Canada Foundation For Innovation
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The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI; french: Fondation canadienne pour l'innovation, ''FCI'') is an independent not-for-profit organization that invests in research facilities and equipment in Canada's universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions.


Creation

The CFI was created by the Government of Canada through the Budget Implementation Act 1997, Bill C-93, to "help build and sustain a research landscape in Canada that will attract and retain the world's top talent, train the next generation of researchers, support private-sector innovation and create high-quality jobs that strengthen Canada's position in today's knowledge economy".


Funding

The infrastructure funded by the CFI includes the equipment, laboratories, databases, specimens, scientific collections, computer hardware and software, communications linkages and buildings necessary to conduct research. The CFI has established a merit-review process that relies on experts from across Canada and around the world to ensure that only the best projects receive funding. CFI funding is awarded to institutions, not individual researchers, and all funding proposals must support an institution's strategic research plan. Eligible Canadian institutions apply to the CFI through a suite of funds, and all applications are assessed using three broad criteria: quality of the research and its need for infrastructure, contribution to strengthening the capacity for innovation and potential benefits of the research to Canada. The CFI funds up to 40 percent of a project's research infrastructure costs. This funding is then leveraged to attract the remaining investment from partners in the public, private and non-profit sectors.


Governance

The CFI was established as an independent, non-governmental organization with a Board of Directors, which meets three to four times a year. The Board of Directors reports to Members—a higher governing body similar to a company's shareholders but representing the Canadian public. Members are nominated and appointed for a five-year term. An annual public meeting is held each year.


Criticism

CFI has been criticized for being redundant and part of a "convoluted" federal funding apparatus.Wells, Paul
"Science policy: First, ask the right questions"
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Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
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External projects/facilities

*
Canadian Light Source Synchrotron The Canadian Light Source (CLS) (french: link=no, Centre canadien de rayonnement synchrotron – CCRS) is Canada's national synchrotron light source facility, located on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, C ...
*
SNOLAB SNOLAB is a Canadian underground science laboratory specializing in neutrino and dark matter physics. Located 2 km below the surface in Vale's Creighton nickel mine near Sudbury, Ontario, SNOLAB is an expansion of the existing facilities con ...
* CCGS Amundsen *
Ocean Networks Canada Ocean Networks Canada is a University of Victoria initiative that operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories in the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea. Additionally, Ocean Networks Canada operates smaller community-based ob ...
*
Ocean Tracking Network The Ocean Tracking Network is a research effort using implanted acoustic transmitters to study fish migration Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, o ...
*
Census of Marine Life The Census of Marine Life was a 10-year, US $650 million scientific initiative, involving a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations, engaged to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. Th ...
*
Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...


See also

* Dr. Albert D. Friesen


References


External links

* {{authority control Federal departments and agencies of Canada Funding bodies of Canada Technology companies of Canada Research management 1997 establishments in Canada Government agencies established in 1997