CANARIE seeking transitional funding to bridge uncertain funding environment

CANARIE Inc is seeking transitional funding for its applications development programs following its failure to obtain renewed financing in the last federal Budget. The not-for-profit agency — best known for its development of world-leading, high-speed research networks — will be asking Industry Canada for approximately $30 million to continue its program funding for the next two years.

The pending request reflects a burn rate of $15-20 million annually to fund research programs in e-health, e-learning, e-business and e-content, as well as the need for further consultation and articulation of its future needs and direction. Its transitional request also marks a retrenchment from its purported ask last year of approximately $250 million, which represented an acceleration of its support for new applications requiring high-bandwidth networking.

The new proposal also acknowledges the transitional nature of Ottawa politics these days, with a new incoming government likely triggering a massive shift in the senior ranks of the bureaucracy.

“Things continue to be a little bit murky,” says CANARIE president and CEO Dr Andrew Bjerring. “No decision has been made about CANARIE and the next step for the organization, nor the best use it can be put to. The appropriate time will hopefully be in a manageable future.”

In 1999, CANARIE received $78 million over five years from Industry Canada for applications development programming. That base was augmented with $3 million from Canadian Heritage which was matched by CANARIE royalty revenue and $1.15 million from Human Resources Development Canada which was also matched. All funding was scheduled to run until March 31/04 and has been fully committed. No new projects are currently being solicited but Bjerring says the task is far from complete.

“All programs are closed but what are the next steps for each sector? Research projects are supposed to lead to the next round of projects and they’re case-by-case dependent,” he says. “There are very important challenges lying ahead for these sectors. I don’t see a lessening of the need. Over the last 10 years, CANARIE has received about $400 million and I’m suggesting there are comparable needs to meet the challenges ahead.”

Discussions are ongoing with Industry Canada and its support people in the central agencies.

“The right people need to be around the table so I don’t want to push prematurely,” says Bjerring. “The time for making the right decision will arrive when the time arrives for making the right decision.”

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