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December 22, 2023RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SPENDING 2021 (FINAL), 2022 (PRELIMINARY) & 2023 (INTENTIONS) Today, Statistics Canada released gross domestic expenditures on research and development, for actual spending in 2021 at the provincial level as well as 2022 (preliminary) and 2023 (intentions) at national level.
Characteristics of research and development spending, 2021 (actual)
Nova Scotia's R&D spending in 2021 was $778 million for all sectors, 12.6% higher than the 2020 level of $691 million. Nova Scotia accounted for 1.7% of Canada's R&D though its economy was 2.0% of the national total in 2021.
Nationally, gross R&D spending increased 9.3% in 2021. Eight provinces reported growth in R&D expenditures with fastest growth in New Brunswick. Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan reported declines over 2020 spending.
Nova Scotia reported increases in higher education (+14.4%) spending and business sector (+15.6%) spending in 2021. All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan reported increased higher education R&D spending in 2021. All provinces reported higher spending in the business sector for R&D. R&D spending by government and non-profits declined in five provinces, including Nova Scotia, with an average decline across the country of 10.2%.
Nova Scotia's R&D spending is largely in the higher education sector, with $499 million in 2021. Business sector contributed $200 million to R&D spending in 2021. Government and non-profit are the smallest share of R&D spending with $79 million in 2021.
In 2021, over 90% of national R&D spending occurred in four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. Ontario accounted for 45.8% of Canada's R&D spending in 2021 with the business enterprise sector in the province accounting for more than half of expenditures in the province. Quebec accounted for 24.6% while British Columbia represented 12.8% and Alberta represented 9.1% of national R&D spending.
As a share of gross domestic product (GDP), R&D expenditures were largest in Quebec at 2.3% and Ontario at 2.2%. Nova Scotia R&D as a percentage of GDP was 1.5% in 2021. Provincial R&D spending was lowest as a share of GDP in Saskatchewan.
Nationally, 1.9% of Canada's GDP is spent on R&D.
Nova Scotia's R&D as a share of GDP increased in each year from 2011 to 2017. Nova Scotia's R&D as a share of GDP has been around 1.5% in recent years.
Higher education R&D spending has risen from around 0.8% in the early 2000s to around 1.0%. As a share of GDP, Nova Scotia has the highest R&D spending by higher education of all the provinces. The national average was 0.7% of GDP in 2021.
Business sector R&D has increased from a recent low of 0.2% in 2013 to 0.4% in 2021. Nationally, business sector R&D spending as a share of GDP averaged 1.1% in 2021. Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have the highest business sector R&D spending as a share of GDP.
Nova Scotia's government and non-profit R&D spending was 0.2% of GDP in 2021. This sector reflects the smallest share of R&D spending in all provinces and has been steadily trending down as a share of GDP across the country. Nationally, government and non-profit R&D spending as a share of GDP was 0.1% in 2021.
National spending on research and development, 2023 (intentions)
Canada's expenditures on research and development (R&D) increased 9.3% in 2021 to $46.9 billion. Preliminary spending for 2022 is estimated to be $48.2 billion, growth of 2.6%. The intentions for 2023 point to an increase of 2.1% to $49.1 billion. Canada's R&D spending intentions for 2023 are up for higher education, business sectors and government and non-profit sector.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 27-10-0273-01 Gross domestic expenditures on research and development, by science type and by funder and performer sector (x 1,000,000); Table 36-10-0222-01 Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, provincial and territorial, annual (x 1,000,000)
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