Definitions for the natural sciences and engineering

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The natural sciences and engineering (NSE) field embraces the disciplines of study concerned with understanding, exploring, developing or utilizing the natural world. Included are the engineering, mathematical, life and physical sciences.

Scientific research and experimental development (R&D)
Related scientific activities (RSA)

Scientific research and experimental development (R&D)

Creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of scientific and technical knowledge and to use this knowledge in new applications.

The central characteristic of R&D is an appreciable element of novelty and of uncertainty.  New knowledge, products or processes are sought.  The work is normally performed by, or under the supervision of, persons with postgraduate degrees in the natural sciences or engineering.

An R&D project generally has three characteristics:

• a substantial element of uncertainty, novelty and innovation;
• a well-defined project design;
• a report on the procedures and results of the projects.

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Related scientific activities (RSA)

Those activities which complement and extend R&D by contributing to the generation, dissemination and application of scientific and technological knowledge. The kinds of related scientific activities for the natural sciences are described below.

Scientific data collection

The gathering, processing, collating and analyzing of data on natural phenomena. These data are normally the results of surveys, routine laboratory analyses or compilations of operating records.  Data collected as part of an existing or proposed R&D project are charged to research.  Similarly, the costs of analyzing existing data as part of a research project are R&D costs, even when the data were originally collected for some other purpose.  The development of new techniques for data collection is also to be considered to be a research activity.  Examples of scientific data collection are routine geological, hydrographic, oceanographic and topographic surveys; routine astronomical observations; maintenance of meteorological records; and wildlife and fisheries surveys.

Information services

All work directed to recording, classifying, translating and disseminating scientific and technological information as well as museum services. Included are the operations of scientific and technical libraries, S&T consulting and advisory services, the Patent Office, the publication of scientific journals and monographs, and the organizing of scientific conferences. Grants for the publication of scholarly works are also included.

General purpose information services or information services directed primarily towards the general public are excluded, as are general departmental and public libraries.  When individual budgets exist, the costs of libraries which belong to institutions otherwise entirely classified to another activity, such as R&D, should be assigned to information services.  The costs of printing and distributing reports from another activity, such as R&D, are normally attributable to that activity.

Sub-categories under “information services” include:

• Museum services

• The collecting, cataloguing, and displaying of specimens of the natural world or of representations of natural phenomena.  The activity involves a systematic attempt to preserve and display items from the natural world; in some ways it could be considered an extension of information services.  The scientific activities of natural history museums, zoologi­cal and botanical gardens, aquaria, planetaria and nature reserves are included.  Parks which are not primarily restricted reserves for certain fauna or flora are excluded.  In all cases the costs of providing entertainment and recreation to visitors should be excluded (e.g. restaurants, children’s gardens and museums).
• When a museum also covers not only natural history but also aspects of human cultural activities, the museum’s resources should be appropriated between the natural and social sciences.  However, museums of science and technology, war, etc., which display synthetic or artificial objects and may also illustrate the operations of certain technologies, should be considered as engaged in museum services in social sciences.

Special services and studies

• Work directed towards the establishment of national and provincial standards for materials, devices, products and processes; the calibration of secondary standards; non-routine quality testing; feasibility studies and demonstration projects.


• Examples of special studies: a study of the viability of petrochemical complex in a certain region of Canada; the Royal commission of poverty; the MacKenzie valley pipeline inquiry; the Manitoba guaranteed income experiment; and social impact studies resulting from development of the Hibernia oil fields (net costs).

Sub-categories under “special services and studies” include:

• Testing and standardization:
  • Work directed towards the establishment of national and international standards for materials, devices, products and processes, the calibration of secondary standards and non-routine quality testing. The development of new measures for standards, or of new methods of measuring or testing, is R&D and should be reported as such. Exclude routine testing such as monitoring radioactivity levels or soil tests before construction.
• Feasibility studies:

• Technical investigations of proposed engineering projects to provide additional information required to reach decisions on implementation. Besides feasibility studies per se, the related activity of demonstration projects are to be included. Demonstration projects involve the operation of scaled-up versions of a facility or process, or data on factors such as costs, operational characteristics, market demand and public acceptance. Projects called ‘demonstration projects’ but which conform to the definition of R&D should be considered R&D. Once a facility or process is operated primarily to provide a service or to gain revenue, rather than as a demonstration, it should no longer be included with feasibility studies. In all demonstration projects, only the net costs should be considered. Examples of demonstration projects are the Spry Point Ark, the Geothermal heating project, Regina, and the fluidized bed combustion system, P.E.I.

Education support

Grants to individuals or institutions on behalf of individuals which are intended to support the post-secondary education of students in technology and the natural sciences. General operating or capital grants are excluded. The activity includes the support of foreign students in their studies of the natural sciences at Canadian or foreign institutions.  Grants intended primarily to support the research of individuals at universities are either R&D grants or research fellowships.