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The Innovation Superclusters Initiative – A Preliminary Analysis

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Étienne Bergeron; Salma Mohamed Ahmed
Published on October 6, 2020 PDF

Budget 2017 earmarked $918 million over five years for the Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI). The federal money will assist with the creation of five “superclusters” across Canada, where the public and private sectors will undertake collaborative research. The Government projects that this initiative will lead to the creation of 50,000 jobs, increase GDP by $50 billion over 10 years, and accelerate innovation.

Federal funding is expected to be matched by contributions from non-federal entities, including the private sector, universities and other levels of government. Non-federal partners have announced $1,087 million over the same five-year period.

Data shared by the Government as of March 6, 2020 indicate that actual spending is lagging the original budget. The Government originally anticipated that it would have spent $104 million (or 11% of its total budget) by that point. In comparison, only $30 million was spent (29% of the original projection).

Communications

News Release

{"id":5,"created_at":"2020-10-06T07:55:35-04:00","updated_at":"2021-02-25T15:07:04-05:00","slug":"COM-2021-005--feds-spending-on-innovation-superclusters-initiative-falling-below-target-says-pbo--les-depenses-du-federal-sur-linitiative-des-supergrappes-dinnovation-sont-inferieures-aux-objectifs-selon-le-dpb","title_en":"Fed\u2019s spending on Innovation Superclusters Initiative falling below target, says PBO","title_fr":"Les d\u00e9penses du f\u00e9d\u00e9ral sur l\u2019Initiative des supergrappes d\u2019innovation sont inf\u00e9rieures aux objectifs, selon le DPB","body_en":"The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) today released a report that summarizes a few key early results of the federal government\u2019s Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI). \n\nBudget 2017 earmarked $918 million over five years for the Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI) to spur the creation of five \u201csuperclusters\u201d across Canada, where the public and private sectors undertake collaborative research. The Government projects that this initiative will lead to the creation of 50,000 jobs, increase GDP by $50 billion over 10 years, and accelerate innovation. \n\n\u201cBased on an analysis of the Government data, the rate of project selection and implementation will need to materially increase to achieve planned timelines,\u201d says Yves Giroux, PBO.\n\nThe PBO estimates that, in addition to the 45 projects that have been announced thus far, 355 new projects would need to be completed to meet the Government\u2019s spending objective of $918 million by 2022-2023.\n\n\u201cWe estimate that, if supercluster partners spend all the money that has been announced, roughly 27,000 direct jobs would be created as a result,\u201d adds Mr. Giroux. \u201cBased on the evidence and spending to date, it also seems highly unlikely that the Government will meet its objective of increasing GDP by $50 billion over 10 years.\u201d\n\nThe report The Innovation Superclusters Initiative \u2013 A Preliminary Analysis can be found by visiting our website.","body_fr":"Le Bureau du directeur parlementaire du budget (DPB) publie aujourd\u2019hui un rapport r\u00e9sumant quelques r\u00e9sultats pr\u00e9liminaires de l\u2019Initiative des supergrappes d\u2019innovation, lanc\u00e9e par le gouvernement f\u00e9d\u00e9ral. \n\nDans son budget de 2017, le gouvernement f\u00e9d\u00e9ral a affect\u00e9 une somme de 918 millions de dollars sur cinq ans \u00e0 l\u2019Initiative des supergrappes d\u2019innovation. Ce programme vise \u00e0 encourager la cr\u00e9ation, d\u2019un bout \u00e0 l\u2019autre du Canada, de cinq \u00ab supergrappes \u00bb, dans lesquelles les secteurs public et priv\u00e9 entreprennent des travaux de recherche dans un esprit de collaboration. Le gouvernement pr\u00e9voit que l\u2019initiative cr\u00e9era 50 000 emplois, qu\u2019elle augmentera le PIB de 50 milliards de dollars sur 10 ans et qu\u2019elle acc\u00e9l\u00e9rera l\u2019innovation.\n\n\u00ab Selon notre analyse des donn\u00e9es, le gouvernement devra acc\u00e9l\u00e9rer s\u00e9rieusement la s\u00e9lection et l\u2019ex\u00e9cution des projets s\u2019il veut respecter ses \u00e9ch\u00e9anciers \u00bb, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 le DPB, Yves Giroux.\n\nLe DPB estime en effet qu\u2019en plus des 45 projets de recherche s\u00e9lectionn\u00e9s jusqu\u2019\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent, il faudrait en r\u00e9aliser 355 nouveaux pour que le gouvernement atteigne son objectif de d\u00e9penses de 918 millions de dollars d\u2019ici 2022-2023.\n\n\u00ab Nous estimons que, si les partenaires des supergrappes d\u00e9pensaient la totalit\u00e9 des fonds annonc\u00e9s, environ 27 000 emplois directs seraient cr\u00e9\u00e9s \u00bb, a ajout\u00e9 M. Giroux. \u00ab Si l\u2019on se fie \u00e0 une recension de la litt\u00e9rature et aux d\u00e9penses faites jusqu\u2019\u00e0 aujourd\u2019hui, il semble tr\u00e8s peu probable que le gouvernement atteigne son objectif de faire cro\u00eetre le PIB de 50 milliards de dollars en 10 ans \u00bb \n\nOn trouvera le rapport L\u2019Initiative des supergrappes d\u2019innovation \u2013 Analyse pr\u00e9liminaire sur notre site Web.","release_date":"2020-10-06T09:00:00-04:00","is_published":"2021-02-25T15:07:04-05:00","internal_id":"COM-2021-005","permalinks":{"en":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/en\/blog\/news-releases--communiques-de-presse\/COM-2021-005--feds-spending-on-innovation-superclusters-initiative-falling-below-target-says-pbo--les-depenses-du-federal-sur-linitiative-des-supergrappes-dinnovation-sont-inferieures-aux-objectifs-selon-le-dpb"},"fr":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/fr\/blog\/news-releases--communiques-de-presse\/COM-2021-005--feds-spending-on-innovation-superclusters-initiative-falling-below-target-says-pbo--les-depenses-du-federal-sur-linitiative-des-supergrappes-dinnovation-sont-inferieures-aux-objectifs-selon-le-dpb"}},"pivot":{"publication_id":37,"news_release_id":5}}
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