Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members. It's my pleasure to be here with you today to speak on behalf of the Canadian Association of University Research Parks, also known as AURP Canada, and our 27 innovation districts across the country. I co-founded the association 10 years ago, and currently act as the managing director.
AURP Canada is the Canadian chapter of the U.S.-based international association. We are a national not-for-profit association that advocates on behalf of our members to drive standardized policies, access to infrastructure, connection points through domestic and international network development, and identification of emerging opportunities and trends in sectors and economic growth-potential areas. Our mission is to support and drive the Canadian knowledge economy and support sound policy decision-making that will ultimately and fundamentally support the 1,400 companies and 65,000 knowledge-based workers who are located in our parks across the country.
The economic impact of research and technology parks is significant, at over $4.3 billion in annual GDP, which is forecasted to grow to $6.2 billion in the next five years. You may know the research parks by their individual names. Just to name a few, there's the David Johnston Research and Technology Park in Waterloo, located at the University of Waterloo, MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, Innovate Calgary, Technoparc Montreal, and Knowledge Park in Fredericton. You may know them by their individual names, but our membership is the landing place for leaders in business incubation and acceleration, private research and development, government research facilities, and a wide range of organizations advancing innovation in Canada, from start-ups to SMEs to large multinationals. Nearly 50% of the companies in the parks are already exporting, with the United States and Europe topping the list, and another 49% are planning to expand.
We are an important partner in moving Canada forward into the 21st century. One of our core strengths is our network across Canada, the United States, and the globe. In June our organization appeared at the industry committee to detail the proposed IP matchmaking program in our budget submission. In addition to this IP matchmaking program, AURP Canada is looking forward to expanding our role to support the federal innovation agenda by building out the research park network through international partnership expansion, including a soft-landing exchange with the 67 Fraunhofer institutes throughout Germany.