Funding Research in North America: Canada

Research funding in Canada is similar to research funding in the United States, with some important differences. Ten years ago the breakdown of biomedical research funding sources was as follows: Medical Research Council (MRC) 39%, voluntary agencies 18%, industry 2%, local sources 2%, other 39%. By 1993 these proportions changed to the following: Medical Research Council 24%, voluntary agencies 14%, industry 22%, local sources 4%, other 36%. Although funding by the Medical Research Council has increased over the past 10 years, the major increase in research expenditure has come from private industry. For example, funding by the MRC has increased twofold from approximately $100 million per year to $200 million per year over the past 10 years (increase not corrected for inflation; all amounts are Canadian dollars, throughout this chapter). Funding from the provincial government, nonprofit organizations, and local agencies or the universities have also increased at the same rate. However, funding from private industry has increased 22-fold, bringing the amount of funding provided by industry to just under $200 million in 1993. (Proceedings of the 1994 Consensus Conference on Surgical Research in Canada).