Partnerships

The Research and Analysis Division has taken the lead in developing different vehicles for research collaboration and is involved in different research groups in order to foster the development of an active, multi-disciplinary research community on issues related to public infrastructure in Canada's communities. These research collaborations involve other federal government departments and agencies, other levels of government, universities and research institutes, the private sector and other experts.

Infrastructure Canada's Horizontal Research Roundtable on Infrastructure
ADM-Level Network on Infrastructure Research
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - International Futures Programme
Infrastructure Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories Research Collaboration

Infrastructure Canada's Horizontal Research Roundtable on Infrastructure

Established in the fall of 2003 by the Research and Analysis Division, the Horizontal Research Roundtable on Infrastructure (HRRI) brings together more than 25 federal government departments and organizations to facilitate and foster targeted collaborative research on infrastructure. Members of the Roundtable meet regularly to share and strengthen their knowledge, identify opportunities to advance shared research interests and undertake new research on critical horizontal issues.

The HRRI's activities are currently focused on six priority areas for research:

Communities, Cities and Public Infrastructure;
The State of Infrastructure in Canada;
The Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Impacts of Public Infrastructure;
Financing Mechanisms for Public Infrastructure;
Technology, Innovation and Transformative Infrastructure; and
Governance Issues Related to Public Infrastructure.

For additional information, please see Our Research Results - HRRI.

ADM-Level Network on Infrastructure Research

In April 2003, Infrastructure Canada formed the ADM-level Network on Infrastructure Research to actively pursue opportunities to strengthen relationships among federal counterparts with an interest in infrastructure research. Currently about 40 ADM-level colleagues from 25 federal departments and agencies are members, exchanging information on research needs and activities, receiving regular updates from Infrastructure Canada on infrastructure research activities, and meeting once a year or so.

Later in 2003, as a direct result of the Network's first meeting, the Horizontal Research Roundtable on the State of Infrastructure (the predecessor to today's HRRI) was created to facilitate collaboration in areas of common interest within the federal family at the working-level. The ADM Network helps to guide the HRRI's activities (e.g., by identifying research priorities) and the HRRI's work feeds back into the Network to inform policy and decision-making.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - International Futures Programme

Infrastructure Canada has taken a leading role in a two-year research project looking at the future of infrastructure, "Global Infrastructure Needs: Prospects and Implications for Public and Private Actors". Coordinated by the This link will lead you outside the Infrastructure Canada web site. International Futures Programme of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the project is examining the opportunities and challenges facing the infrastructure sector worldwide over the next 30 years, with the aim of developing policy recommendations for OECD governments to enhance the contribution of infrastructure to economic and social development. The study is looking at four sectors: transport; electricity; communication (including information infrastructure); and water.

Results of the work will be reported through a series of technical reports and working papers, leading to the final synthesis report in April 2007. An interim report on the findings from Phase 1 of the project will be issued in June 2006.

Infrastructure Canada is one of the funders of the research project, and is part of the international steering group directing the work.

Infrastructure Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories Research Collaboration

Infrastructure Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories This link will lead you outside the Infrastructure Canada web site. Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) have developed a joint research initiative to improve understanding of the impacts of boom and bust economies on single-resource dependent communities in the North, with an emphasis on infrastructure related impacts. Through the initiative, Infrastructure Canada and MACA are working with communities, infrastructure practitioners, scholars and other experts to conduct relevant, targeted research that will support communities affected by the proposed development of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and develop practical tools that will help communities minimize the negative impacts of resource development and maximize the positive ones.