The mission of Canada's Innovation Leaders (CIL) is to take the "temperature" each year of the state of research at the country's universities, colleges, hospitals, and companies. We do this by gathering, analyzing and reporting on some key indicators of research performance such as research income/spending and research personnel participation. From time to time we produce additional metrics, such as scientific publications, research partnerships and intellectual property (IP). Over the twenty-one years we have been doing this we have built up a trove of data that provides insight into the health of the research enterprise. We also work to bring the raw numbers to life with examples or stories that illustrate the richness of the research being undertaken. In addition, we strive to highlight issues and challenges facing the research ecosystem, as with this year's feature article on Advancing Research in Uncertain Times.

CIL2022 included a Focus on Mental Health Research as a way of gaining further insight into this specialized area of research in Canada. Our report on mental health research serves as a reminder that research here in Canada is flourishing. While it focuses on just one field of research among many - mental health - it also reveals broader truths about research in general. First, that research is multi-disciplinary; in this instance it spans the health and life sciences, social sciences and humanities, and natural sciences and engineering. As the mental health research vignettes make clear, developing and implementing successful approaches requires input from diverse scientific disciplines, as well as the involvement of patients, caregivers and communities.

We have built up a trove of data that provides insight into the health of the research enterprise. We also work to bring the raw numbers to life with examples or stories that illustrate the richness of the research being undertaken.

A second truth is that research is at root a bottom-up activity. It is the sum of the creativity and hard work of individual researchers and research teams working on their own and with collaborators to define the key challenges and issues, and find ways to address them. The research institutions they work in and with are also important, providing infrastructure, administrative and often financial support, but progress is ultimately down to the inquisitiveness of researchers and the students who work with them. Furthermore, research is not the province of any one type of institution - university, college, hospital or company. Rather, all can and do make useful contributions in order to move a field forward.

As many of the contributors to our feature article on Advancing Research in Uncertain Times make clear, while excellent research is a necessary condition for social and economic progress at the national and international levels, it is by no means sufficient. The ability to translate research success into goods and services that raise standards of living and well-being demands a different set of conditions. On those measures Canada clearly has some way to go.

Like it or not, we are in an on-going race with other countries…and with ourselves. Canada's levels of productivity and per capita GDP have stagnated for a considerable time. We are inching slowly forward, but others are moving more rapidly. We can debate whether rising levels of wealth in comparison with other countries is necessary or even moral, but what is less debatable is that with our economically active population in steady decline we will need additional economic and social capital just to maintain our standards of living and quality of life, leaving aside any improvement. For this we will rely on our research community working hand in hand with other parts of society.