Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you, committee members. It's our pleasure to be here today to answer any questions you may have on science, technology, and innovation issues relating to the supplementary estimates (C), which you are currently examining.
I thought I might highlight a few of the programs that are involved in the main supplementary (C) transactions, by way of an introduction. The centres of excellence for commercialization and research program, or CECR, bridges the gap between innovation and commercialization. The program matches clusters of research expertise with the business community to share knowledge and resources to bring innovations to markets faster.
Created in 2007, the CECR program invests $30 million a year in Canadian innovation. The program is managed by NSERC in collaboration with the other two granting councils, and funds are appropriated to the three granting councils on the basis of competition results.
With supps (C), the subject of today's investigation, we are moving funds to NSERC and SSHRC according to the disciplines that were successful in the competitions. As a result of the latest competition, NSERC is requesting $6.1 million to support centres with activities in its disciplines, and SSHRC is requesting $2.8 million.
The business-led networks of centres of excellence program, sometimes known as the BL-NCE, funds large-scale collaborative research networks that bring academic and other research expertise to bear on specific R&D and commercialization challenges identified by an industrial sector. The BL-NCE program was created in 2007 and was made permanent in the 2012 federal budget, with annual funding of $12 million.
The BL-NCE program is administered by NSERC but managed on a tri-council basis. Funds for the program are appropriated annually to the three granting councils on the basis of their estimated shares, and then following competitions, adjustments are made between the three councils to reflect the actual results in each discipline. In these Supps C transactions, NSERC is transferring $1.4 million to CIHR and $238,000 to SSHRC on the basis of the latest competition.
The college and community innovation program supports applied research and collaborations that facilitate commercialization, as well as technology transfer, adaptation, and adoption of new technologies. It was designed to increase innovation at the community and/or regional level by enabling Canadian colleges to increase their capacity to work with local companies, particularly SMEs. The budget of CCI, in economic action plan 2013, was increased to $50 million a year.
CCI is administered by NSERC in collaboration with the other two granting councils. Funds for this program are appropriated annually to NSERC, and then further distributed to CIHR and SSHRC on the basis of competition results in those disciplines. In this case, $43,000 is being transferred to SSHRC to support two projects in the social sciences and humanities.
As part of the youth employment strategy, NRC-IRAP delivers an internship program to innovative SMEs, providing them with up to $30,000 to hire interns—who are post-secondary graduates—for a period of six to twelve months. These graduates work on innovative projects within an SME, and may participate in the research, development, and commercialization of technologies. The total budget of the NRC-IRAP youth employment program for 2013-14 is $5 million, with an additional $1.44 million provided through supplementary estimates (C).
Mr. Chair, with that brief opening remark on the main elements, we would be happy to take any questions from members of the committee.