S CIENTIFIC R ESEARCH & E XPERIMENTAL D EVELOPMENT : A N I - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

S CIENTIFIC R ESEARCH & E XPERIMENTAL D EVELOPMENT : A N I NTRODUCTION Justin Frape, President & Senior Consultant Wayne Smith, Vice-President, Consulting Laura J. Craig, Vice-President, Business Development & Communications

S CIENTIFIC R ESEARCH AND E XPERIMENTAL D EVELOPMENT (SR&ED)  What is it?  Why is SR&ED important?  How does this compare to IRAP (Industrial Research Assistance Program)?  What other funding can I access?

SR&ED – “FEDERAL TAX INCENTIVE PROGRAM”

W HY IS SR&ED IMPORTANT ?  Offsets R&D costs  Reduces investment risk  Increases competitiveness  Focuses on developing ‘know - how’  Improves products and processes

T HE THREE CRITICAL QUESTIONS What technological advancements were you 1. trying to achieve? What technological obstacles/uncertainties did 2. you have to overcome to achieve the advancements? What work did you perform in the tax year to 3. overcome those technological obstacles/uncertainties?

W HAT DOES THAT REALLY MEAN ?  Define your problem, look at alternatives, experiment, test, feedback, conclusion.  Project ends when your question is answered – desired outcome or not.

Q UALIFYING ACTIVITIES Does NOT Qualify With exceptions….  ‘Standard  Learned concepts Engineering and/or count once unless Practice’ a quantifiable differences exist, resulting in new uncertainties

SR&ED IS ABOUT CONTINUOUS LEARNING  How to do something AND  How not to do something

SR&ED IS ALSO …  Taking a step outside your day-to-day business to make something new or make something better  The pursuit of new knowledge, regardless of the outcome  NEW TO YOU

H OW DO I KNOW IF SR&ED EXISTS ?  Can the technical objectives they be achieved, if at all? How?  Is there more than one path to the answer? And what is the best to get there?  So you experiment until you find the answer – successful or not  ‘Trial & Error’ = may not be systematic investigation  You have learned from your mistakes

W HAT COUNTS ?  Labour  Materials  Lease Costs  Contracts  Overhead  Third-party Payments

SR&ED SECTORS & INDUSTRIES Fields of Science & Technology Excluded by law  Natural & Formal  Social Science Sciences  Humanities  Engineering & Technology  Medical & Health Sciences  Agricultural Sciences

SR&ED: I NDUSTRY EXAMPLES

SR&ED: C HEMICAL E NGINEERING & M ATERIALS S CIENCES

SR&ED: A GRICULTURE & N ATURAL R ESOURCES

SR&ED: M ANUFACTURING & F ABRICATION

SR&ED: I NFORMATION & C OMMUNICATIONS T ECHNOLOGIES

W HAT TYPES OF CLAIMS ARE BEING SUBMITTED ?  Scientific Research  10% of claims  Pure & Applied Science  Experimental Development  90% of claims  Everything else…

I MIGHT HAVE A CLAIM … WHAT SHOULD I DO ?

I NTELLECTUAL P ROPERTY

H OW DOES THIS WORK ?  A typical SR&ED mandate includes:  Discovery meeting: project identification  Investigation: project detail and financial detail  Claim preparation and submission  Review Support

Industrial Research Scientific Research & Assistance Program Experimental Development  Commercialization  Application and  Innovation acceptance  Tax Refund  Finite $  $ Based on claims  Broader scope  Narrow scope R&D  Apply at the only beginning  Claim expenses at year end

O THER FUNDING PROGRAMS  Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre  Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation  7 funding programs  Federal Programs  Province of Ontario Programs

A ND WE CAN …  Project management and planning  R & D planning  ISO Training  Identification of other sources of funding  Prepare applications  Statistical Analysis