The government's long-awaited announcement of a competition for the Canada Foundation for Innovation's (CFI) two flagship programs signal a much tougher funding environment for future university research infrastructure projects. The decision to allocate $155 million for a competition of the Leading Edge Fund (LEF) and New Initiatives Fund (NIF) — augmented by $45.5 million in operating support — could shut out most new proposals for new infrastructure.

"The focus is on sustaining past CFI investments and keep them at world-class status," says Dr Gilles Patry, who became CFI president and CEO August 1st. "We're trying to ensure the sustainability of new investments … No university was expecting another $500-million LEF/NIF initiative."

The latest funding for LEF and NIF is less than one third the size of the last competition, when $512.4 million in awards were made, augmented by $153.7 million from the Infrastructure Operating Fund and matching commitments for a competition total of $1.435 billion.

The economic downturn and expansion of the CFI mandate into support for major science facilities means those massive budgets could be a thing of the past.

"The CFI obviously wanted a larger competition but they don't have the money right now," says Dr Lorne Babiuk, VP research t the Univ of Alberta. "It will either be extremely competitive or people will feel it's not worth applying to."

The CFI and Industry Canada concluded a funding agreement earlier this year to determine how $600 million awarded in Budget 2009 would be allocated. But that agreement remains unreleased as the government has opted to announce new funding on a program-by-program basis. With the LEF/NIF announcement, that leaves $185 million which will likely be directed to the CFI's new policy thrust of supporting major science facilities (R$, July 19/10).

Earlier in August, CFI announced that $182 million would be devoted to the Leaders Opportunity Fund, which is designed to assist universities in attracting and retaining top-flight research talent.

"The $600 million is for various programs. Some people might have preferred a different allocation," says Patry.

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