CIHR increases share of federal funding for biotechnology: Statistics Canada

Guest Contributor
March 16, 2009

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the main beneficiary of increases in federal investment in biotechnology S&T, increasing more than 20% between FY06-07 and FY07-08, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Increased funding to CIHR far outstripped the overall increase in federal biotech spending which rose 4.6% in the same period.

CIHR's support of biotech research in higher education institutions helped push that sector to an all-time high of $528 million in FY07-08, up 9.9% from the previous year. That's in contrast to intramural biotech S&T spending, which dropped 5.3% to $263.0 million. Federal funding directed to the business sector decreased even more substantially from $24.5 million in FY06-07 to $15.4 million in FY07-08, a drop of 37.1%. Funding of foreign and other performers (defined as Canadian non-profit institutions, provincial and municipal governments) experienced modest increases of 5.3% and 0.3% respectively.

R&D accounted for 95% of all biotech S&T spending for a total of $874.4 million.

Among line departments, Health Canada experienced a substantial decline in R&D funding, from $8 million in FY05-06 to $4.9 million in FY07-08. That was largely due to the emergence of the Public Health Agency of Canada, which went from zero in FY03-04 to $4.9 million in FY07-08.

National Defence also experienced a significant decline in R&D funding from $15.1 million in FY06-07 to $7.8 million in FY07-08.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) held steady at $64.2 million in FY07-08, down slightly from $67.1 million the previous year. Fisheries and Oceans Canada also held steady at $3.1 million.

Among the granting councils, the majority of biotech R&D expenditures were allocated through CIHR. But the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council also accounted for a substantial amount. It increased from $62.2 million in FY06-07 to $70.6 million in FY07-08.

S&T personnel

A total of 2,112 personnel were employed in biotech S&T activities in FY07-08, up from 1,929 in FY06-07. The National Research Council was the single largest employer of biotech S&T personnel with 712, followed by AAFC with 552.

CIHR employed 189 personnel, closely followed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency with 182.

Of total personnel, 826 were classified as scientific and professional, while 862 were classified as technical. Other personnel numbered 424.

R$

Federal government S&T expenditures on biotechnology

($000s)
Department/Agency2003-4   2004-5   2005-6   2006-7   2007-8   
Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada 63,936    67,073    67,073    67,073   65,325   
Canada Foundation for Innovation 78,261    71,005    109,697    70,625   43,565   
Canadian Food Inspection Agency 12,265    12,399    16,109    16,256   17,568   
Canadian Institutes of Health Research 271,135    299,230    323,930    371,501   446,910   
Environment Canada 1,747    1,933    1,511    1,024    491   
Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2,916    3,860    3,860    3,774    3,774   
Genome Canada 80,701    82,663    91,108    84,022   92,586   
Health Canada 14,592    10,665    14,186    13,801   10,994   
Industry Canada 23,630    31,813    19,516    23,584    15,928   
National Defence 13,850    13,453    13,203    15,464    7,839   
National Research Council121,389    134,319    122,728    120,964    115,091   
Natural Resources Canada 8,537    8,173    8,383    11,056    10,324   
Natural Sciences & Engineering    
Research Council59,204    63,143    67,867    70,957   80,234   
Public Health Agency of Canada 0    610    1,018    5,308   6,288   
Social Sciences & Humanities    
Research Council4,076    3,822    4,641    4,678   3,631   
Total 756,239    804,161    864,830    880,087   920,548   



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