Atlantic Innovation Fund pumps $136 million into 54 projects worth $291 million

Federal politicians have spent the past few weeks crisscrossing Atlantic Canada to selectively announce projects awarded funding under the second competition of the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF). A total of 54 projects were awarded $136 million in funding, with $155 million coming from other sources.

The AIF has now awarded $290.7 million or virtually all of the $300 million it was provided in 2000. The funding was originally allocated for a five-year period and there has been no word on whether it will be replenished.

The first round awarded $154.7 million to 47 projects. Both competitions were presided over by an advisory board chaired by Dr Arthur May, an honourary research professor at Memorial Univ and former president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (R$, August 30/02).

The largest project in the second competition is the Inco Innovation Centre at Memorial Univ which attracted $20 million from Toronto-based Inco Ltd and $13.1 million from the AIF.

Prince Edward Island did surprisingly well in the second round, with five project securing $16.8 million in AIF funding. First round PEI funding was $25.5 million for seven projects. The largest award was for the Univ of Prince Edward Island’s Institute for Nutrisciences and Health, receiving $6.15 million in AIF funding over five years. The funding is part of a $28-million federal assistance package to establish a bioresource cluster in PEI. Major funding was also provided by the National Research Council.

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