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November 10, 2020RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR, 2018/2019 
Nova Scotia’s higher education research and development (R&D) spending declined by 1.4 per cent from the previous year to $421 million in 2018/2019. This was the first-time higher education R&D sending declined in Nova Scotia since 2011/2012 period. On average, R&D spending in Nova Scotia’s higher education sector has been increasing by 4.2 per cent annually.
Nationally, higher education sector spending on R&D totalled $15,1 billion in 2018/2019, up 5.2 per cent from the previous year. This was the ninth consecutive annual increase and the largest since 2012/2013. Nova Scotia and Manitoba were the only two provinces posting annual R&D spending declines in 2018/2019.
On a per capita basis, Nova Scotia’s higher education sector has the third largest R&D spending in the country at $440 per capita, just behind Newfoundland and Labrador ($732 per capita) and Quebec ($452 per capita). Nationally, higher education sector spending on R&D averaged to $407 per capita in 2018/2019.
Looking at the higher education sector R&D spending as a percentage of GDP, Nova Scotia had the second largest across Canada at 1.1 per cent of GDP in 2018/2019. This was just behind Newfoundland and Labrador (1.3%) and was higher compared to the national average of 0.8 per cent.
Higher education R&D spending has been on an upward trend in Nova Scotia since 2000/2001, growing from under 0.7 per cent of GDP in 2000/2001 to over 1.0 per cent in recent years. In the last 15 years, Canada's higher education R&D spending has fluctuated in a narrow range between 0.61 and 0.78 per cent of GDP.
Just under 71 per cent of the higher education R&D spending in Nova Scotia in 2018/2019 was in the natural sciences and engineering category while the R&D spending in the social sciences and humanities category accounted for 29 per cent of the total expenditures. Spending in natural sciences and engineering in Nova Scotia declined 3.2 per cent from a year ago to $299 million while social sciences and humanities R&D spending increased 3.1 per cent to $123 million.
Nationally, the natural sciences and engineering category accounted for 76 per cent of all higher education R&D spending, with expenditures reaching $11.5 billion in 2018/2019. The social sciences and humanities category accounted for the remaining 24 per cent of spending and totalled to $3.6 billion in 2018/2019.
Note: 'CAGR' = Compound annual growth rate
Source: Statistics Canada, Table 27-10-0025-01 Provincial estimates of research and development expenditures in the higher education sector, by funding sector and type of science (x 1,000,000)
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