As you know, the Canadian Space Agency received an investment of $379 million in our 2016 budget. This was a significant investment in space, and we connected it with our commitment to aerospace as well. There's a lot of innovation taking place in this sector, and that commitment was really a reflection of our long-term plan on the International Space Station, and looking forward to how we can continue to work with NASA and other partners and allies to make sure that we have a presence when it comes to space.
We take a lot of pride in the Canadarm and how that has direct applications now in industry. For example, a lot of that technology, a lot of those robotics, are being used at the surgery tables in our hospitals. We're seeing not only these applications in space, but a direct correlation in some of the key sectors like the health care sector in Canada.
The $10-million commitment with respect to the advanced research in telecommunications systems is really with respect to what we're doing with our European allies. The idea, again, is how can we collaborate on research and development? We want to provide an opportunity for industry in particular, and SMEs, to have access to the R and D so they can be on the cutting edge of new solutions, and they would be able to compete with some of those new technologies. A major benefit of this initiative is to create that R and D partnership so it benefits industry as well.
One of the challenges we have, and we see this across different sectors—mind you, space and aerospace are the exceptions—is there's a decline by Canadian companies in research and development, so we feel now is an opportunity for the government to show leadership in this area. This $10-million investment with Europe really helps us to build that partnership with industry so they have access to research and development.