We are asking for $100 million in funding. Right now, this unfortunately means that we are leaving money on the table from business and industry, who are willing to invest in research and development. Canada is always criticized for that. Why do companies not invest enough?
Small and medium-sized businesses are ready to invest. However, there is unfortunately not enough capacity in colleges at the moment. We have to tell them no, because there is no money coming from the federal government. One of the reasons we asked for $100 million is to stop saying no and to stop leaving money on the table. At the end of the day, this means we are saying no to economic development, no to productivity and no to developing students' skills. It is very unfortunate to be in such a predicament. There is also potential. Right now, only 5% of instructors do applied research. Imagine what all the others are doing. Only 3% of students have access to applied research.
The needs and expectations are huge. We look forward to the government's next budget. Unfortunately, not much is happening with social innovation because we only receive $5 million a year and the demand is huge.
The demand is also considerable in health, because we train 80% of the people who work in this field. Unfortunately, the current funding does not allow us to innovate sufficiently.