Research and development of Canadian private non-profit organizations, 2021 (actual), 2022 (preliminary) and 2023 (perspectives)
Released: 2023-03-10
Canadian private non-profit organizations spent $189 million on in-house research and development (R&D) in 2021, representing a historic high in spending levels.
Current in-house R&D spending continued to be the main in-house expenditure in 2021, as spending reached $179 million (up 11.2% from 2020). Capital in-house R&D expenditures increased to $10 million in 2021, which is the highest level reported since 2014.
Total in-house R&D expenditures are expected to decline to $171 million in 2022 and slightly increase to $172 million in 2023.
Medical and health sciences remain the primary focus of research and development
In-house R&D spending is categorized into two main fields: the natural sciences and engineering, and the social sciences and humanities. Spending in the natural sciences and engineering field in 2021 made up the majority (83.1%) of in-house R&D expenditures.
Spending in the natural sciences and engineering field rose 10.6% to $157 million. The principal focus of R&D spending in this category remained in the medical and health sciences group ($100 million), with clinical medicine ($37 million) and health sciences ($38 million) accounting for three-quarters of this spending.
R&D spending in the social sciences and humanities increased to $32 million. This represents a rebound from a decrease in spending that occurred in this field in 2020, nearing previous spending levels reported in 2019 ($33 million).
Chart 1
In-house research and development expenditures by field of research and development, 2014 to 2021
Private non-profit organizations focus mainly on applied research and development
In-house R&D is categorized into three types: basic research (investigation of the underlying foundations of a phenomenon), applied research (original investigation of a phenomenon with a practical objective) and experimental development (creating an end product or process).
Applied research remained the focus of R&D ($105 million) in 2021, accounting for 55.6% of all in-house R&D expenditures, ahead of basic research ($52 million) and experimental development ($32 million). This focus of R&D differs from R&D conducted by businesses, where experimental development tends to be the priority.
In-house research and development personnel increase
In 2021, in-house R&D personnel increased 10.6% to 1,252 full-time equivalents (FTEs).
Private non-profit organizations also reported the gender of their in-house R&D personnel for the first time in 2021. Based on feedback from more than three quarters of organizations, which accounted for 50.3% of all personnel reported, about 47% of FTEs were male and around 53% of FTEs were female.
Outsourcing of research and development increase in 2021
Private non-profits outsourced $622 million (up 28.2%) of R&D to other organizations in 2021. Outsourcing within Canada accounted for $545 million of this total, which was captured mainly (87.5%) by hospitals ($311 million) and universities ($166 million).
Looking ahead, total outsourced R&D spending is anticipated to increase to $706 million in 2022 and decrease to $670 million in 2023.
Note to readers
Private non-profit organizations provide services to households either without charge or at prices that are not economically significant. For purposes of measuring research and development (R&D) performance, private non-profit organizations include voluntary health organizations, private philanthropic foundations and private research institutes.
The private non-profit sector is residual in nature. Private non-profit organizations that are controlled and financed by government (at least 50%) or affiliated with higher education institutions are excluded from the survey population. R&D expenditures for these excluded private non-profit organizations are included in the R&D expenditures for the government and higher education sectors. Control over private non-profit organizations may change over time, causing volatility within the sector's population.
Contact information
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