Budget 2021 boosts bio-science labs for the future

OTTAWA, ON — The federal Budget 2021, announced April 19, 2021, recognizes the important role Canada’s life sciences and bio-manufacturing sector plays in our COVID-19 response. It also understands the need to boost the sector to ensure Canada is prepared for future health crises.

Budget 2021 proposes a total of $2.2 billion over seven years to help grow a vibrant, domestic life sciences sector and build Canada’s bio-science talent pipeline and research systems. This funding includes $500 million over four years for the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support the bio-science capital and research infrastructure needs of post-secondary institutions and research hospitals across the country.

Budget 2021 targeted additional support for the life sciences and bio-manufacturing sector, including:

• $250 million over four years, starting in 2021-22, for the federal research granting councils to create a new tri-council biomedical research fund.
• $92 million over four years, starting in 2021-22, for adMare to support company creation, scale up, and training activities in the life sciences sector.
• $59.2 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization to support the development of its vaccine candidates and expand its facility in Saskatoon.
• $45 million over three years, starting in 2022-23, to the Stem Cell Network to support stem cell and regenerative medicine research.
• $250 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to increase clinical research capacity through a new Canadian Institutes of Health Research Clinical Trials Fund.

The budget also included a number of investments in the country’s research ecosystem, including support for the tri-council agencies, Genome Canada, Mitacs, and the National Research Council, and in key areas of research in Canada, including quantum science and artificial intelligence.