Program directory · National Research Council Canada
Medical Devices
- Department
- National Research Council Canada
- Program code
- BNQ12 (NRC)
- Core responsibility
- Science and Innovation
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Medical Device program’s strategic goal is to catalyze Canada’s medical device industry, working with Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and international companies with significant investment in Canada by providing research and technology solutions, as well as working with partner Federal government departments and agencies to address Government priorities. Economic factors are moving healthcare towards value-based delivery, which is creating numerous opportunities for the health technologies industry, particularly for cost-effective technological innovations. The program applies expertise in biochips, nanomaterials, microdevices, in vitro diagnostics, imaging, optical bio-photonics, medical simulation, and radio-frequency engineering and electronics to develop and advance technologies for enhancing the prosperity of the medical device industry as it strives to respond to increasing demands for equipment and supplies that are faster, more accurate, more informative, more affordable and less invasive. The industry is important for its growing contribution to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its contribution to effective and efficient health care. Results are achieved through provision of industry-driven technical services and multi-disciplinary collaborative research.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Devices | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $90.5M |
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 Medical Devices generated publications relative to world average; Number of patent applications filed; Revenue earned from all external research clients; Number of prototypes developed by the Medical Devices Research Centre and delivered to clients or collaborators for research and market purposes | 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) |
| 2026-27 | Indicators dropped: Number of prototypes developed by the Medical Devices Research Centre and delivered to clients or collaborators for research and market purposes | 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 | ≥ 0.75 | 2022 | 0.95 | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 0.9 | 2023 | 0.63 The Medical Devices (MD) Research Centre’s involvement in the Government of Canada’s pandemic response impeded its capacity to produce new publications in the past two years, therefore reducing opportunities to increase its overall citation score. Coupled with strategic research re-orientation and associated lag in recognition in new areas of priority, this has had an impact on its citation score… | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 0.9 | 2024 | 0.4 The result is reflective of MD's involvement in the Pandemic Response Challenge Program and the consequent lag in publications during that time period. The overall volume of publications at MD has been low in recent years, therefore trends in FWCI results should be interpreted with caution. MD is focusing on clinical collaborations which should lead to higher impact publications in the future. | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 1 | 2025 | 0.78 This indicator is based on a 3-year average, meaning annual improvements take time to be reflected in the result. MD’s annual citation score rose from 0.50 last year to 1.02 this year, which will help increase the 3-year average over time and suggests MD is on track to meet its target in the future. | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 20 | 2022 | 23 | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 20 | 2023 | 14 The Medical Devices (MD) Research Centre selectively targeted jurisdictions with higher business potential and considered the escalating application costs in its patenting decisions, which resulted in a lower-than-targeted number of patent applications. | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 20 | 2024 | 13 Considering increasing application costs, MD opted to focus on the patent applications with the highest business potential. Furthermore, given limited resources, MD prioritized revenue generating activities. | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 20 | 2025 | 18 While more than 20 inventions were declared in fiscal year 2024-25, competing priorities limited the ability of the MD research centre to finalize their applications. These are expected to be completed in fiscal year 2025-26. | Not met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ $3.1M | 2022 | $3.2M | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ $3.5M | 2023 | $3.1M With the end of the Pandemic, delays in the development of new partnerships have resulted in lower than targeted revenues for FY 2022-23. The Medical Devices (MD) Research Centre has been increasing its efforts towards strategic re-orientation and seeking new revenue generation projects with external clients. | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ $3.2M | 2024 | $3.2M | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ $4.6M | 2025 | $4.9M | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | ≥ 10 | 2022 | 15 | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 10 | 2023 | 26 | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 10 | 2024 | 22 | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 12 | 2025 | 18 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 29 | 2019 | 27 On average client projects had a larger scope and associated value, fewer clients were served even though revenue targets were exceeded. | Not met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 29 | 2020 | 18 In line with the NRC’s new strategic direction, in 2019-20, Medical Devices prioritized its available capacity to work on large-scale projects, fostering long-term relationships with a smaller number of strategic partners. The target set for 2020-21 captures this strategic change. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 20 | 2021 | 20 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 31 | 2019 | 12 Ongoing and larger scale client projects on existing assets resulted in the generation of less intellectual assets than was originally anticipated. In addition, many collaborative research initiatives were in the design and launch phase throughout 2018-19, which contributed to a lower than expected number of publications. | Not met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 33 | 2020 | 21 In 2019-20, Medical Devices concentrated much of its effort on building new, large-scale collaborative initiatives, which are just beginning to generate research outputs. Consequently, the unique intellectual assets target was not met. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 28 | 2021 | 39 | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ $3.2M | 2019 | $3.5M Larger scale projects with repeat clients were more prevalent this year. | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ $4.9M | 2020 | $4.6M The shift to increasingly strategic partnerships and the deployment of resources to priority, non-revenue generating activities, resulted in reduced earnings for 2019-20. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ $3.2M | 2021 | $3.2M | 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 | ≥ 10 | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ $4.7M | 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 | $9.3M | $10.6M |
| 2019-20 | $9.5M | $12.1M |
| 2020-21 | $10M | $14.2M |
| 2021-22 | $10.4M | $12.6M |
| 2022-23 | $10M | $12.4M |
| 2023-24 | $10.6M | $12M |
| 2024-25 | $14.9M | $16.6M |
| 2025-26 | $15.3M | — |
| 2026-27 | $13.8M | — |
| 2027-28 | $13.8M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $14M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 47 | 66 |
| 2019-20 | 66 | 67 |
| 2020-21 | 66 | 76 |
| 2021-22 | 74 | 73 |
| 2022-23 | 74 | 67 |
| 2023-24 | 66 | 69 |
| 2024-25 | 92 | 90 |
| 2025-26 | 89 | — |
| 2026-27 | 79 | — |
| 2027-28 | 79* | — |
| 2028-29 | 79* | — |
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 | $9,276,402 | $8,960,256 | $8,991,043 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $9,517,516 | $9,548,283 | $9,548,192 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $9,951,266 | $10,045,353 | $10,070,624 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $10,434,638 | $10,072,324 | $10,070,624 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $10,005,964 | $10,005,047 | $10,030,612 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $10,585,919 | $11,158,163 | $11,413,320 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $14,893,810 | $15,165,681 | $15,071,814 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $15,313,088 | $15,221,371 | $15,228,504 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $13,799,650 | $13,838,598 | $13,968,385 | ||||||||
| Actual | $10,566,634 | $12,070,839 | $14,209,598 | $12,632,054 | $12,398,193 | $12,005,123 | $16,568,418 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
