OTTAWA, ONTARIO — Today, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) released its draft call for proposals for the 2020 Innovation Fund competition, which seeks feedback from the Canadian research community and research stakeholders that will be considered prior to posting an official call for proposals. The Innovation Fund is our flagship funding mechanism to support transformative research infrastructure projects at universities, colleges, research institutes and research hospitals across the country.
In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada proposed to establish permanent funding for the CFI. This includes an investment of $763 million over the next five years and long-term, stable funding of $462 million per year starting in 2023-24. This new funding allows us to run Innovation Fund competitions at regular intervals of 24 to 30 months, and it allows institutions to plan strategically, putting forward applications for mature projects while developing promising ones for future competitions.
READ: Innovation Fund 2020: Draft call for proposals
Through the 2020 Innovation Fund we will invest up to $400 million in infrastructure and up to $120 million for the associated operating costs through our Infrastructure Operating Fund. This investment will support initiatives that allow institutions and their researchers to build on established capabilities, accelerate current research and technology development, or enhance emerging strategic priority areas. Infrastructure projects that receive funding through the Innovation Fund will allow Canadian researchers to remain at the forefront of exploration and discovery and make meaningful contributions to the social, health, environmental and economic well-being of Canadians and people around the world.
READ: A sample of projects supported through the Innovation Fund
Feedback for the 2020 Innovation Fund draft call for proposals is due by April 29, 2019. Please forward all comments to IF-FI.2020@innovation.ca. See draft call for full competition schedule.