Canada's New Government launches a competition to fund Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research

Backgrounder

The Grants Program for the Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) Program is a federal mechanism to support the operation of research and/or commercialization centres that bring together people, services, and research infrastructure to position Canada at the forefront of breakthrough innovations in priority areas.

The goal of the CECR Program is to increase private sector investments in research in Canada, support the training of skilled researchers, and connect the resulting ideas and talent to businesses seeking to bring innovations to market.

The CECR program also aims to create internationally recognized centres of commercialization and research expertise in four priority areas to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to Canadians. As established in Canada’s new Government Science and Technology Strategy, the priority sectors are:

• Environmental science and technologies
• Natural resources and energy
• Health and related life sciences and technologies
• Information and communications technologies

The program accomplishes its goals by investing in research and commercialization centres that yield a certain number of benefits. These include:

• Create, grow and retain companies in Canada that are able to capture new markets with breakthrough innovations;
• Accelerate the commercialization of leading edge technologies, goods, services in priority areas where Canada can significantly advance its competitive advantage;
• Attract investment (including direct foreign investment and venture capital);
• Attract and retain top talent (including internationally recognized business leaders, post-graduate and post-doctoral students);
• Open up opportunities for Canadian firms and researchers to access world-class research equipment, facilities and networks.

The CECR Program is overseen by the federal Network of Centres of Excellence Program 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 for Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)—and the President of the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Day-to-day administration of the CECR Program is provided by the Networks of Centres of Excellence Program Secretariat (The Secretariat).

The Secretariat runs periodic national competitive processes through which the Steering Committee selects successful centres on the advice of international peer review and a Private Sector Advisory Board.

Not-for-profit corporations created by universities, colleges, not-for-profit research organizations, firms, and other interested non-government parties are eligible to receive funds.

To be eligible, organizations applying for CECR funds must have an established Board of Directors responsible for approving its annual financial reports and audits as part of its accountability practices.

Centres wishing to obtain funding must begin by preparing letters of intent that describe, among other things, the expected research and/or commercialization benefits for the project period.

The Private Sector Advisory Board will assess the letters of intent against the program selection criteria and recommend a short-list of applicants to the Steering Committee. Short-listed applicants will develop full project proposals by October 31, 2007 from the detailed criteria.

Complete proposals received by the Secretariat by the deadline will undergo a consultation and assessment process. To ensure that the program’s goals are met, proposals will be assessed against three selection criteria: benefits to Canada, track record and potential of the applicants, and strength of the business plan.

Given the multidisciplinary nature of the projects, funding may come from more than one granting agency, and so the Secretariat will be the primary point of interaction for all project applicants throughout the life of their project.

A total of 165M is available for the 2008 Competition. Successful applicants will normally receive $15 million over five years. However, larger awards will be considered where a project holds the potential for significant benefits. Successful centres may optimize resources by drawing on other sources of funding. However, every project will be carefully monitored to ensure that total funding does not exceed admissible limits.

Interested organizations wishing to apply for the new funding should consult the NCE Program website for details about the competition and the eligibility and requirements for funding at www.nce.gc.ca.

Back to News Release.