In the fourth quarter last year, Canadian labour productivity experience its largest gain since the first quarter of 1998 (1.4 per cent). As well, manufacturing sales were up 2.4 per cent in January – this was unexpected, as economists had been expecting a 0.6 per cent gain. (Source)
So what does this mean for us? It is definitely a good sign, but there is always a chance we expect more of this than there actually is. By just taking a look at what happened in the fourth quarter, one may think that it’s time to start hiring more workers for the expected increase in business – however, if businesses try to grow to the size they were previously too quickly, it may once again result in strains on those businesses. While the growth is definitely something to embrace, stay cautious about getting too far ahead of what your business can handle at its current state.
We stumbled across an article in an old volume of Exchange Magazine profiling our CEO, Sol Algranti. Before forming Northbridge, Sol worked in the manufacturing industry for many years, where he learned about the SR&ED program and how to successfully claim for it. Soon he was helping associates and friends put their claims together – and out of that, Northbridge was born. We are firm believers that our background with the manufacturing industry is what sets Northbridge apart.
Read more about Sol Algranti’s pas in manufacturing.
We often tell people that failed projects are embraced by the SR&ED program, and sometimes it can be a little hard to understand exactly why. I mean, isn’t the program meant to promote innovation, and to encourage technological development? If so, then why are projects that don’t result in a more innovative product or process applicable for the SR&ED program?
This goes back to the three criteria of the program: Technological Advancement, Technological Obstacles and Technical Content.
When looking at a failed project, you most likely faced a number of Technological Obstacles while working on it – these obstacles are anything that prevented you from getting to the final objective, so obviously in a failed project you faced a number of obstacles.
The technical content shows the systematic investigation that was done while trying to reach the final objective, which would be done for both failed and successful projects.
Lastly, your knowledge has been expanded in the instance of failed projects as well – in these instances, you now have the knowledge that there is no way that you have found to get to the final objective.
So yes, failed projects definitely qualify for the SR&ED program, as long as they too fulfill the three criteria of the program.
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