Research and Development (R&D) and Green Innovation in Canada

Research and Development (R&D) has remained the engine of green growth and innovation globally. This study examines how R&D contributes to green innovation, focusing on renewable electricity generation in Canada between 1996 and 2023. The datasets on renewable electricity generation and the R&D indicators from the World Bank, UNESCO, and the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators were analysed using summary statistics, cointegration tests, the least squares and residual diagnostic tests. The findings indicate that research and development expenditure has a significant positive effect on renewable electricity generation in the long run. This finding highlights the effectiveness of research and development funding in driving green innovation in Canaba, especially in the energy sector. Similarly, the results showed that researchers in R&D per million people have a positive and significant effect on long-run renewable electricity generation. However, the results showed that the number of scientific and technical journal articles per million people has a significant negative effect on renewable electricity generation in the long run. The short-run dynamics showed that the error correction coefficient (-1.0554) is negative and significant at the 5% level, indicating that the model can adjust toward the long-run equilibrium position. Given the findings, this study concludes that R&D expenditure and the availability of R&D researchers enable green innovation by promoting renewable electricity generation in Canada. Thus, we recommend that the Canadian government prioritise green, innovation-driven R&D investments to create more opportunities to improve renewable electricity generation in the country.