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August 28, 2018INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CHARACTERISTICS & INTENTIONS, 2018 
Statistics Canada has released Industrial Research and Development (R&D) characteristics, including 2018 intentions, preliminary actuals for 2017 and characteristics of industrial R&D spending/personnel across provinces for 2016. Results from 2014 and beyond are not directly comparable to earlier data.
In Canada, research and development (R&D) expenditures are expected to rebound to $17.93 billion in 2018, following investments of $17.60 billion (preliminary) in 2017. Revised industrial R&D spending was $18.06 billion in 2016.
The increase in industrial R&D spending for 2018 is expected to come from Canadian-controlled firms, while the share of industrial R&D performed at foreign-controlled firms remains little changed.
The largest industrial research and development expenditures are in information and communications technology (ICT) sectors, notably computer systems design and related support. This is followed by scientific research and development sectors, wholesale services, aerospace manufacturing, software publishers and telecommunications services.
Nova Scotia industrial R&D expenditures were $152 million in 2016, down from $165 million for 2015. As a share of GDP, business R&D expenditures in Nova Scotia were 0.36 per cent in 2016, down from 0.41 per cent in the previous year. The largest presence of industrial R&D expenditures as a share of GDP occurred in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Industrial R&D increased fastest in New Brunswick and British Columbia during 2016.
There were 141,286 industrial R&D personnel in Canada in 2016, down by over 21,000 (-13 per cent) from the previous year. In percentage terms, the largest declines in industrial R&D personnel were observed in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Nova Scotia was the only province to report an increase in industrial R&D personnel in 2016.
Industrial R&D personnel (measured in full-time equivalents) amounted to approximately 0.9 per cent of all full-time equivalent workers*. The highest share of industrial R&D personnel in the workforce was reported in Quebec at 1.27 per cent, though this was down from over 1.4 per cent in the previous two years. Nova Scotia's industrial R&D personnel amounted to 0.42 per cent of all full-time equivalent workers in the province.
*Note - full-time equivalent workers for each province calcuated based on 2,000-hour work years.
Source: Statistics Canada, tables 27-10-0333-01 and 27-10-0341-01
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