Canada Foundation for Innovation tagged to deliver new program for operational support of major science facilities

Operational support for many of Canada's large science facilities finally has a single funding source with the launch of a new targeted program by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The Major Science Initiatives (MSI) program provides $185 million over five years (FY12-13 to FY16-17) covering 40% of a facility's operating costs, with its inaugural competition to be held next year.

The creation of an operating fund for major science facilities caps years of policy development, reports, internal advice from the Science, Technology and Innovation Council and external lobbying to advocate for a single funding source.

The biggest caveat is that eligible facilities must have received at least $25 million from the CFI in the past, narrowing the field to a handful of facilities. These include the Canadian Light Source (CLS) in Saskatoon, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) in Sudbury, NEPTUNE and VENUS ocean observatories in Victoria, and high performance computing (HPC) facilities represented by Compute Canada. TRIUMF, at the Univ of British Columbia, currently receives core funding through the National Research Council and was funded in the last federal Budget (R$, March 19/10).

The announcement has elicited positive reaction from the managers of Canada's big science facilities although their enthusiasm is tempered by the decision to provide only 40% of operational costs, compelling facilities to seek the remaining 60% from other (largely provincial) sources.

"This is the resolution of a long, 10-year march. Major sciences facilities have been a conundrum for government and this provides us with at least a major step forward … This is a very significant piece," says Dr Martin Taylor, president and CEO of Ocean Networks Canada which oversees NEPTUNE and VENUS. "It's a recognition by CFI and Industry Canada that this was an issue that couldn't stay on the shelf."

In 2009, Ocean Networks Canada and SNO each received two year's worth of interim operational funding from the CFI to avoid a lapse in operations and the loss of highly qualified personnel to jurisdictions with more holistic funding environments. The decision to use CFI for purely operational funding was unprecedented but it also demonstrated that the arm's length agency was probably best positioned for the task. With the MSI program, the major science community is eager to move ahead to refine and improve its funding environment.

"Some are disappointed in the announcement but we have now recognized the problem, designed a mechanism to deal with a special class of projects and got our foot in the door. This is exceptional news," says Dr Tony Noble, director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute. "In the future, we need to look at a project from cradle to grave to see the big picture and all the funding mechanisms."

The requirement to secure 60% of a facility's operating budget from other sources means the single funding source institutions were seeking remains elusive.

"The 40% is very very important but it means that it's critical for other funding partners to remain engaged and committed," says Dr Peter McKinnon, president of the Univ of Saskatchewan (home to the CLS) and a long-time advocate for a one-stop source of funding for large national research facilities (R$, May 6/03 & Sept 28/04). "It's important for the conversation to continue for the operation of these facilities because we still have a long way to go."

The CLS has by far the largest operating budget of Canada's big science facilities. With 15 beamlines in operation, the synchrotron requires more than $30 million annually for operations — a figure that will grow as more beamlines are brought on line.

"It's very important for problems to be identified and understood," says McKinnon. "There needs to be more understanding of the issues and a greater willingness to act ... This program is a very important and substantial measure but there's more work to do."

The MSI program also applies to the distributed facilities that comprise Canada's HPC capacity. Compute Canada, the organization representing seven HPC facilities, says the CFI program is key to easing pressure on three facilities in Ontario and Quebec that are facing a severe cash crunch.

"We start to lose some operational funding at the end of 2011 so hopefully this will allow us to retain staff. We can't afford to lose our user support people," says Compute Canada executive director Susan Baldwin, adding that the 40% CFI is offering is in line with most other CFI programs. "This is really a historic breakthrough and a recognition that the operations side is as important as the capital side."

The MSI announcement completes the roll-out of the CFI's new suite of programs — the result of extensive consultation and negotiations with Industry Canada over the past year and a half. In Budget 2009, the federal government provided CFI with $750 million, $600 million of which was allocated toward future activities including the launch of one or more competitions by the end of this year in priority areas identified by the minister of Industry. Discussions between CFI and Industry Canada concluded several months ago, resulting in a new funding agreement (R$, July 6 & July 19/10). But the government decided to announce each program separately over a period of several months, with MSI being the final component.

In addition to previously having received at least $25 million from the CFI, applicants must also demonstrate that they are world class facilities conducting excellent science, are unique in Canada, nationally accessible and have a modern governance structure.

CFI president and CEO, Dr Gilles Patry, says the CFI will launch consultations with the provinces and other stakeholders in about two weeks and report to its board in early 2011.

"This is a welcome enhancement to our mandate and addresses some of the issues where CFI has been involved," says Patry. "The strategic plan covers 2012 to 2016 and is specifically geared to the $600 million (CFI received in Budget 2009)." (The strategic plan has yet to be publicly released).

In a recent submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, Patry outlined new areas where the CFI would like to be engaged. These include additional resources for its Leading Opportunity and New Initiatives funds, partnerships with other agencies, international partnerships and national platforms such as HPC. CFI has asked for an indication of support in the next Budget.

R$