Lowest success rate since inception

Nearly $1.3 billion in research infrastructure funds and related operating support will flow into Canada’s university-based research facilities with the latest announcement from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The competition through the CFI’s Innovation Fund yielded 126 projects at 57 institutions for a value of $450.7 million. That funding was accompanied by $135.2 million in operating funds and leveraged $675 million from other sources, mainly provincial matching funds and the institutions themselves.

The awards were selected through a competitive, peer-reviewed process that considered 487 projects worth $1.4 billion, giving the competition a success rate of approximately just under 26% — the lowest in CFI history (see top chart). The size of the fund was limited by the need to conserve funding for the next competition, when the amount available will drop dramatically. It will get underway with a call for proposals this fall and results will be announced in early 2006.

While the amount of funding is huge by any Canadian standard, the latest Innovation Fund competition is not the largest in the CFI’s six-year history. That distinction goes to the last competition in early 2002, when $588 million was awarded to 208 projects at 65 institutions.

The latest competition was notable for the number of large projects both submitted and awarded, many of which link multiple institutions and often cross provincial boundaries. CFI president/CEO Dr David Strangway says the competition demonstrates that institutions are getting better at thinking big and collaborating where appropriate.

“My sense is (the projects) are getting bigger and better. The bigger projects are much better thought through than in the past,” says Strangway, who leaves his position at the end of the month (see page 4). “I think what the institutions have figured out is that it’s possible for them to think on a scale that Canadians were not allowed to think of in the past. It’s also part of a culture change … People are able to dream in a way they never could before.”

The perception of greater collaboration and larger projects is reinforced by Dr Joanne Keselman, VP research at the Univ of Manitoba.

“You see a lot more universities looking at facilities as being regional or national. It’s quite significantly different from the other competitions,” says Keselman.

The emphasis on projects that extend beyond the confines of a single institution is captured by the success of the Canadian Light Source (CLS). Of the nine national projects funded in the latest competition, five are for new beamlines submitted by three different universities.

“We can start moving on the designs. The matching funds should come pretty quickly,” says Dr Jeff Cutler, acting director of research at CLS. “The user communities for the CLS have grown. All these new projects are driven by the academic community.”

The latest competition marks the end of the CFI’s first phase, prompting speculation over the arm’s length organization’s future. Strangway says the way going forward should be the subject of discussion, although he’s clear about its potential.

“At this level, CFI has been incredibly transformative. We’re in the river and we’re swimming,” he says. “The question is, do we want to stay there or do we want to get out and stay on the bank again? We still have $1 billion in the bank and you can do good things with that money over four or five years. But you can’t drive the system the same way we’ve been driving it today.”

R$