France & Canada establish bilateral research fund

The French government and 16 of Canada's largest universities have banded together to create the France-Canada Research Fund (FCRF), which promises to pump up to $5 million into collaborative research projects. The fund was initially seeded with $500,000 from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an equal amount from the Canadian universities (see list at bottom), although considerable interest from companies, research institutes and funding agencies may help push to total much higher. Capital for the fund will reside at the Univ of Ottawa, which will support the management of funding the research programs.

The FCRF is aimed at financing exchanges in the fields of research and higher education and will be administered by a peer executive committee, which will rely on the assessment system of both countries. Also sitting on the committee will be representatives of the French ministries of foreign affairs and research, as well as Jean Razungles, the science and technology counsellor from the Embassy of France in Canada. The Canadian government and participating universities will also appoint representatives.

The first call for offers was issued this month, with priority given to the fields of medicine, agri-food, forestry, information technology, biotechnology, the humanities and social sciences.

Initially, applicants will compete for funding provided solely by the FCRF, but once it is established, a second phase will kick in. The second phase will also utilize funding from private and public sources in both countries, and may also include contributions from universities and research organizations.

Plans are also underway to link to the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which is preparing a $100-million fund for international S&T.

The participating universities are: Univ of Calgary, Carleton Univ, Univ of British Columbia, Univ of Guelph, Laval Univ, McGill Univ, Univ of Montreal, McMaster Univ, Univ of Ottawa, Queen's Univ, Simon Fraser Univ, Univ of Toronto, Univ of Victoria, Univ of Waterloo, Univ of Western Ontario, and York Univ.

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