Federal R&D spending near stagnant despite Liberal commitments

Marginal increase of 1% this year

Federal S&T outlays are projected to inch up by 1% to $10.65 million in FY16-17 in what can be seen as an interim year between the election and budgetary pledges of the new Liberal government and any allocation of new funding. The gain is due to spending in related scientific activity (RSA), which is set to register a $184-million, year-over-year increase while R&D expenditures are set to decrease by $77 million.

Statistics Canada reports that the increase is attributable to higher projected outlays in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), jumping 8% year-over-year to $2.7 billion. In contrast, S&T spending in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) disciplines are projected to drop 1.1% to 8 billion.

Last year's survey projected a 2.1% increase for FY15-16 to $10.8 billion — an estimate that's now been downgraded to $10.5 billion.

The first Liberal Budget contained only modest increases for S&T, primarily through small boosts to the budgets of the granting councils, renewal of funding for Genome Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, and support for clean tech. It's biggest S&T announcement — $800 million over four years for networks and clusters — is attached to the forthcoming Innovation Agenda and won't start to flow until FY17-18 (R$, April 4/16).

Intramural spending up

Federal departments and agencies are slated to spend $5.6 billion — up 4.1% from the previous year — or 52.2% the total, a far larger share than FY12-13 when intramural spending accounted for 47.8% of that year's total. SSH spending of intramural S&T is expected to increase by 18.1%.

The remainder ($5.1 billion) will be allocated to external performers and funders, well off the five-year high of $5.6 billion in FY12-13.

Two thirds of S&T spending will occur in Ontario and Quebec, including the National Capital Region.

Among the external performers, higher education accounts for the single largest amount ($3.2 billion) followed by business ($949 million), non-profit institutions ($475 million), foreign performers ($357 million) and provincial and municipal governments ($130 million). The chart shows that the FY16-17 funding levels in all sectors are at or near five-year lows.

R&D expenditures are expected to decline 1.1% to $6.8 billion in FY16-17, largely due to less money flowing to the business sector, which will drop 7.9%. R&D accounts for 63.5% of total S&T spending, while RSA accounts for 36.5% or $3.9 billion. Of that, $3 billion or 76.9% will be devoted to data collection and information services.

Statistics Canada also reports that the number of personnel engaged in scientific and technological activities is stagnant at 36,153 and down 2.2% from FY12-13. NSE accounts for 70.7% of the FY16-17 total, with 10,585 or 29.7% devoted to SSH. Scientific and professional personnel account for 56.2% of the total.

Socioeconomic objectives

The StatsCan survey also allocates S&T spending according to socioeconomic objectives. The top five categories account for more two-thirds of total S&T spending. They are:

• protection and improvement of human health ($2.2 billion);

• social structures and relationships ($1.3 billion);

• industrial production and technology ($1.2 billion);

• agricultural production and technology ($1.1 billion); and,

• non-oriented research ($1.0 billion).

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