New CCA partnership aims to give construction industry innovation a boost

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) and affiliate Canadian Construction Innovations (CCI) have struck a new partnership aimed at providing a leg up to Canadian contractors focused on innovation.

The industry organization will team up consulting group Invennt Business Inc. to help association members secure federal tax incentives for investing in innovation.

“Our goal is to promote and drive innovation in the industry, and this new valued service will make it easier for our members to have a better chance at getting a SR&ED credit,” Mary Van Buren, the CCA president, said in a Nov. 25 release.

With the new partnership in place, Invennt will provide credit writing services to assist contractors preparing and filing claims offered under the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program. Administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the SR&ED program offers Canadian companies of all sizes income tax deductions, tax credits or refunds for experimenting with new technologies. The CRA says it provides more than $3 billion in incentives to over 20,000 different companies each year.

Often seen as something of a laggard when it comes to innovation, the Canadian construction industry has been turning more aggressively to technology in recent years as it works to improve productivity and address labour shortages.

The CCA says the partnership aims to help grow the industry share of SR&ED claims from the current 0.7 per cent to approximately seven per cent, which would bring the industry in line with its share of the Canadian economy.