Science and technology

Description: Percentage of enterprises that had specific strategic focus with respect to business processes (core activities to produce products and all support business activities) over the next five years, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size. Strategic focus with respect to business processes include maintenance on current business processes, optimization of current business processes, introduction of new or improved business processes, downsize of current business processes to focus on areas of advantage.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that required skills in specific areas, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Specific areas include basic digital, computer science, information technology, general data science and analytics, natural sciences and engineering, management, business, international business, skilled trades, design, coaching and mentoring skills to meet the needs of the business, and e-commerce or digital trade.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that encountered skill shortages in specific areas, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Specific areas include basic digital, computer science, information technology, general data science and analytics, natural sciences and engineering, management, business, international business, skilled trades, design, coaching and mentoring skills to meet the needs of the business, and e-commerce or digital trade.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that owned any of intellectual property assets in Canada or outside of Canada, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and enterprise size. Intellectual property assets include patents, trademarks, industrial design, trade secrets, copyrights, non-disclosure agreements, and other types of intellectual property.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that have a corporate diversity strategy, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and enterprise size.

Description: This study examined the impact of federal business innovation and growth support (BIGS) programs on firm financial performance measured using revenue, profit and employment metrics. Using Statistics Canada’s Business Linkable File Environment data, the study observed the effects of BIGS on exporting versus non-exporting firms and Canadian- versus U.S.-owned firms from 2015 to 2020. Unlike previous studies that relied mainly on survey data, one significant aspect of this research was the use of a new dataset, enabling panel data structures and models to be employed. To assess the impact of BIGS and research and development spending on three interrelated measures of firm financial performance, the CDM (Crépon et al., 1998) framework was adopted.

Description: The Census of Environment Geospatial Explorer is web GIS application that lets users visualize thematic maps of Statistics Canada data tables published in the context of the Census of Environment. The application reads statistical data from the Common Output Data Repository (CODR) using Statistics Canada Web Data Services (WDS) and joins them with geospatial data to build and display thematic maps to the user.

Description: This infographic examines Canadian exporters in 2021 that have been funded by the federal government through Business Innovation and Growth Support (BIGS) programs. Data is presented by program, countries of export, industry and comparison highlights.

Description: This infographic focuses on product and business process innovation introduced by Canadian businesses during the 2020-2022 period, based on data from the 2022 Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy. It presents the rate of innovation among Canadian businesses, the most common obstacles to innovation reported by businesses, the prevalent types of intellectual property (IP) protection filed by innovation businesses that developed new products, and the role of government support for innovation.

Description: Personnel engaged in research and development, by performing sector, occupational category and type of science for Canada from 2000 to today.

Description: New or significantly improved goods or services brought onto the market from 2020 to 2023, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, second quarter of 2024.

Description: Innovation of new products or services and most significant recent product innovation was new to its market, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, second quarter of 2024.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises that used specific types of advanced or emerging technologies, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Advanced technologies include material handling, supply chain or logistics technologies; design or information control technologies; processing or fabrication technologies; clean technologies; security or advanced authentication systems; business intelligence technologies; and other types of advanced technologies. Emerging technologies include nanotechnology, biotechnology, geomatics or geospatial technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), integrated Internet of Things (IoT) systems, blockchain technologies, and other types of emerging technologies.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises that did not adopt or use advanced technologies for specific reasons, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Reasons for not adopting or using advanced technologies include not convinced of economic benefit; difficulty in obtaining financing; high cost of advanced technologies; investment not necessary for continuing operations; lack of technical skills required to support this type of investment; organizational culture too inflexible; decisions made by parent, affiliates or subsidiary businesses; lack of technical support or services (from consultants or vendors); lack of information regarding advanced technology; difficulty in integrating new advanced technologies with existing systems, standards and processes; other reasons for not adopting or using advanced technologies; and adoption or use of advanced technologies not applicable to this business’s activities.

Description: Percentage of enterprises where the use of clean technologies was related to environmental protection, sustainable resource management or adapted goods, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Environmental protection includes air and environment protection or remediation; waste management, reduction or recycling; and water or wastewater treatment. Sustainable resource management includes alternative fuels; non-emitting energy supply; bio-products; smart grid; energy storage; energy management and efficiency improvements; water management or recycling; agriculture, aquaculture, forestry or biodiversity improvements; and sustainable mining. Adapted goods include energy-efficient transportation, energy-efficient equipment or appliances, and advanced or lightweight materials.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises for which specific long-term strategies were the most important, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, over the next five years. The most important long-term strategies include main focus on good or service positioning, main focus on low-price and cost leadership, and good or service positioning and low-price and cost leadership are equally important.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises for which specific statements best described their strategic focus regarding goods or services (products), by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, over the next five years. Statements that best described enterprises’ strategic focus regarding goods or services (products) include maintain sales of existing goods or services, expand the sales of existing goods or services, introduce new or significantly improved goods or services regularly, and don’t know.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises that sold only goods, only services or both goods and services, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises that produced or manufactured any of the goods that they sold, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period.

Description:

Percentage of enterprises that offered specific services to complement the sale of goods, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Complementary services include after-sales maintenance or repair, installation or implementation, training or technical support, after-sales condition monitoring or quality control, customization, distribution or transportation, leasing or rental agreements, and other services.

Description:

This infographic provides an overview of the Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC), a national standard jointly developed by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and Statistics Canada.

Description:

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies have fuelled fears of potential job losses among some workers. While the net impact of new technology on total jobs can be negative, positive or neutral, some workers may be more affected than others depending on how easily robots and algorithms can replace them, or how easily their skills complement the new technology. In the case of women and men, it is not clear who is likely to be most affected. This study estimates the risk of job transformation as a result of automation technology faced by women and men.

Description:

Over the past few decades, computer technology has gradually changed workplaces, leading to a reduction of routine and manual job tasks, and an increase in non-routine, cognitive tasks. More recent developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning could be even more far-reaching, as they are designed to execute tasks that were traditionally considered non-automatable.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description:

The recent development of several artificial intelligence applications—such as driverless vehicles, robo-writers and computer-aided medical diagnostics—has led to concerns about the role of human workers in the future workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to these concerns, as businesses may turn to new artificial intelligence technologies to perform work activities not traditionally regarded as automatable, such as social tasks. While previous studies have estimated the share of Canadian workers at high risk of automation-related job transformation, this study is the first to examine in great detail the automation risks faced by different groups of workers.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description:

The main objective of this paper is to determine whether the immigration status of the owner of a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) affects the likelihood of a company implementing an innovation. This paper uses data from a survey of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2011, 2014 and 2017, and asks whether immigrant-owned SMEs were more likely to innovate during the three years prior to the survey than those owned by Canadian-born individuals.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description:

Multinationals play an important role in the world economy because they are larger, innovate more, are more productive and pay higher wages compared with non-multinationals. Multinationals (i.e., firms that have established affiliates or subsidiaries in other countries) have played an increasingly important role in many economies. In Canada, multinationals accounted for only 0.8% of all enterprises in 2016, but they held 67% of all assets in the Canadian economy (Schaffter and Fortier-Labonté 2019). Given the importance of multinationals to the Canadian economy, it is essential for policy makers to understand the economic performance and productivity advantage of multinationals operating in Canada.

To address policy-relevant research questions, a rich micro dataset covering all industries from 2000 to 2014 has been constructed for this study, using several administrative microdata files at Statistics Canada. This dataset is used to delve deeper into and estimate the productivity advantage of multinationals, including the selection and learning effects associated with multinationality. In addition, this study investigates whether and how research and development (R&D) investment contributes to the superior productivity performance of multinationals.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) is a statistical series, constructed by adding together the intramural expenditures on research and development (R&D) as reported by the performing sectors.

Description: This survey collects information related to research and development (R&D) in post secondary institutions in Canada, in particular information related to faculty teaching, research, administration and service. The data from the survey is an important component in estimating higher education research and development expenditures (HERD).

Description: This survey measures the general familiarity of owners and managers of enterprises across selected industries with intellectual property (IP). The purpose of collecting this information is to help evaluate impacts of Canadian Government programs to educate and raise awareness on the value of intellectual property.