Innovation Canada: A Call to Action

Innovation Canada: A Call to ActionFigure 5.1 Types of R&D Performers Employed by Firm“Approximately what percentage of your R&D performers....?”[Addressed to firms reporting that they perform in-house R&D]Hold doctorates/PhDs8015 3 2Hold graduate degreesAre undergraduates(colleges and universities)Are technicians/technologists38 30 29 335 24 38 344 28 24 40 20 40 60 80 100Percent01–50 51+ Did not know/no responsen = 956Source: Results from a survey of firms conducted for the Panel by EKOS Research Associates Inc., 2011.than a third claimed the application process wastoo burdensome. All other responses werementioned much less frequently (Figure 5.2).Two-thirds of the 1009 firms surveyed reportedhaving used a federal R&D program sometimein the past and 72 percent of those (488 firms)had accessed such a program in the past threeyears. Of the 678 firms that were past orpresent program users, 58 percent stated thattheir firms expended more on R&D as a resultof receiving federal support. This included79 percent of IRAP users and 71 percent ofSR&ED program users — further evidence of theimpact of these two large-scale programs onthe propensity of companies to undertake R&D.(This of course still does not permit conclusionsabout the comparative effectiveness of theSR&ED program and IRAP, nor objectivequantification of their net public benefit.)Among the 488 survey respondents that hadaccessed a federal R&D program in the pastthree years, 73 percent reported using theSR&ED program and 17 percent IRAP. No otherprogram was identified (unprompted) by morethan 1 percent of the companies (Figure 5.3).This strongly suggests that other federalprograms are not well known to firms.Moreover, it implies that the survey responsesto questions about firms’ experiences in usingfederal R&D programs for the most part concernthe SR&ED program and/or IRAP, with theSR&ED program the more prevalent by a ratioof more than four to one.Bearing this significant qualification in mind,recent program users were also asked to ratetheir satisfaction in relation to ten aspects of theprograms they had used (Figure 5.4). Generallyspeaking, the surveyed firms expressed highlevels of satisfaction with federal R&D supportprograms — in effect, the SR&ED program and5-6