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The Conservative government has followed through on its 2008 election pledge to inject $200 million over four years into the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) program, boosting the funding available annually to as high as $300 million.

The Canadian Light Source (CLS) has received $44 million over four years bringing it a step closer to securing the necessary support to operate the growing national synchrotron facility over the next several years.

Spending on higher education R&D resumed healthy growth in FY07-08 after nearly grinding to a standstill in FY06-07, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Higher ed expenditures reached nearly $10.

Encouraging technology pull

Research contracts with universities, colleges and polytechnics are worth at least $1.2 billion annually, far outstripping the value and importance of licensing and company spin-offs to industry.

The 2007 increase in R&D intensity by Canada’s patent-holding pharmaceutical firms appears to have been a temporary blip. New data from the Patented Medicines and Prices Review Board (PMPRB) show a decline in 2008 ratio of R&D outlays to sales revenue slipping to 8.

Companies argue it should be dropped

Industry Canada’s long-standing requirement that holders of wireless spectrum licences spend a minimum of 2% on R&D could be discontinued if Canada’s largest wireless operators convince the government that the provision is no longer necessary.

Greater industry participation urged

IBM’s powerful GPC- iDataplex system installed earlier this year at Univ of Toronto’s SciNet Consortium is the first of several new systems that promise to transform Canada’s high-performance computing (HPC) environment.

NSERC funding renewal next step

CMC Microsystems has come up big in the latest competition of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), securing $19.3 million towards a $48-million program aimed at dramatically increasing the scope and impact of microsystems in industrial and other applications.

Marginal overall gain

The manufacturing sector’s share of overall industrial R&D spending continues its precipitous slide in 2009, dropping from a 68% share in 2000 to just 52% according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

Alberta Ingenuity is launching a new centre to meet surging demand for new research into resource management, utilizing approximately $85 million in provincial, federal and private sector funding. Described as the first research centre of its kind in the world, Tecterra will focus on geomatics research collaboration between industry and researchers from Alberta’s three universities as well as other players.