Consultation on the new Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC)

February 20, 2019

The Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Statistics Canada are collaborating on the development of a new single Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) 2019. This shared standard will be used by the federal granting agencies and will align Canada with international research and development classification standards.

Canadians, in particular, members of the research community, are invited to provide feedback on the proposed CRDC to ensure it represents modern and Canadian research landscapes. Members of the research community will also have the opportunity to comment on whether their field of research is adequately classified or represented.

Dear colleague,

A national consultation to inform the development of the new Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) was recently launched by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada.

The CRDC will improve how research and development activities and investments are classified in Canada, and will allow greater harmonization, integration and coordination among Canada’s granting agencies.

We invite you and the members of your organization to share your views through the online consultation, which is open until March 22, 2019.

Your expertise as a key stakeholder and important contributor to Canada’s research community is valuable to this initiative.

The consultation will provide researchers and the research community an opportunity to:

• Review the proposed CRDC; and,
• Provide feedback to ensure it reflects the contemporary Canadian research landscape.

The proposed CRDC aligns with international standards to collect and report on research and development and is modelled on established classification models, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Frascati Manual (2015) and the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (2008). Adopting a common approach for classifying research and expertise across the federal research granting agencies is intended to:

• Create a common language for discussing research in the higher education, public and government sectors, which enables better evidence-based decision-making for the research ecosystem;
• Improve the identification of expertise and research areas in a truly multidisciplinary classification;
• Improve the identification of emerging research fields;
• Enhance collaboration;
• Improve the identification of gaps and opportunities in research funding;
• Provide consistent and effective support to the research community; and,
• Improve reporting on combined contributions to research nationally and internationally.

Establishing a shared research classification will also assist the federal research granting agencies in streamlining operational processes for peer review, recruitment and selection of reviewers.

We look forward to your feedback and thank you in advance for your consideration of this important exercise. Your input will be very important in helping to shape the final structure of the CRDC.

Sincerely,

Roseann O’Reilly Runte
President and CEO
Canada Foundation for Innovation

Michael J. Strong
President
Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Digvir S. Jayas
Interim President
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Ted Hewitt
President
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Anil Arora
Chief Statistician of Canada
Statistics Canada