Private non-profit R&D spending dominated by medical sciences

If Ontario-based medical sciences are discounted, there isn't a whole lot of R&D left to count in Canada's private, non-profit (PNP) sector. That's the picture created by Statistics Canada's latest data on the sector, which show that medical sciences conducted by research institutes comprise the bulk of sectoral spending, with the vast majority conducted in Ontario.

Intramural R&D spending by the PNP sector actually decreased to $175 million in 1999, down 3.8% from the year earlier. The decrease is chiefly due to an amalgamation between an organization and a hospital, resulting in that R&D spending being attributed to the higher education sector (see page 4). That represents the first drop in the sector in at least a decade, which has seen PNP R&D spending increase from $102 million in 1990 to $182 million in 1998.

Medical sciences account for $156.9 million or 91.2% of all PNP R&D spending in 1999, leaving just $9.7 million for social sciences and humanities and $5.8 million for other natural sciences. Ontario continues to be the jurisdiction where most PNP R&D expenditures take place, with $101 million of the 1999 total conducted there. That's not surprising given the province's dominant position in medical research and as the home to most major PNP organizations. Western Canada and Quebec account for $36 million and $35 million respectively, while the Atlantic provinces account for the remaining $3 million.

When examined by source of funds, research institutes account for the majority of PNP R&D, with $155.8 million. Larger voluntary organizations devote all their funding to medical research and account for $12.4 million, while $6.9 million comes from associations and societies. The reporting organizations themselves represent the largest single source of funding ($57 million), followed by other Canadian sources ($36 million, the federal government ($29 million), business enterprises ($21 million), provincial governments ($20 million), and foreign sources ($12 million). With the exception of reporting organizations, all other sources report a year-over-year decline in funding.

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