The committee studied the mandate and activities of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Appearing were Mitch Davies, President of the NRC, and Julie Lefebvre, Vice-President of Emerging Technologies.
Mitch Davies described the NRC as Canada’s largest federal research organization, with a $1.9 billion budget and a mandate to conduct, support and promote scientific and industrial research. He highlighted the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), which supports about 10,000 businesses annually and generates a five-dollar return per dollar invested, and noted that 95% of clients say the NRC helped them achieve results. He confirmed that the NRC is cutting about 510 full-time-equivalent jobs by 2028-29 as part of a government expenditure review, with 180 employees already notified, and that reductions are focused on research areas not aligned with the NRC’s strategic plan and on corporate services. He also discussed the NRC’s work on AI, including deploying enterprise-grade tools on secure systems and collaborating with companies like Cohere, and its role in defence research, supported by $996.2 million in new funding for initiatives such as a drone innovation hub. Davies emphasized that the NRC exceeds labour market availability for women in its fields and has targets to improve recruitment of Indigenous persons and persons with disabilities, and that it maintains a strong student recruitment program of about 500 students per year. He noted that the NRC co-chairs Eureka, the largest public innovation network, with Germany, and that 80% of its licensed patents go to Canadian businesses.
Julie Lefebvre added that NRC publications and communications are in the language of choice for researchers, and that scientific reports are left in their original language with summaries translated later due to the difficulty of translation.
Davies disagreed with a suggestion that the NRC should be on external advisory bodies for quantum and AI strategies, arguing that the NRC is already integrated within government to shape such policies and that its role is to deliver solutions rather than set policy. He also declined to comment on federal granting council policies on equity targets, deferring to the responsible minister, and would not share details of discussions with the Minister of Industry, citing discretion. He said the NRC considers ambitious technology projects a success even if they are not ultimately procured by the Department of National Defence, because of the learning and patentable technologies gained.
The meeting ended early due to a scheduled vote, and the committee agreed to adjourn rather than resume.
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