Ministry of Research and Innovation Research Programs

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Ministry of Research and Innovation
Research Programs

• International Society
• for Computational Biology
• July 23, 2008

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Ministry of Research and Innovation

• The Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) was
  established three years ago to
• Develop and lead an integrated and coherent
  research and innovation agenda
• Deliver research and commercialization programs
  to support the innovation agenda
• Foster a culture of innovation and showcase
  Ontarios innovation excellence nationally and
  internationally

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The Ontario Innovation Agenda

• The Ontario Innovation Agenda (OIA), supported by
  close to 3 billion in spending over eight years,
  is a long-term view, living agenda designed to
  respond to changing needs, emerging issues and
  new opportunities
• The agenda supports industry-academia
  partnerships in areas of Ontarios global
  leadership
• Bio-economy and clean technologies
• Advanced health technologies
• Pharmaceutical research and manufacturing
• Digital media and information and communication
  technologies
• The Ministry currently is in the process of
  aligning its research, commercialization and
  outreach programs to meet the objectives of the
  agenda

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Research Programs

• MRI Research Programs are
• Open to Ontarios publicly supported research
  institutions on a competitive basis
• Internationally peer reviewed for excellence
• Aligned with Ontarios priorities
• Program area incorporates three funding streams
• Operations
• Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence
• Equipment and Facilities
• Ontario Research Fund Research Infrastructure
• Research Talent
• Early Researcher Award
• Premiers Discovery Awards
• Premiers Catalyst Awards
• Postdoctoral Fellowships

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Alignment of Research Programs
Talent development/capacity building continuum
Research Programs complement each other
INFRASTRUCTURE Ontario Research Fund Research Infrastructure supports modernization, development and acquisition of new infrastructure (small/individual to large/institutional). Administered in concert with federal counterparts.
PEOPLE Research talent programs, a central part of the knowledge creation ecosystem, support attraction and retention of researchers throughout their career development. The programs complement the federal CRC initiative.
OPERATIONS Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence (ORF-RE) supports transformative, internationally significant research projects. While the federal tri-council grants complement ORF-RE, they are generally much smaller in scale.

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Research Excellence (ORF-RE)

• ORF-RE provides operational support for the
  large-scale, leading-edge research initiatives
• Focuses on scientific excellence and strong
  commercialization
• At least one call for proposals per year
• To date, MRI has committed 230 million for 45
  projects committed through 2 rounds of funding
• This investment leveraged 460 million from 280
  industry and other partners
• RE projects will train and/or provide capacity
  for approximately 7000 HQPs to develop Ontarios
  research talent
• ORF-RE Round 3 is currently underway

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Research Infrastructure (ORF-RI)

• ORF-RI provides grants to match awards made by
  Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for
• Major research infrastructure funding (LEF/NIF)
• Grants to attract and retain researchers (LOF)
• Since 2004, MRI has announced 727 projects
  totalling over 271 million in ORF-RI grants
• 400 million in leveraged partner funding
• over 2,300 HQPs
• 8 spin-off companies
• 246 private or public sector jobs
• 94 patents and licensing agreements

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Early Researcher Award Program

• The 68 million ERA program aims to attract and
  retain research talent by helping promising,
  recently-appointed Ontario researchers build
  their research teams of graduate students,
  post-doctoral fellows and research associates
• To date, the Ministry has committed 47.2 million
  for 337 projects through 4 rounds of awards
• This investment leveraged a commitment of 14.2
  million from 24 institutional partners
• ERA projects will train approximately 1250 highly
  qualified people (HQP) and will reach 88,200
  students

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Premiers Discovery and Catalyst
AwardsPostdoctoral Fellowships

• The Premiers Discovery Awards (PDA) celebrate
  the excellence of Ontarios finest researchers.
  Four annual awards totaling 1.5 million to
  recognize and profile achievement in
• Life sciences and medicine (0.5M)
• Natural sciences and engineering (0.5M)
• Social sciences and humanities (0.25M)
• Innovation leadership (0.25M)
• The Premiers Catalyst Awards provide five awards
  of 200,000 annually for developing a
  commercially successful product or service based
  on a breakthrough technology
• To date, the Ministry has committed
• 4.8 million committed through two rounds of PDA
  and PCA funding, supporting 17 leading
  researchers and entrepreneurs in variety of
  fields ranging from healthcare to a cleaner
  environment
• 4.8 million committed through 2 rounds of
  Postdoctoral Fellowships funding , supporting 96
  outstanding scientists with two-year fellowships
  at Ontarios research institutions

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MRI Investments in Bioinformatics

• Since 2003, MRI has invested close to 50 million
  in approximately 30 projects related to
  bioinformatics
• In addition, Ontario continues support number
  initiatives that provide platforms for advancing
  the science of bioinformatics, including
• High Performance Computing
• The High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory
  (HPCVL), Queen's University (11.5 million)
• Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing
  Network (SHARCNET), University of Western Ontario
  (11 million)
• SciNet, University of Toronto (8 million)
• Genomics/Proteomics
• Structural Genomics Consortium (25 million)
• Barcode of Life (6 million)
• Genome Canada matching (20 million)

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Contact Information

• Jane Kirkwood
• Manager, Research Branch
• 416-314-0629 or Jane.Kirkwood_at_Ontario.ca
• Allison Barr
• Director, Research Branch
• 416-212-6990 or Allison.Barr_at_Ontario.ca