Universities grab lion’s share of federal S&T expenditures

Federal expenditures on scientific activity are surging ahead once again this year and the latest estimates indicate that the vast majority of increased funding continues to flow to the university sector. Overall federal spending on science and technology and related scientific activities are slated to increase just 3% to $7.658 billion. But R&D spending is up a healthy 8.4% to $5.071 billion and the higher education sector is the prime beneficiary.

New Statistics Canada data show that the granting agencies, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and other sources of post-secondary research funding will increase their share of federal S&T outlays by 26.5% in FY02-03 for a total of $1.821 billion. All three granting councils show significant increases stemming from recent Budget announcements. But the greatest jump in higher education funding is registered by the CFI, which reached warp speed in FY02-03 by more than doubling its disbursements for research infrastructure in just one year (see chart).

The good fortunes of post-secondary institutions contrast with the business sector and the government itself, which experienced decreases of 5.1% and 3.5% respectively.

The Canadian non-profit sector and other Canadian performers fared better but at a much lower level. Non-profit institutions are estimated to receive $371 million this year, up 6.6% from FY1-02, while other Canadian performers enjoyed a 31.5% increase in federal funding, receiving $117 million. Funding to foreign entities was virtually stagnant at $228 million, down $4 million from the previous year.

IN-HOUSE SPENDING STILL THE MAJORITY

Despite a moderate annual decrease of $156 million or 3.5%, intramural S&T spending still accounts for 55% of all federal S&T expenditures. Departments and agencies account for $4.235 billion in S&T outlays, compared to $1.8 billion for higher education (23.8%), $886 million for business (11.6%) and $371 million for non-profit institutions (3.8%).

The natural sciences account for 78.3% of federal S&T expenditures, with $3.1 billion or 50.8% spent intramurally and another 26.4% spent in institutions of higher education. The largest spenders of federal S&T in the natural sciences are the National Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Environment Canada. Taken together they account for 33% of total government expenditures.

The social sciences represent 21.7% of overall S&T spending, with intramural accounting for $1.2 billion or 71.4% of the total. The largest spender in the social sciences is Statistics Canada, which accounts for $511 million or 6.7% of all expenditures.

The StatsCan report is based upon the most recent Main Estimates of the government’s departments and agencies. The data show that in FY00-01, S&T accounted for 4.3% of total government expenditures, rising to 4.5% for both FY01-02 and FY02-03.

The data for the major departments and agencies differ greatly when comparing S&T and R&D. For example, Environment Canada is estimated to spend $157 million on R&D in FY02-03 But that balloons to $543 million when related scientific activities are factored in, making it the largest departmental spender of federal S&T. Next is Natural Resources Canada at $419 million, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada ($344 million) and the Canadian International Development Agency ($335 million).

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