Federal biotech funding continues rise with most new money going to universities

Intramural expenditures on biotechnology S&T have declined to one third of all spending funded by the federal government, due to sharply increased funding of the higher education sector. Federal outlays on biotech S&T reached $792.2 million in FY04-05, up 6.3% from the previous year, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Funding to the higher education sector has doubled between FY00-01 and FY04-05 from $202.4 million to $402.6 million, and now accounts for 51% of the total federal expenditures.

During the same period, however, intramural S&T expenditures have declined from nearly 50% of all federal spending in FY00-01 to approximately 33% in both FY03-04 and FY04-05. Of the $262 million spent intramurally in FY04-05, the largest performer was the National Research Council ($123.9 million), which accounts for half of all intramural outlays. It is followed by , Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) ($67.1 million), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) ($19.5 million), Health Canada ($10.5 million) and National Defence ($10.2 million).

Federal biotech funding flowing to the business sector has been relatively stagnant over the period covered by the report. It was $34 million in FY04-05, 4.3% of the total.

For the higher education sector, the largest funding contributor is CIHR. Of the $277 million CIHR spent on biotech, $267 went to higher education. Biotech outlays accounted for 42% of its research budget. In comparison, Genome Canada's funding of biotech R&D - $82.7 million in FY04-05 - accounted for 93% of its R&D budget.

Other major funders of higher education biotechnology S&T include the the Canada Foundation for Innovation ($69 million) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council ($58.3 million).

In FY04-05, there were 1,656 federal S&T personnel dedicated to biotechnology, accounting for 5% of the 34,536 S&T staff across government. The National Research Council is home to the largest single concentration of biotech employees. Of the NRC's 4,178 S&T personnel, 733 were dedicated to biotech, accounting for 18% of the total. At AAFC, 400 or 18% of its 2,325 S&T personnel were devoted to biotech. Federal R&D personnel in FY04-05 numbered 1,462, down slightly from 1,491 in FY02-03.

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