Canada Foundation for Innovation awards $628M for Major Science Initiatives

Credit: Canada Foundation for Innovation

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has announced its 2023 Major Science Initiatives Fund decisions, allocating $628 million to 14 institutions and 19 projects.

Making the announcement on Friday, August 19 in Sudbury at SNOLAB was the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. He said “Through this investment, we’re supporting our world-class research facilities that drive innovation and the researchers who are making important discoveries across the country. We’re making sure that Canada is equipped to support the next generation of researchers who will tackle the world’s most pressing issues and who will advance our society for all to thrive.”

Queen University’s SNOLAB, who hosted the event, received the second largest funding in the amount of $102 million. The largest award was to the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada who received $114,799,830.

Other notable awards that have some relation to the space sector include; SuperDARN Canada, which collaborates on the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network for global space weather; and the Université du Québec – Institut national de la recherche scientifique’s Advanced Laser Light Source.

Below is the full list of recipients.

Applicant InstitutionProject TitleMax CFI Contribution
Dalhousie UniversityOcean Tracking Network$38,528,919
IISD Experimental Lakes Area Inc.IISD Experimental Lakes Area Inc.$11,730,627
McMaster UniversityCanadian Research Data Centre Network$17,471,597
Queen’s UniversityCanadian Cancer Trials Group Operations and Statistics Centre at Queen’s University$19,457,683
SNOLAB$102,000,000
The Hospital for Sick ChildrenCGEn – Canada’s national facility for genome sequencing and analysis$48,900,667
Université de MontréalCoalition Publica$10,362,092
Université du Québec – Institut national de la recherche scientifiqueAdvanced Laser Light Source$3,394,900
Université LavalCanadian Research Icebreaker Amundsen$54,849,938
University of AlbertaThe Metabolomics Innovation Centre$8,339,183
GlycoNet Integrated Services$10,684,968
University of GuelphCentre for Biodiversity Genomics$8,987,000
University of OttawaThe André E. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility for Environmental Radionuclides$5,845,254
University of SaskatchewanCanadian Light Source Inc.$97,243,194
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization$53,948,651
SuperDARN Canada: The Canadian Component of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, A Global Space Weather Collaboration$2,604,037
The Global Water Futures Observatories$15,253,186
University of Western Ontario (The)Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment Research Facility (WindEEE)$3,887,057
University of VictoriaOcean Networks Canada$114,799,830
Total: 14Total: 19Total: $628,288,783
2023 Major Science Initiatives Fund competition decisions. Credit: Canada Foundation for Innovation.

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and Executive Vice President, Content of SpaceNews. Boucher has 25+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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