Program directory · Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Innovation Superclusters Initiative
- Program code
- BNO03 (ISC)
- Core responsibility
- Science, Technology, Research and Commercialization
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2020-21 · Appeared and later dropped
What it does
The Innovation Superclusters Initiative program promotes the growth of Canadian innovation networks and clusters. Innovation superclusters are geographic regions that are hotbeds of innovation with strong collaborations between leading companies and academic and research institutions, which can lead to new solutions to complex problems and result in the creation of new technologies. The program supports industry-driven consortia charged with developing and executing a strategic plan to build an advantage for their cluster to reinforce Canada’s sectors of strength. The program supports technology projects by incentivizing research and development, increasing private sector and academic/public research institution collaboration, and driving commercialization of new technologies and products. The program seeks to enable the growth of innovative small firms and attached supply chain members, as well as attracting new investors and production mandates. The program contributes to the departmental results “World-leading superclusters are grown in Canada”, “Canadian businesses invest more in research and development (R&D)” and “Canada has world leading-research capacity” under the Science, Technology, Research and Commercialization core responsibility and includes the following transfer payments: Innovation Superclusters Initiative.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innovation Superclusters Initiative | This program | 2018-19 – 2022-23 | $345M |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Spending $100M, against $7.8M in 2018-19 (+1187%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Spending $237M, against $100M in 2019-20 (+136%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2021-22 | Planned spending $356M, against $237M in 2020-21 (+50%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
| 2022-23 | Planned spending $201M, against $356M in 2021-22 (−43%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
No results reported yet.
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
No indicators in the 2026-27 plan.
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $246M | $7.8M |
| 2019-20 | $186M | $100M |
| 2020-21 | $262M | $237M |
| 2021-22 | $356M* | — |
| 2022-23 | $201M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 64 | 14 |
| 2019-20 | 12 | 24 |
| 2020-21 | 23 | 27 |
| 2021-22 | 23* | — |
| 2022-23 | 23* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $246,213,440 | $245,951,043 | $245,992,232 | ||
| 2019-20 plan | $185,868,391 | $241,776,490 | $234,628,347 | ||
| 2020-21 plan | $261,843,953 | $355,999,145 | $201,272,289 | ||
| Actual | $7,797,954 | $100,321,349 | $237,171,965 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
