Quadrise Canada is a private Canadian corporation based in Calgary. We have 35 employees. We have one of the few R and D labs in Calgary. We have a number of new science graduates who work with us. We have annual revenues of $2.6 million; 2009 is a poorer year. We've raised $42 million in equity over the last three years. We've spent $11 million in R and D spending. Of this, we've received government support for $3.2 million.
What we're attempting to do is provide a wide range of alternative fuels and environmental solutions to oil sands and power generation markets in North America. Our efforts have been very successful in some areas. We've really suffered from lack of clarity on the regulatory front within Canada. We see that continued expenditure in the R and D area is essential to convert a lot of IP that exists and has no venture capital funds to support it in this country any more.
I think our first recommendation is to better utilize the NRC-IRAP network--this is a network that we've been working with for the last five years--and to really develop the NSERC centres of excellence. Across Canada there are 240 IRAP ITAs, and these cover the whole country and all industries. There are more than 1,800 firms that have been funded by IRAP, and more than 500 firms with the youth program in 2008-09. On average, IRAP provides advisory service to well over 7,000 firms each year. A key part of this is that they're dealing with the small and medium enterprises. These are companies with under 50 employees. To our mind, that's really the kick-off point for a lot of our new successful companies in the future, and they provide long-term employment and opportunity for our new graduates and new Canadian businesses.
IRAP has a lot of history with many clients, and it's really the gateway or the clearinghouse for many government departments. That's the first that a lot of government departments see of any of these new technologies. What we think is really important is that this would bring entrepreneurs and the crown R and D into the NSERC centres of excellence.