Program directory · National Research Council Canada
Automotive and Surface Transportation
- Department
- National Research Council Canada
- Program code
- BNQ03 (NRC)
- Core responsibility
- Science and Innovation
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Automotive and Surface Transportation program provides technical knowledge and advances product and process technologies for producing more fuel-efficient, affordable, and environmentally-responsible ground vehicles and for delivering engineering solutions to complex technology challenges facing ground transportation industries including heavy vehicle and rail. This is important for reducing transportation infrastructure and costs and for enhancing Canada's share of ground vehicle supply chains and for enhancing the prosperity of the ground vehicle industry sector in Canada as it is faced with growing environmental concerns, competitive pressures and stringent regulations. The Canadian economy relies on advanced manufacturing sectors such as the ground vehicle industries as major economic drivers, accounting for a significant portion of manufacturing trade, and therefore must remain competitive. Results are achieved through multi-disciplinary collaborative research and development in addition to specialized technical services, such as testing, prototyping and system integration, for transferring or advancing technologies into deployed solutions and improved practices for the marketplace.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive and Surface Transportation | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $309M |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | Indicators added: Citation score of Automotive and Surface Transportation generated publications relative to world average; Number of patent applications filed; Revenue earned from all external research clients | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2021-22 | Indicators dropped: Number of clients and collaborators working with the Research Centre annually; Number of unique intellectual assets generated by Research Centre employees; Value of external contributions to Research Centre research and development services and scientific and technological infrastructure | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
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
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 1 | 2022 | 1.07 | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 1 | 2023 | 1.04 | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 1 | 2024 | 0.92 AST FWCI 3-year average is lower than the established 2023-2024 target, indicating a slight decrease in citation score. A significant portion of AST publications were released in the last quarter of 2023, and this relatively recent publication timeframe may be a factor in why these publications have not yet had sufficient time to be widely consulted, cited and recognized within the academic commu… | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 1.05 | 2025 | 0.87 The result for this indicator was lower than expected, but the annual citation impact result showed a positive trend compared to the previous year (annual citation rate increased from 0.70 in 2023-24 to 0.87 in 2024-25). AST is actively engaging with partners, clients and employees to enhance visibility and collaboration, and citation scores are expected to improve as a result of these efforts. | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 20 | 2022 | 11 To ensure good financial stewardship and manage escalating patent costs, AST has targeted jurisdictions for IP protection of new technologies more selectively. First-filing patent applications to any jurisdiction were within the expected range, indicating that the results do not reflect a shortage of new inventions with commercial potential. | Not met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 20 | 2023 | 19 Target was essentially met. | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 10 | 2024 | 18 | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 22 | 2025 | 2 Patent applications are a key tool for AST to protect innovations and support industry impact. Invention disclosures—the first step in the patenting process—have increased in recent years, signalling growing innovation capacity. However, several factors have contributed to fewer patent applications in the short term. First, lower disclosure rates in earlier years resulted in a smaller pipeline of… | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ $23.1M | 2022 | $21.4M Target was almost met. The transportation sector is still in recovery mode from the pandemic, which has impacted research and development budgets. Additionally, the transition of one of AST’s sites to more research-oriented work reduced revenues from technical services. | Not met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ $20M | 2023 | $25M | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ $22.7M | 2024 | $25.7M | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ $25.6M | 2025 | $24.2M The slightly lower-than-expected result was primarily due to small delays in some commitments. | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 166 | 2019 | 192 The 2018-19 target was exceeded because Advanced Manufacturing activities were redistributed to be fully housed under the Automotive and Surface Transportation (AST) Program. | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 174 | 2020 | 200 | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 183 | 2021 | 183 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 50 | 2019 | 63 | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 60 | 2020 | 72 | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 70 | 2021 | 74 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ $25.5M | 2019 | $25.7M | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ $25.5M | 2020 | $26.3M | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ $25.5M | 2021 | $19.6M In order to comply with public health measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Automotive and Surface Transportation had to restrict on-site activities and focus on pandemic response priority projects. This led to delaying or cancelling projects requiring on-site laboratory work and a respective decrease in revenues. | Not met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 1 | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 15 | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ $27.9M | 2027 | — | Planned |
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 | $36.8M | $45.1M |
| 2019-20 | $40.2M | $39.9M |
| 2020-21 | $41.9M | $39M |
| 2021-22 | $40.4M | $40.1M |
| 2022-23 | $40.1M | $42.3M |
| 2023-24 | $43.4M | $48.6M |
| 2024-25 | $47.6M | $54.6M |
| 2025-26 | $49.6M | — |
| 2026-27 | $54.3M | — |
| 2027-28 | $55.4M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $54M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 233 | 273 |
| 2019-20 | 270 | 264 |
| 2020-21 | 250 | 268 |
| 2021-22 | 267 | 264 |
| 2022-23 | 265 | 269 |
| 2023-24 | 269 | 272 |
| 2024-25 | 272 | 270 |
| 2025-26 | 264 | — |
| 2026-27 | 245 | — |
| 2027-28 | 252* | — |
| 2028-29 | 255* | — |
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 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $36,848,949 | $36,851,926 | $36,973,954 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $40,189,435 | $40,311,391 | $40,311,071 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $41,869,202 | $42,231,155 | $42,328,647 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $40,409,592 | $40,328,647 | $40,328,647 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $40,052,807 | $40,055,829 | $40,154,525 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $43,397,036 | $46,751,437 | $48,309,121 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $47,632,303 | $49,182,104 | $49,512,380 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $49,611,620 | $49,939,029 | $49,967,534 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $54,307,430 | $55,443,704 | $53,995,352 | ||||||||
| Actual | $45,084,539 | $39,881,016 | $38,951,313 | $40,053,245 | $42,309,030 | $48,581,353 | $54,602,240 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
