Region Is Spending More On Research And Development
There are indications – nothing concrete, but indications nonetheless – that Atlantic Canada is beginning to improve its performance in research and development.
The region has historically been a weak player in Canadian R&D, especially in the private sector. Canada itself ranks poorly in international rankings in R&D and its East Coast is especially weak. But the most recent data on R&D spending shows the region is spending more on R&D, and the increases exceed the growth in the country overall.
But the picture is not 100 percent positive. There is also data showing that the number of people employed in R&D has declined in the region, mainly because of Nova Scotia.
R&D data is usually murky. It’s always years out of date, and it’s difficult to nail down exactly what activity constitutes R&D and which jobs are devoted to it. The best metrics available come from Statistics Canada, and I’d like to thank David Campbell of Jupia Consultants in Moncton for his help in finding and understanding them.
The most recent data in overall spending only goes up to 2017, but it shows an improvement. Over five years, the region’s gross domestic spending on R&D rose by about one-fifth, led by a surge in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. That almost doubles the roughly 10 percent growth rate in Canada overall (though it falls short of national leader British Columbia, whose R&D spending rose by more than one-third).
Read more about this story at Entrevestor.