Canada’s Source of R&D Intelligence
Toronto - September 4, 2002 - Together, the 248 Ontario-headquartered companies tracked in Canada's Top Corporate R&D Spenders Report 2002 published by Research Infosource Inc. invested $9.8 billion in research and development activities in 2001, down from $9.9 billion in fiscal 2000.
Looking at R&D investment by region, Ontario companies accounted for 73% of the total in fiscal 2001, Québec 15%, British Columbia 7%, and the Prairies 4%. Québec companies led the pack in R&D spending growth, showing a 33.3% increase in 2001. British Columbia came second with a 19.8% jump, and the Prairies were a close third, with a 16.2% growth in R&D expenditures. R&D investment by Ontario companies dropped 1.6% in fiscal 2001. The overall growth for Canada stands at 4.7% for 2001.
"Removing Nortel Networks from the calculations, Ontario would have nudged B.C. into third place by posting an increase of 19.9% in R&D expenditures", says Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource Inc. "With R&D expenditures of $5 billion in 2001, down from $5.9 billion in 2000, Nortel's results exert a strong influence on Canada's R&D numbers."
Ranking the regions by research intensity (R&D expenditures as a percent of revenues) for fiscal 2001 puts B.C. firms at the head of the pack with 10.2%, followed by Ontario at 6.1%, Québec comes next at 2.1% with the Prairies rounding out the list at 0.8%. The situation changes if we examine changes in research intensity from 2000 to 2001. Here firms in the Prairie provinces lead with an increase of 35%, next comes B.C. at 21.7%, followed by Québec at 12.1% with Ontario trailing at 6.9%.
Research Infosource Inc., www.researchinfosource.com, a division of The Impact Group, is Canada's source of R&D intelligence. Research Infosource Inc. publishes Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List, Canada's Top 50 Research Universities List, and specialized reports. Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List 2002 published in June focused on the largest firms, while the full report includes information on 581 companies, large, medium and small.
Information: Ron Freedman, CEO, Research Infosource Inc. (416) 481-7070 ext. 31
Janet Sandor, Director of Communications (416) 481-7070 ext. 25