matrix configuration is probably the best procedure to depict the relationships between the sectoral and innovation classifications. Some documents have used them as almost interchangeable terms. If not, how they are connected to each other. The Matrix Taxonomy for Industrial Classification Systems is able to assists us to clarify some distinctions between them.