Networks of Centres of Excellence Program

The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Program fosters powerful partnerships between industry, university, government and non-profit* organizations. Networks of Centres of Excellence funded by the Program are designed to develop Canada's economy and improve the quality of life of Canadians.

Three Canadian federal granting agencies - the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) - and Industry Canada combine their efforts to support and oversee the NCE initiative.

Eligibility Criteria

In general, NCE competitions are open to all research areas. The NCE Steering Committee will decide on the need to target areas for new networks prior to each competition taking into consideration:

• the amount of funding available;
• the broad areas already represented in the ongoing networks;
• the need to promote or develop specific areas in accordance with national needs.

Organizations eligible to receive funds are universities, affiliated hospitals and research institutes, and post-secondary institutions having a research mandate. Researchers and organizations that receive NCE funds must meet the general eligibility requirements of one of the three federal granting agencies partnering in the program.

An industry consortium may receive funds to administer a network.

Summary

The NCE program goal is accomplished by investing in national research networks that meet the following objectives:

• stimulates internationally competitive, leading-edge fundamental and applied research in areas critical to Canadian economic and social development;
• develop and retain world class researchers in areas essential to Canada's productivity and economic growth;
• create nation-wide multidisciplinary and multisectoral research partnerships that integrate the research and development priorities of all participants;
• accelerate the exchange of research results within the network and the use of this knowledge within Canada that can harness it for Canadian economic and social development.

The annual budget of the NCE program is $82.4M. Sixteen networks are currently funded by the program. At present, the broad categories of endeavour are health, human development and biotechnology; advanced technologies; natural resources and environment; engineering and manufacturing.

In addition, in 2006, the NCE program launched a pilot program to support the networking activities of research groups to develop new partnerships with receptor communities. This New Initiative (NCE-NI) funding is not intended to support research as it is expected that the teams already receive research funding from other sources. Five networks share the $1-million-a-year NCE-NI funding over four years.

Additional Information

To obtain a list of the current networks, consult the document Networks of Centres of Excellence Program - Supplement.

The application and program guidelines are also available online.

*Note: "non-profit" also known as nonprofit organizations, non profit organizations, not-for-profit organizations, voluntary organizations and volunteer organizations.

New Brunswick Contact(s):
See National Contact.

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National Contact(s):
Networks of Centres of Excellence Program Directorate
Industry Canada
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 1H5
Telephone: 613-995-6010
Fax: 613-992-7356
E-mail: info@nce.gc.ca
Web site: http://www.nce.gc.ca/index.htm