Quebec research and innovation will receive an unprecedented $3.7 billion over five years at a time when other provinces and the federal government are holding the line on research and development investments. Initiated by the previous Liberal administration and completed by the Parti Quebecois, the National Research and Innovation Policy (NRIP) includes a host of measures to stimulate the province’s knowledge-based economy and knowledge translation. It allocates $1.3 billion directly to research and enhances support for new and small companies with a series of direct and indirect (tax-based) measures.
The government hopes that the policy’s myriad initiatives and emphasis on collaboration will help boost R&D spending in the province to three percent of GDP — a goal shared by OECD nations and by the federal government in the early 2000s. Quebec’s R&D-to-GDP ratio is currently 2.4 percent but rose to as high as 2.8 percent in 2002.
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