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Productivity Budget 1999 Applauded
Commentary by Tom Brzustowski, President of NSERC
February 16, 1999 - (Ottawa, Ontario) NSERC welcomes
the 1999 budget decisions. These will see the federal government add
$25 million per year to NSERC' s annual allotment over and above the
increases announced last year, as well as provide support for as many
as eight new Networks of Centres of Excellence.
To ease the transition to the creation of the new Canadian Institutes
of Health Research, a further $50 million will be injected in each
of the next three years into the budgets of the three granting councils,
the National Research Council and Health Canada. NSERC's share will
be $7.5 million annually.
I believe that many members of the science and engineering community
will want to join me in expressing their appreciation for this vote
of public support and confidence in their activities.
Taken cumulatively and in the context of last year's very substantial
increases, these are important steps in building up Canada's capabilities
to raise our prosperity and improve Canadian innovation and productivity
in the 21st Century.
The Networks of Centres of Excellence program builds research networks
that are also partnerships. It is a uniquely Canadian way of organizing
university research that has proved to be an enormous success over
the last decade. It allows us to deal with very broad and important
problems that cannot be solved with existing knowledge. Each NCE assembles
the best researchers from many fields. The NCE creates a critical mass
of intellectual talent from across Canada, but still leaves the researchers
in their own universities to teach students and provide advice locally.
Each NCE involves a group of partners from industry and other sectors
who work with the researchers to develop a research strategy to meet
their joint goals. The research is then supported by the federal government,
through the NCE program, by industry, and by the universities all acting
in partnership. It produces new knowledge and new solutions, and often
leads to innovations in the market and greater productivity.
Today, Canada has 14 NCEs involving a majority of universities across
Canada, and doing research on problems ranging from arthritis to sustainable
forest management, from genetic diseases to robotics. This budget will
make it possible to create up to eight additional networks to solve
more of Canada's important problems.
The Canadian Institutes for Health Research is a great step in mobilizing
more of our research resources to improve the health of Canadians.
The health of a society depends on very many factors. The quality of
medical care is an obvious one, but there are many others determinants
of health as well. NSERC has been contributing to improving the health
of Canadians by supporting university research in many fields in the
natural sciences and engineering: basic life sciences, medicinal chemistry,
biotechnology, bioinformatics, materials for implants, assistive devices,
robotics in surgery, and certain areas of psychology, just to mention
a few. We have been spending millions of dollars per year to support
this work, and the results have been both excellent and important,
but our researchers have the potential to achieve much more if we provide
them with more resources.
This budget provides those resources and a vision for putting them
to use. It immediately makes it possible for NSERC to begin expanding
the support of those areas of university research in science and engineering
that will lead to better health for Canadians. NSERC itself took part
in shaping the broad and inclusive CIHR vision, and will be involved
in implementing it. We look forward to joining in this timely and comprehensive
national effort that will gather together the diverse research activities
that contribute to the health of Canadians, and provide new resources
to promote their growth in strategic directions.
These steps forward in the health research area and the dramatic increase
in funding for NSERC and the NCEs demonstrate the government's ongoing
commitment to research. For that reason, today's budget bodes well
for the entire NSERC community.
For further information, contact:
Tim Nau
Director, Communications
NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council)
(613) 995-5992
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