For the past 20 years Research Infosource has had the privilege of reporting on the state of research in our universities, hospitals, colleges and corporations. And what a 20 years it has been. For instance, two decades ago total university research income in Canada was about $3.4 billion. Today it is nearly $8.3 billion.

Research income inputs are of course only one part of the equation. In terms of the quantity and quality of university publication outputs our institutions compete with the best anywhere. Furthermore, in human terms, they have equipped hundreds of thousands of graduates who have gone on to enrich the economy and society, with research knowledge and skills. Progress has taken place across the board, not only in our large institutions, but in smaller universities as well, where research activity has grown by leaps and bounds in the past two decades.

In 2011 we launched our Top 40 Research Hospitals list in recognition of the important - and often overlooked - role that our health delivery organizations play. This list now encompasses very diverse organizations; hospitals, hospital networks and health authorities. Together with their university counterparts they lie at the heart of the country’s health research and innovation ecosystem. Their combined research activity on our inaugural list was nearly $2.1 billion. This year health institutions reported just under $3.1 billion of research expenditures. Suffice to say that these past two challenging years have underscored the importance of the research they conduct.

Our Top 50 Research Colleges list debuted in 2013. This year colleges reported $270.9 million of sponsored research income, demonstrating the rapid research growth of this key partner in the national system of innovation. Colleges’ strength is their closeness to the local and regional industry and social organizations that are able to rapidly take up the fruits of their research. Among them, colleges complete thousands of collaborative research projects annually and train the workforce of the future.

Research Infosource actually launched with our Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders list, which we continue to publish. This list has been an ongoing effort to track the R&D spending of Canada’s leading companies. Over time it has been a record of the waxing and waning of corporate R&D in Canada. Many companies have come and gone from the list and a few have been constants – R&D champions – demonstrating their commitment to performing research in Canada.

Throughout our journey of 20 years, we have striven to provide independent and accurate data and analysis on the state of Canada’s research ecosystem. By and large I think we have succeeded.

For 20 years Research Infosource has been proud to be associated with Canada’s top innovators in our universities, hospitals, colleges and companies who have continued to step up, especially during this global crisis. Individually and collectively, they remind us of the value of our prior investments in research and innovation and the importance of linking our research capacity to those who can put it to its best use. We salute and thank them all.

I offer my gratitude to the many organizations that have supported our work through their participation in our Canada’s Innovation Leaders print and online publications.

Finally, I have to thank the Research Infosource team who have been with us from the start and to whom we owe our success. Today, they are under the outstanding leadership of our managing director, Arlene Dwyer. Providing research support is Annlee Chad. Our online guru is Andrew St. Denis. Caroline Bowker is our fabulous creative director. To them I offer my heartfelt thanks.