National Research Council Canada 2019–20 Departmental Plan

The NRC will contribute to research excellence and enhance innovation through its collaborative R&D initiatives and by providing increased support through its Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).

IRAP supported over 15,000 high-quality SME jobs between 2015-16 and 2017-18. While 2018-19 statistics are not yet available, these SMEs reported average revenue growth of 23% in 2017-18. In 2019-20, the NRC will build on these successes as Budget 2018 increased funding of $150M annually to support SMEs to scale-up and grow.

Through procurement of innovative solutions from Canadian SMEs, the NRC will expand its collaborations with government programs, including Innovative Solutions Canada, a procurement and grant program led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) that supports Canadian companies in developing innovative products and services with investments by 20 departments and agencies. To help Canadian SMEs scale-up, IRAP will also increase its contribution limit to $10M for high growth SMEs and it will create an Investment Review Committee to monitor and approve the increased contributions and to provide additional oversight on all contributions. IRAP's established Due Diligence Process will continue to be used to complete assessments of companies by expert advisors, followed by detailed reviews by senior management for all contributions. For larger value contributions projects exceeding $1M, an additional framework for business processes and performance monitoring will be implemented and used for the duration of the contribution agreement. Together with the Business Development Bank of Canada and the National Bank of Canada, IRAP will formalize a process and approval criteria for delivering capital loans to high potential, innovative clients who are at a critical stage of commercialization.

Experimenting with New Approaches: In addition, the NRC and IRAP will build on its experimental Certificate pilot initiative, which helps SMEs access the NRC's R&D facilities and expertise. In 2019-20, IRAP will experiment with a continuous submission process to allow SMEs to take advantage of the NRC's research capabilities at any point in a fiscal year. To expand its reach, IRAP will explore alternative funding sources for the Certificate initiative in addition to existing IRAP operational funding.

Enabled by Budget 2018 funding, the NRC also reduced its fees charged to SMEs, universities and colleges to access its facilities, services and expertise. This initiative aims to enhance collaborations and help diffuse new innovations to high growth firms.

The NRC's R&D activities will be more collaborative and supportive of all five of Canada's new Superclusters and other federal priorities.

• The NRC will support the Protein Industries Supercluster to help position Canada as a global leader in the sustainable production of high quality plant-based protein and other products. The NRC's contributions in 2019-20 will include identifying research opportunities for improving crop varieties, particularly canola and pulses, and developing next-generation ingredients and advanced processing technologies to enhance quality, traceability and brand identity.
• In alignment with the SCALE.AI Supercluster and Digital Technology Supercluster, collaborations will be established in priority areas including extreme photonics ^Footnote1, Blockchain, Internet of Things, applied mathematics, and AI. For the rapidly developing frontier of artificial intelligence, the NRC will continue to be attuned to the principle of responsible AI.
• Over the next three years, the NRC will seek to develop a digital representation of ice in harsh marine environments. Toward this goal, the NRC will build a computing infrastructure to analyze its ice engineering research and to allow the development of a world-leading model that informs engineering solutions for harsh marine environments. Computing infrastructure should be in place by the end of 2019-20 and existing ice data and preliminary analysis by 2020-21. This endeavour is expected to align with Canada's Ocean Supercluster.
• The NRC will support the Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster by developing digitalization capabilities and translating them into solutions that will improve productivity and strengthen the global competitiveness of Canadian industries, beginning with the surface transportation sector.
• To support the Canadian biopharmaceutical sector in alignment with the federal priority of Health and Bio-sciences, the NRC will assist companies in advancing novel medicines, such as biologics, from discovery to commercialization. The NRC will play a lead role as an innovation hub for industry, government and academia to work together to catalyze new vaccine development against emerging infections in Canada.
• Building on four years of technology development for small unmanned aerial systems, the NRC will increase its efforts towards establishing a sustainable autonomous air mobility industry in Canada.

As part of its international strategy, the NRC will enhance relationships and tools to enable deeper science, research, and innovation collaboration with key innovation actors in Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. Consistent with this vision, the NRC will further promote, build and facilitate growing collaborations with German research institutions, industry, and government science and innovation programs through an on-the-ground presence in Germany, beginning with the presence of an NRC representative in the consulate in Munich. Working closely with Global Affairs Canada, NRC expertise will significantly accelerate collaborations in Germany for the benefit of the NRC's research programs and Canadian SMEs (via IRAP collaboration programs, such as EUREKA and the Canadian International Innovation Program, which will help firms become part of global value chains).

The newly appointed Departmental Science Advisor (DSA) provides advice to the President and senior management on matters related to sustaining science and research excellence and ensures that programs, policies and plans are informed by evidence-based research, and a high standard for excellence. Together, the President's Research Excellence Advisory Committee (PREAC) and Secretary of PREAC, who also fulfills the role of the President's Science Advisor (PSA), act as the voice of NRC researchers to the President, provide advice on best practices to conduct research and scientific assessments, and participate in research outreach activities.

The NRC will advance the frontiers of scientific and technical knowledge by continuing to focus on the disruptive (game changing) technology platforms of the future, and science-based solutions that address problems of national importance. Outcomes will include advancement of scientific knowledge and long-term capability development in such areas as advanced semiconductor materials, quantum, nanotechnology, digitalization, cybersecurity, sensors for the Internet of Things, and AI areas that are expected to significantly impact industries in the future.

With the support of $30M funding announced in Budget 2018, the NRC will launch four new collaboration initiatives to bring together the best minds available to advance knowledge, fundamental science and technology development that contribute to Canadian research excellence. They are as follows:

• Novel Materials for Clean and Sustainable Energy – to develop new materials for clean and sustainable sources of energy
• High-throughput and Secure Networks – to develop high performance, affordable and secure communication for rural and remote communities
• Health Technologies in Engineered Cell and Gene Therapies – to develop technologies that support safe, accessible and affordable therapies in order to significantly improve health outcomes
• Artificial Intelligence for Design – a foundation of AI tools, technologies and capabilities to support the above three mission areas

Through the Health collaboration initiative, the NRC will mobilize its vast network of expertise in house and at universities, hospitals, industry, and other organizations to further develop technologies that will lead to advanced cell and gene therapies capable of modifying disease and correcting genetic defects in patients safely and precisely.

The NRC will support advanced research in sub-atomic physics through program stewardship as well as contribution payments of $55M to TRIUMF, Canada's particle accelerator centre. Expected results include an inherently safe non-nuclear facility that will create critical isotopes for nuclear medicine.

The NRC will also continue to support its university partners in the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) project located at the NRC's Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) in British Columbia. The DRAO site provides a radio-quiet zone, one of the best environments available for studying the expansion history of the universe and for discovering fast radio bursts.

The NRC will further its collaboration with the University of Alberta through the joint Nanotechnology Initiative. The next generation of collaborative nanotechnology research projects, to begin in 2021, will leverage complementary research expertise, equipment and funding in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. The NRC will also build on early success of the Quantum Security Technology Access Centre (QSTAC) that enables access to critical technology foresight and engages with the best minds in quantum technologies ^Footnote2 that are poised to have significant impact for industries.

With support from the European Space Agency, the NRC will advance next-generation remote sensing technologies for global monitoring of the atmosphere and environment. The results will inform plans for international space missions. Building on its recognized reputation for excellence in astronomy, the NRC will co-deliver, along with its Australian counterpart, leading edge technologies that will enhance the detection and imaging capabilities of the Gemini telescope.

In fulfilling commitments towards research excellence as outlined in the NRC Dialogue Action Plan, the NRC will continue to implement a competitive annual Ideation Fund for creative research projects, ranging from one to three years, with the potential to advance science, research, and innovation. This includes a New Beginnings Fund for self-directed bottom-up research projects from individual researchers, and a Small Teams Fund for larger novel, exploratory research ideas.

Experimenting with New Approaches: Currently, the NRC provides time dissemination services, such as network time protocol (NTP) and a remote time system, to industry clients and research facilities to enhance their access to reliable time signal and frequency information. The NRC will continue to explore means of performing higher precision time comparisons in pace with the increasing needs of scientific communities. These efforts will complement successful on-going experimentation in disseminating time more accurately. The NRC anticipates investing approximately $265K in 2019-20 for this experimentation.

The NRC has the people, expertise, services, licensing opportunities, national facilities and global networks for creating scientific knowledge and for supporting Canadian businesses in bringing their technologies to market. Its unique infrastructure includes 14 Research Centres that operate 26 focused R&D initiatives across Canada and 88 research facilities that include aerospace engineering and manufacturing, astronomy, high-throughput DNA sequencing, photonics, biotechnology, nanotechnology and more. The NRC will provide R&D communities (from industry, other government departments and universities) increased access to this infrastructure as required by an advanced knowledge-based economy.

The NRC will support harmonized building codes across Canada so that building requirements in provinces and territories will align with each other. This will help increase industry competitiveness, support increased labour mobility, eliminate non-tariff trade barriers, and provide a single national foundation for export development. As announced in the 2018 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada will invest $67.5M over five years and $13.5M per year ongoing to make electronic access to the National Building Codes free, and to provide sufficient resources to address code development priorities of provincial, territorial, and other stakeholders. This will help ensure that all municipalities across Canada can deploy the latest codes as they become available.

The NRC will support the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth through its on-going partnership with Infrastructure Canada on the NRC's $42.5M Climate Change Resilient Buildings and Core Public Infrastructure initiative. In this role, the NRC will study the durability of materials and systems in a changing climate, and will develop innovative technologies to improve climate resiliency. By 2020-21, guidelines will be developed on community design to reduce impacts of wildfires and floods.

The NRC recognizes the challenge of maintaining Canada's vast electrical distribution infrastructure that is critical to quality of life and to competitiveness. At present, electrical utilities lack effective tools for detecting powerline problems, especially underground. Often, deficiencies become known only upon failure and at considerable expense and disruption. To help solve this problem, the NRC's Metrology Program will partner with an electrical utility company to refine proven technologies for detecting degradation in power lines. This initiative aligns with a recommendation in the 2018-19 Evaluation of the NRC's Energy, Mining and Environment Program, which identified opportunities to partner with electrical utility companies in solving critical challenges to electrical infrastructure.

The NRC will advance the normative and technology infrastructure for Cannabis processing and testing to support government policy and the quality and safety of Cannabis supply. For example, to enhance standardization, the NRC will create new Certified Reference Materials in partnership with other government stakeholders.

To help the Canadian Space Agency facilitate longer human presence in space, the NRC will advance in developing novel technologies to extract and purify proteins and nucleic acids from body fluids for diagnostic, and potentially therapeutic, purposes.

The NRC will also assist Transport Canada's Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Task Force in developing new regulations for safe operation of unmanned aircraft systems in Canada. The NRC will collaborate with a major international manufacturer on the Working and Travelling on Aircraft (WTA) initiative. Using the new NRC Centre for Air Travel Research (CATR) , the world's first and only facility to examine air travel from start to finish, they will examine and enhance the flight experience for passengers.

The NRC's new Manufacturing and Automotive Innovation Hub in London, Ontario, partnered with the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association (APMA), will support Canadian manufacturers with research and technology needs by offering a collaborative workspace, expertise and world leading technology to engage in emerging technologies.

Experimenting with New Approaches: IRAP and the Aerospace Program will join forces to increase collaboration between the NRC and SMEs toward advancing technologies for autonomous flight. IRAP will provide leadership in challenging SMEs to provide research proposals. The Aerospace Program will provide technical and advisory expertise, as well as equal-part financial contributions with IRAP. Success will be measured by the delivery of defined technology solutions and by the growth of innovation capacity and technology commercialization by the SMEs.

The NRC will contribute to building a skilled Canadian workforce that is strong, sustainable, inclusive and diverse. To continue building a strong talent pipeline, the NRC will expand its post-doctoral fellowship program with the hiring of at least 12 talented individuals in 2019-20. The NRC will continue to build university relationships to enhance student recruitment and diversity. The NRC will also improve job creation in Canadian SMEs by supporting the placement of over 150 graduates in SMEs through Employment and Social Development Canada's Youth Employment Strategy.

Experimenting with New Approaches: As part of its experimentation on new collaborative approaches, the NRC began establishing a small number of Collaboration Centres with select research partners in 2018-19. These Centres will leverage assets and capabilities to develop internationally recognized expertise in priority areas of mutual interest and support the development of the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs, highly qualified personnel and technology platforms.

In 2018-19, the NRC announced centres with the University of Toronto (U of T), University of New Brunswick (UNB) and Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). For instance, the Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT), with the University of Toronto, specializes in microfluidics ^Footnote3, a field in which applications in drug delivery and diagnostics are expected to contribute to market growth from US$2.9B today to as much as US$11B by the end of 2026. The Memorial University Collaboration Space, with the Memorial University of Newfoundland, will conduct leading-edge research on ocean technologies, naval architectural engineering and ocean environments, in support of Canada's Ocean Supercluster. The NRC also aims to establish new Collaboration Centres, including the Cyber Collaboration Consortium, with the University of New Brunswick. This Centre will conduct world-class research and integrate cybersecurity into products and services that will help grow Canadian companies in digital technologies. This UNB initiative addresses a recommendation arising from the 2018-19 Evaluation of the Digital Technologies Research Centre, which identified the need to extend reach to key partners such as universities.