Industrial Research Assistance Program (Canada) : With the end of the Second World War, Canadian politicians and business leaders realised the need to restructure the Canadian economy, and the Department of Reconstruction and Supply was mandated to ease the transition from war to peace. As part of its efforts, the department created the Technical Information Service (TIS), which provided manufacturers with an organization where they could request information regarding recent technological or scientific developments. Two years later, TIS was transferred to the NRC.
Within the NRC, TIS continued to carry out its functions, although it was a minor division and one with little clout. In spite of TIS' innocuous role, in 1961, the NRC attempted to foster a new industrial development program to strengthen the links between government, universities and industry. The Industrial Research Fund, as the program was initially known, was established on 1 April 1962 by an Order-in-Council. Within months, however, the program was redesignated as the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).
IRAP assumed many of the functions delivered by the TIS, but was primarily tasked with supporting Canadian firms in developing large cost-sharing research and development projects. The aim of the program was to make Canadian business more competitive against the multinational corporations. In the larger federal context, IRAP was to be complemented by the Defence Industrial Research Program of the Defence Research Board and Industry, Trade and Commerce's Program for the Advancement of Industrial Technology.
From 1962, as successive governments decreed the importance of aiding Canadian businesses, several sub-programs were added to IRAP. By 1999, IRAP became a program designed to connect small and medium-sized businesses with the information, resources and financial support required to develop commercially viable products and services.
