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The Ontario government is moving quickly to confront aggressive US spending on science with a $100-million genomics fund aimed at ensuring that researchers continue to use the province as their base as they engage in international collaborations.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has made good on his commitment to raise the research community concerns over funding of the granting councils and other S&T programs in the House of Commons. On April 21, Ignatieff lambasted the Conservative government for its strategic review-related $148 million in cuts to the budgets of the granting councils and lack of long-term funding for Genome Canada.

The first official execution of changes to the competition process for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s (NSERC) flagship Discovery Grants Program (DGP) has produced a higher average of support for a smaller number of researchers in what officials describe as “a greater dynamic of funding among researchers”.

The Third Atlantic RE$EARCH MONEY Conference

Investing for Economic Sustainability
Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland, St. John’s
June 3, 2009
In collaboration with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)

The third Atlantic RE$EARCH MONEY Conference will examine how the Atlantic Provinces are investing now to ensure economic sustainability for the long term.

The first shoe has dropped on one of the highly anticipated Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program, with a short list of 17 universities and 40 proposals vying for 20 awards each worth $10 million over seven years.

Most businesses in Canada lack the ambition to adopt innovative practices with too many successful companies behaving like income trusts rather than venture capitalists says a high-level, 18 member expert panel assembled by the Council of Canadian of Academies (CCA).

With little more than one year before the lights are turned off, the Sustainable Forest Management Network of Centres of Excellence (SFM Network) is thinking about life beyond the NCE program. It is contemplating the creation of a virtual national organization that can deal with national issues and attract partners by extending its focus beyond its traditional focus of research.

Biggest SADI award to date

Montreal’s CAE Inc has received its second federal loan in three years with a $250-million investment by the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) to develop and adapt its modeling and simulating technologies for new markets.

The awarding of funding to support R&D projects under the Strategic Aerospace Defence Initiative (SADI) appears to be gaining momentum. CAE’s Project Falcon is the third project to be funded under SADI this year, following awards made to Esterline CMC Electronics Inc and Norsat International Inc.

4th generation nuclear looks beyond 2025

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) is developing technologies aimed at extending the commercial viability of its CANDU reactors through a collaborative agreement with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).