Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence (B-NCE)

Call for Letters of Intent (LOI)

Deadline for LOI: January 30, 2008.

Budget

$46M total is available for the 2009 Competition ($11M in 2008-2009). It is proposed to fund up to five new B-NCEs over a four (4) year time period.

There is no restriction on the Canadian industrial sector that can apply for a Network. However, as established in the S&T Strategy and the Budget 2007, the research undertaken by the proposed Networks must be in one or more of the five (5) priority research areas, namely:

• Environmental science and technologies;
• Natural resources and energy;
• Health and related life sciences and technologies;
• Information and communications technologies; and
• Management, business or finance.

Program Requirements

The key requirements of the program are the following:

• Letters of Intent must be submitted by not-for-profit consortia (must be incorporated at time of funding) that represent the interests of private sector enterprises with substantial R&D operations in Canada or potential to benefit from R&D (ideally comprising a mix of SME and large companies, and research providers and research-users).
• The Canadian private sector represented by the above must have a clear vision of their sector/cluster’s shared needs over the next 5-10 years, the major R&D and commercialization challenges and barriers to that vision, and present a comprehensive plan that shows how the proposed network will address these challenges and barriers to ultimately enhance their innovativeness and competitiveness.
• Significant investment and strong support for the proposed initiative by the private sector partners.
• A well described and managed collaborative research program involving the most suitable expert researchers from academia, government and/or the private sector.
• A cohesive plan that clearly describes the path for the commercialization of the research results generated from the B-NCE.
• The research undertaken must be in the priority areas listed above.

Background

Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage, the Government of Canada's S&T Strategy, sets out a multi-year policy framework to improve Canada's long-term competitiveness and quality of life by fostering three inter-related S&T-based advantages. The Strategy encourages an Entrepreneurial Advantage to strengthen private-sector commitment to R&D and innovation vital to productivity and competitiveness, a Knowledge Advantage to ensure Canadian universities and colleges sustain their world-class research excellence, and a People Advantage so that Canada has access to the highly-skilled researchers and innovators it needs.

Announced in Budget 2007, the new B-NCE Program's goal is to fund large-scale collaborative networks to support private sector innovation in order to deliver potential economic, social and/or environmental benefits to Canadians and to promote an Entrepreneurial Advantage.

B-NCEs vs. 'Classic' NCEs

The B-NCEs will differ from existing NCEs in that they will be for a shorter term, business-led and focused on solving business research needs that have been identified by the private sector. The intention is to increase private sector investments in research in Canada, support the training of skilled researchers, and optimize the timeline between research and commercialization.

Timeline for 2009 B-NCE Competition

B-NCE funding will be awarded following a national competitive process in two stages:

1. Based on a review of the Letters of Intent (Stage 1), selected applicants will be invited to Stage 2 in April 2008.
2. Those LOIs that are invited to advance to Stage 2 will develop and submit full project proposals by July 31, 2008.

Governance

The B-NCE Program is overseen by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Steering Committee, made up of the Deputy Minister of Industry Canada, the presidents of the three granting agencies—the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)—and the President of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) (as an observer).

Day-to-day administration of the B-NCE Program is provided by the NCE Secretariat.

A Private Sector Advisory Board (PSAB) will assess the economic and commercial benefits and opportunities of each B-NCE put forward and will provide advice and funding recommendations to the NCE Steering Committee. The PSAB will be informed by international peer review at the full proposal stage. The NCE Steering Committee will make the final funding decisions.

Documents

Those not-for-profit consortia interested in applying should consult:

• B-NCE Letter of Intent Guide for the 2009 Competition
  • HTML Version
  • PDF Version
  
  
  
• Letter of Intent - Application Form (In preparation)



• B-NCE Main Facts
  • HTML Version
  • PDF Version
  
  
  
• Business-led NCEs vs. 'Classic' NCEs
  • HTML Version
  • PDF Version

Should you have any questions or inquiries regarding the Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence, please contact: