Building a framework for major research facilities

Today, Canada has an opportunity when it comes to research. With rapidly accelerating technology, shared global challenges and an increasing need to compete with the best around the world, we, like many other nations, are evolving how we think about research in this country and the role it plays in improving the lives of Canadians.

Thanks to investments in research infrastructure over 25 years, Canada is now in a good position to consider establishing Major Research Facilities (MRFs), very large scale and complex research facilities that perform at the highest level of international science. These will dramatically accelerate the pace of discovery and technology development in this country, as they represent a tremendous shift in our perspective on research.

The concept of these MRFs was first raised in 2017 in the Naylor report. In it, the authors recognized the tremendous opportunity they represent to answer strategic priorities for the country and to provide the stability needed to address the biggest research questions of our time. What distinguishes these facilities is that their lifecycle is decades-long, and they require support throughout that lifecycle, from start to finish, to realize their full potential.

Recently, the Government of Canada mandated the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to implement a framework for funding the MRFs; that’s an assignment we readily embrace given our expertise in research facilities and equipment.

For over a decade, the CFI has invested in research facilities of national importance through our Major Science Initiatives Fund (MSIF), which focuses on operational support. Facilities funded through the MSIF now serve as a powerful proof-of-concept for the returns we enjoy when we invest in large research platforms. For example, the facilities that have received this funding have demonstrated how complex and highly specialized research platforms can serve thousands of researchers across disciplines and users from all sectors.

But the investments made through the MSIF have been incremental, awarded through competitions that run on a six-year cycle and which respond to requests from research institutions.

We need to look at MRFs differently.

The MRF framework proposes a coordinated approach to funding both the capital costs and the costs of operating and maintaining these facilities. Embedded in this approach are the notions of taking into account the full lifecycle of a facility and maintaining a strategic, portfolio view to maximize the scientific and socioeconomic benefits of these facilities.

MRF can serve as hubs for multiple disciplines to converge around problems that require many lenses of knowledge to solve. In addition to attracting international collaborators who are drawn to the exceptional capabilities and expertise offered, they are unparalleled training centres for a new generation of researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs. They produce and store enormous amounts of data, and they are engines of productivity, providing research services to businesses and generating technological spin-off companies and competitive new products.

They are, put simply, a critical component in a national strategy for science and technology.

MRFs have the potential to put Canada in the same league as countries in Asia and Europe that are investing in these types of facilities in a strategic way — which, as a country bound to compete on the international research stage, is right where we ought to be. In fact, MRFs are a potent tool for greater international engagement as, by virtue of their impressive capacities and ambitious research questions, they are already participants in international consortia and players in a global research ecosystem.

Economically, investing in MRFs makes good sense because of their significant contributions to the private sector through research services and new products, technologies and companies spun off from the research.

Where do we go from here? Earlier this summer, the CFI issued a draft framework for MRFs to seek the input of the research community. We have outlined a model for how this new approach could work for Canada, as well as a timeline for how it can be rolled out. Over the coming months, we will continue to seek input about how to make the most of this exciting opportunity and navigate this new direction for research in Canada.

By placing MRFs front-and-centre among the country’s many critical ongoing investments in research infrastructure, we not only set Canada up for success, we also ensure that we’re keeping pace with the rest of the world.

Sylvain Charbonneau is President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

This article was originally published in the CPSC Conference Editorials in November 2024.