Dan Breznitz has been named the winner of the $60,000 Writers’ Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.

He took home the award for his book Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World  (Oxford University Press). In their citation, the jury credited Breznitz for research that “demonstrates that by focusing on the invention side – creating the next new thing – Canadian policy and industry largely miss the major benefits of the innovation train.”

Innovation in Real Places is the fourth book by Breznitz, the chair of innovation studies and co-director of the innovation policy lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Breznitz’s book was one of four named to the shortlist last month. The other three shortlisted authors receive $5,000.

The jury, author and physician Samantha Nutt, policy expert Taki Sarantakis, and digital strategist Scott Young, selected the finalists from 69 books submitted by 34 publishers.

The Writers’ Trust announced the new nonfiction prize earlier this year. The endowment for the prize is part of tech entrepreneur Jim Balsillie’s $3 million commitment to the non-profit organization.