Among the new programs and policies implemented to incent more industrial R&D, few are more ambitious than the Centres of Excellence for Research and Commercialization (CECR). Introduced in 2007, there are now 23 CECRs spread across Canada’s research landscape focused on moving discoveries into the economy and society as well as training the kind of skilled talent industry requires to capitalize on new knowledge.
So what to make of the latest industry R&D personnel data from Statistics Canada (see page 6)? In 2012, the number of R&D personnel working in industry declined by more than 9% to 132,160. Since 2008, industry has shed nearly a quarter of its R&D workforce.
Does this mean the CECR program has been ineffectual? Perhaps not. The 2008-09 recession certainly took its toll and five years is not long enough to see results from the efforts to boost research capacity by transferring knowledge to the private sector, and train the talent required to undertake increased R&D activity. But clearly CECRs are under increasing pressure to demonstrate intended results and justify a federal investment of $350 million.
The refreshed Science, Technology and Innovation strategy is ostensibly devoted to reversing the trend of slumping industrial R&D. But much more is required to fuel the research base and support a small number of targetted innovative industry sectors. Industry will only undertake R&D if it has to, or the prospects of increased profits are too attractive to ignore. Whether Canada has the appropriate policy-program mix remains an open question.
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