The Socio-Economic Importance of Scientific Research To Canada

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The Socio-Economic Importance of Scientific Research to Canada Page 39© David A. Wolfe and Ammon SalterPartnerships Canada program, simply appeared to be replacements for old programs, like theDefence Industry Productivity program . . . . (de la Mothe 1996, pp. 415-16). Coming as itdid on the heels of the 1995 budget cuts, the strategy did little to compensate for the sense ofdevastation felt by the research community. This feeling was largely the result of the inwardlooking nature of the strategy and the accompanying action plans. It focused primarily on thegovernment’s in–house research capacity and paid relatively little attention to the pastcontributions and potential role of the university sector and the granting agencies that supportit. As was noted above, it confirmed the continuing reductions in government researchbudgets and stressed the importance of doing more with less. Of the specific partnershipinitiatives that were identified as a means of “sustaining support for researchers”, mostinvolved mechanisms for commercializing the results of research and directing venture capitalfunds into innovative start–up firms.In conjunction with the release of the federal strategy, the major budgetary development in1996 was the announcement of the new Technology Partnerships Canada program to providesupport to private sector partners, such as those in the aerospace industry, in their efforts tocommercialize high technology products and processes. This was the industry hardest hit bythe cancellation of the DIPP in 1995, and although the Technology Partnerships programdiffers in important ways from its predecessor, it went a long way towards satisfying theconcerns of the industry. The final budget of the Liberal government, brought down inFebruary, 1997, contained several significant announcements for the science and technologyportfolio. Chief among these was the establishment of the Canada Foundation for Innovationwith an initial allocation of $800 million over a period of five years. The CFI will providefunds on a matching basis to the provinces or industry and the universities for themodernization of research facilities in the natural sciences, engineering and health sciences atuniversities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions. In addition to theCFI, the 1997 budget also made the Networks of Centres of Excellence program permanentand stabilized its annual funding at $47.4 million — but this was largely achieved byreallocating money from the budgets of Industry Canada and the granting councils. Finally,the funding for the popular and successful Industrial Research Assistance Program run by theNational Research Council was also stabilized.While the 1997 budget certainly provided better news for the research community in Canada,the initiatives should not be regarded as a panacea for all of the problems that remain. Thecreation of the Foundation goes some way towards redressing the long standing concern overthe deterioration of our basic research infrastructure, but the Foundation itself cannot39
The Socio-Economic Importance of Scientific Research to Canada Page 40© David A. Wolfe and Ammon Saltercompensate for the budget reductions that the granting councils have suffered in the last fewyears. In addition, there are many technical issues to resolve with respect to the kinds ofinvestments that will be eligible for support, whether soft costs will be included with certainkinds of investments, and how ready the other partners are to match the federal funds madeavailable. The flow of funds is conditional on the provision of matching funds — someprovinces have already indicated their willingness to participate, but initial reaction fromindustry suggests a reluctance to fund research equipment, rather than support individualresearchers, or specific projects. Regardless of how these issues are resolved, improvedresearch infrastructure, without continued support for the training of the next generation ofresearchers, or the conduct of their research activities, will not fulfil the goals articulated in thefederal strategy, nor will it ensure that Canada realizes the kind of benefits from investments inbasic research discussed in this report. As the next section makes clear, the overall level offunding for academic research has fallen significantly below that available earlier in thedecade.THE FUNDING OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN CANADAGiven the economic and social benefits produced by scientific research that have beenidentified in this report, it is important to examine the trend in funding levels for research overthe past decade. Although the provincial governments are responsible for the post–secondaryeducational system, the federal government provides a major source of the funds for theconduct of research and development. The annual survey of scientific activities by the federalgovernment makes an important distinction between spending on science and technology andthat on research and development. The broader category of S&T includes both research anddevelopment and related scientific activities. The survey defines R&D as “creative workundertaken on a systematic basis to increase the stock of scientific and technical knowledge andto use this knowledge in new applications”. Related scientific activities is a broad categorythat subsumes a number of different things, such as scientific data collection. Although thelevel of federal spending on S&T, peaked at almost $6 billion in 1993-94 at the outset of theS&T review, the level of spending on R&D is considerably lower. Given the focus of thisreport on scientific research, the data presented in the following tables use the more focusedcategory of R&D, rather than the broader one. The data in Table 7 provide a detailedbreakdown of actual levels of federal spending on all research and development relatedactivities over the past ten years.40
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The Socio-Economic Importance of Scientific Research To Canada

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