Details of Transfer Payment Programs (TPPs)

Name of Transfer Payment Program 1: NRC-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC‑IRAP)

Start date: April 1, 2008

End date: March 31, 2013

Description: This program provides a range of technical and business-oriented advisory services, as well as financial support for small and medium-sized (SME) Canadian businesses engaged in research and development of technological innovations. The program is important for enabling enterprises to generate significant economic activity for Canadian industry by augmenting the capacity and capability of enterprises to innovate and commercialize. Financial support is provided through a transfer payment program delivered by a cross-Canada network of more than 250 professionals, including over 230 Industrial Technology Advisors (ITAs), and located in approximately 100 communities. The field staff of professionals, recognized for their scientific, technical, engineering, business expertise, and knowledge of SMEs, provides clients with customized value-added advice, information, referrals and financial assistance. They work with clients at all stages of the innovation-commercialization continuum, including: project development; access to technical assistance, financial, business, marketing or management advice; access to competitive technical information; patent searches; and access to local, regional, national or international linkages. NRC‑IRAP Innovation Network Advisors (INAs) represent and promote NRC‑IRAP in the community innovation system and build effective regional innovation system relationships for the benefit of SMEs. This includes working with organizations that receive NRC‑IRAP contributions as well as with other organizations to facilitate the implementation of multi-sector, multi-partner initiatives that are relevant to SMEs regionally and nationally. As well, the program supports the placement of graduates in SMEs through its participation in the delivery of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Youth Employment Strategy (YES).

Strategic Outcome: Advancements in innovative technologies and increased innovation capacity in targeted Canadian industries and national priority areas.

Results Achieved: NRC‑IRAP provided $90.4M to 1,811 firms and 154 organizations for 2,317 innovation projects that supported 6,492 jobs, including 213 for recent graduates. Additionally, 7,532 SMEs received specialized advisory assistance. This assistance was provided to SMEs across Canada in all major industry sectors.

Comments on Variance: The planned spending amount of $92.0M represents the best known amount at the time the Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) was prepared. The total authorities includes planned spending, amounts from Budget 2011, amounts from supplementary estimates, and other statutory authorities. The difference between the planned spending and the total authorities of $0.6M represents the funding transfer from HRSDC in support of NRC‑IRAP Youth Program. The $1.6M difference between the total planned spending and the actual spending is due to the Canadian HIV Technology Development funding of $1.6M returned to the centre.

Audit completed or planned: Follow-up to the 2007‑08 Audit of NRC‑IRAP was completed in 2011‑12. Internal Audit will test a sample of 2011‑12 contribution agreements in 2012‑13. Further audit activity will be assessed as part of the next multi-year risk-based audit plan.

Evaluation completed or planned: An evaluation is in progress and will be completed in summer 2012.

Name of Transfer Payment Program 2: TRIUMF

Start date: 1976

End date: Continuing

Description: TRIUMF is Canada's national laboratory for nuclear and particle physics, and one of Canada's key investments in large-scale research infrastructure. It provides world-class facilities for research in sub-atomic physics, life sciences, nuclear medicine and materials science. A consortium of eleven Canadian universities own and manage the operations of TRIUMF. TRIUMF receives its federal funding in five-year allocations via a Contribution Agreement from NRC, which plays an important oversight and stewardship role for TRIUMF on behalf of the Government of Canada. TRIUMF received funding of $222M for the 2010‑2015 period of its new plan.

Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to research and development information and infrastructure.

Results Achieved: In addition to enabling scientific returns, the TRIUMF facility serves as a platform to train the next generation of scientists and engineers and provide the high technology equipment and services necessary for economic growth and innovation.

General

• Provided training and employment opportunities for 76 graduate and 75 undergraduate students.
• 416 external scientists visited TRIUMF.
• 101 users from different organizations used TRIUMF for research, medical and commercial activities.
• 251 publications were published in scientific journals.
• The TRIUMF consortium grew to 17 members.
• Support for three more years of operations ($3.3M) for the Canadian ATLAS Tier‑1 Data Centre, led by Simon Fraser University and sited at TRIUMF, was secured from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
• TRIUMF hosted a visit from His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, in February 2012 that included a tour of the main cyclotron.
• TRIUMF and its main cyclotron were recognized as a "Great Engineering Achievement" by the Engineering Institute of Canada on the occasion of its 125^th anniversary.

Nuclear Science and Particle Physics

• Construction on the next-generation isotope-production facility ARIEL has progressed substantially. Site preparation was completed and the replacement STORES building was completed on schedule and an on budget. Excavation for the underground target area is nearly complete; construction of the target hall will begin shortly. Design, installation, and commissioning of the first element of the electron linear accelerator – the electron gun – is also complete.
• Building on their first success with heavy-metal targets, TRIUMF accelerator physicists and nuclear scientists set a new world record for total beam power on an actinide target and conducted four difference pioneering physics experiments using the rare, heavy isotopes of astatine and francium.
• TRIUMF scientists led the global effort at the international ALPHA collaboration at CERN to produce, trap, and maintain a collection of antihydrogen atoms for more than 1,000 seconds – the world record. The team then began the first-ever studies to characterize in detail the "chemistry" of these anti-atoms.
• With key contributions from TRIUMF and Canadian teams, the ATLAS collaboration at CERN announced compelling hints that the search for the Higgs boson is closing in on an answer in the next 6‑9 months.

Nuclear Medicine

• With support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the TRIUMF‑led team announced in February 2012 that they had successfully produced commercial quantities of the key medical isotope technetium‑99m on existing cyclotrons in both Ontario and British Columbia. The team is now finishing installation of the automated systems for irradiation and processing as well in discussions with potential private-sector partners.
• TRIUMF's Paul Schaffer received a Strategic Opportunities Fund award from GenomeBC to lead a team working on antisense PET imaging of mRNA expression, a project that will develop a novel class of antisense oligonucloetide-based molecular-imaging agents for the diagnosis and characterization of disease.

Comments on Variance: N/A

Audit completed or planned: NRC prepares a multi-year risk based audit plan that is updated and approved annually. TRIUMF TPP was assessed as low risk, so no internal audit is planned.

Evaluation completed or planned: Evaluation planned to be completed in 2013‑14.

Name of Transfer Payment Program 3: International Telescope Program

Start date: 1978

End date: Ongoing

Description: Astronomy has become a global science. The increasing cost of leading-edge observatories and the scarcity of ideal observation sites have led to a greater focus on international collaboration for large-scale astronomy projects which lead to great advances in our knowledge and understanding of the universe.

NRC, in partnership with other international bodies, provides financial contributions that support the management and operations of four international, offshore ground-based observatories and their related facilities: the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT, commissioned in 1979), the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT, 1987), the twin Gemini telescopes (1993, supported by the US National Science Foundation) and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA, 1998). NRC also participates in the oversight and direction of these facilities and their research capabilities.

International agreements governing these observatories are long-term commitments specifying contributions to operations, maintenance and upgrading of these facilities. In addition, they include commitments to support the partner user communities to ensure a fair and progressive use of facilities. NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (NRC‑HIA) participates in the governance of these international facilities on behalf of the Canadian astronomy research community and provides appropriate support, including sophisticated data management services and instrumentation. Through NRC's financial contribution, and other in-kind contributions, the Canadian astronomy community is assured of merit-based access to these facilities with appropriate support.

Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to research and development information and infrastructure.

Results Achieved:

• In 2011, the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) delivered over 4.6 million individual files, comprising over 965TB of data and served data to roughly 3,700 professional astronomers.
• 419 scientific papers were published based on data obtained using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and the Gemini Observatory.

Comments on Variance: Due to the timing of the RPP, the Planned Spending did not reflect a transfer from NRC's Vote 60 (Operating) to NRC's Vote 70 (Grants & Contributions) of $4.8M which was provided through the Supplementary Estimates B for Total Authorities of $10.3M. In order to meet the full obligations each fiscal year NRC has traditionally exchanged funding either through internal adjustments or through the Supplementary Estimates. For 2011‑12, NRC has set aside stabilization funding from operations to offset the shortfall via exchanges through the Supplementary Estimates process.

Audit completed or planned: NRC prepares a multi-year risk based audit plan that is updated and approved annually. The Telescope TTP was assessed as low risk, so no internal audit is planned.

Evaluation completed or planned: Evaluation was completed in 2011‑12.

Name of Transfer Payment Program 4: Digital Technologies Adoption Pilot Program (DTAPP)

Start date: December 1, 2011

End date: March 31, 2014

Description: The DTAPP is a pilot program aimed at accelerating the adoption of digital technologies in SMEs through advisory and financial support to SMEs and Organizations and to furthering Industry Canada's understanding of the factors involved in such adoption, with an eye to possible future policy development. The DTAPP will be promoted to all sectors across Canada.

Through the DTAPP, NRC will be directly involved in supporting and increasing the adoption of digital technologies in SMEs. NRC plans to offer assistance to SMEs in the following ways:

• Providing advisory services to SMEs;
• Providing contribution funding to eligible SMEs for digital technologies adoption projects; and
• Engaging colleges and other organizations to assist SMEs in digital technologies adoption.

The DTAPP will be promoted to all sectors across Canada. Any firm considered an SMEs (500 employees or less) from any sector or location in Canada can come forward for assessment and advice. However, as this is a three-year pilot program, it cannot address all types of digital technologies adoption in all sectors of the economy. The DTAPP will build upon NRC‑IRAP's existing delivery capacity, including its structures, processes, and resources.

Strategic Outcome: Advancements in innovative technologies and increased innovation capacity in targeted Canadian industries and national priority areas.

Results Achieved: NRC‑IRAP DTAPP provided $2.3M to 58 firms and 27 organizations and colleges for 86 innovation projects that supported 532 jobs. The delivery of this unique program by NRC‑IRAP demonstrates further evidence of its capacity to deliver technology-related programs to SMEs.

Number of Inquiries

Since the official launch of this program, in November 2011, NRC‑IRAP has received over 2,472 DTAPP inquiries across the country and has introduced NRC‑IRAP to many new potential clients. These firms are attracted to the support that NRC‑IRAP can provide for the adoption processes associated with the technology that they are considering acquiring. Some examples of sectors where the new clients come from include:

• Retailers of gifts and clothing;
• Restaurants (consumer food chains);
• Vegetable growers industry;
• Engineering consultancies;
• Medical service providers;
• Furniture manufacturing;
• Printing industry.

DTAPP Awareness Events

To generate awareness for DTAPP and maximize the program/client reach, NRC‑IRAP staff attended and conducted 126 awareness events across the country since the launch of DTAPP. These events included meetings with and presentations to clients, colleges, industry and business associations, government partners and economic development officers from other government departments. From these events, while it is not quantifiable, NRC experienced a high level of interest from participants. Many events involved participation of associations or organizations who were attending to represent the interests of their membership, thereby expanding NRC's opportunities of outreach.

Comments on Variance: Due to the timing of the RPP, the Planned Spending did not reflect funding for this new program which was provided through the Supplementary Estimates B for Total Authorities of $17.2M. The difference between the total authorities and the actual spending is $14.9M represents the funding returned to the centre through the monthly forecast review. As a result of delays outside the control of the Program, NRC‑IRAP forecasted that it could not commit the entire budget. The program sought re-profiling of $14.2M through the 2012‑13 Supplementary Estimates B and C but it was not considered at that time.

Audit completed or planned: NRC prepares a multi-year risk based audit plan that is updated and approved annually. The audit risk associated with DTAPP will be assessed as part of the planning.

Evaluation completed or planned: An evaluation is planned for 2012‑13.