Biotechnology scientific activities in federal government departments and agencies, 2006/2007

Data on science and technology (S&T) expenditures and full-time equivalent personnel allocated to biotechnology for fiscal year 2006/2007 were collected from selected federal government departments and agencies.

The federal government biotechnology S&T data comprise expenditures on research and development (R&D) and related scientific activities (RSA) for both intramural (in-house) and extramural performers (business enterprises, higher education sector, etc.) and the full-time equivalent personnel associated with S&T activities.

The federal government’s S&T expenditures on biotechnology in 2006/2007 reached $880 million, representing 9% of total federal S&T expenditures of $9.7 billion (Table 3).

The federal government allocated $278 million to in-house S&T activities in biotechnology, representing 32% of total federal biotechnology spending. National Research Council Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada accounted for two-thirds of in-house biotechnology spending with a combined expenditure of $179 million (Table 1-2).

Extramural performers including business enterprises, higher education sector and Canadian non-profit institutions received $602 million (68%) of the federal government biotechnology S&T spending in 2006/2007. The higher education sector continued to be the major recipient of these funds, receiving $481 million (80%) of federal biotechnology extramural S&T spending (Table 1-2).

Canadian Institutes of Health Research ($340 million), Canada Foundation for Innovation ($69 million) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ($66 million), when combined, represent 99% of the federal biotechnology S&T funding provided to the higher education sector in 2006/2007 (Table 1-2).

The vast majority (95%) of federal biotechnology S&T expenditures went towards funding both in-house and extramural research and development ($833 million) (Table 1-1). The federal government allocated 14% of its R&D expenditures to biotechnology in 2006/2007 (Table 4).

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research ($345 million), Genome Canada ($82 million) and Canada Foundation for Innovation ($69 million) led extramural funding of biotechnology research and development (Table 2-1).

National Research Council Canada ($110 million) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada ($67 million) represented 72% of the in-house biotechnology research and development expenditures ($247 million) in 2006/2007 (Table 2-1).

A total of 1,929 full-time equivalent (FTE) federal government personnel were dedicated to biotechnology S&T activities, representing an increase of 3.3% over 2005/2006. Of the total FTE personnel, 1,629 FTE personnel (84%) were dedicated to research and development activities (Table 5-1).

The largest share of federal government personnel in biotechnology activities was scientific and professional personnel at 41% (795 FTE) followed by technicians at 36% (703 FTE) and other at 22% (431 FTE) (Table 5-2).

National Research Council Canada (693 FTE) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (400 FTE) represented the federal government departments with the largest number of FTE personnel involved in biotechnology activities in 2006/2007 (Table 5-2).