Research and Development Activity

R&D Expenditures

The Waterloo Region's R&D expenditures (as a ratio of GDP) in both the public and private sectors exceeds Ontario and Canada investments.

	Waterloo Region ($ millions)	Ontario ($ billions	Canada ($ billions)
Business R&D Expenditures	$347	$8	$15
Business R&D Expenditures as % of GDP	1.7%	1.5%	1.1
Public R&D Expenditures	$200	$5	$12
Public R&D Expenditures as % of GDP	1.0	0.9	0.9

Source: Statistics Canada, Science, Innovation and Electronic Division and CANSIM, 2005

Patents

The Waterloo Region's patent generation output as a ratio of total population far exceeds Ontario and Canada averages.

Number of Patents

Year	Waterloo Region	Ontario	Canada
2001	172	1,837	4,468
2002	163	1,867	4,365
2003	168	1,879	4,408
2004	143	1,855	4,294
2005	170	1,544	3,661
2006	302	2,196	4,677

Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office

Number of Patents Per Million Population

Year	Waterloo Region	Ontario	Canada
2001	392	161	149
2002	365	162	144
2003	370	160	144
2004	309	156	139
2005	362	129	117
2006	631	181	148

Source: Statistics Canada and the United States Patent and Trademark Office