CANARIE refunded at historic levels as part of Canada’s new Digital Research Infrastructure Strategy

CANARIE, Canada’s 26-year-old research and education network, has received $137 million beginning in 2020 to boost its networking and advanced research networking services while solidifying its prominent place within the country’s national digital research infrastructure (DRI) ecosystem. The four-year funding envelope is 63% higher than CANARIE’s previous funding agreement of $105 million over five years and is the single largest funding announcement in the organization’s history.

The funding comes as the federal government launches an ambitious DRI strategy with $572.5 million over five years, plus $52 million per year ongoing. The funding includes an additional $8 million in FY19-20 for CANARIE’s northern connectivity and cyber security initiatives.

“We’re kind of in this sweet spot. We have this new agreement with the government and the funding, but beyond that, (it) gives us the agility to do different things, to try and fail and try again,” says Kathryn Anthonisen, CANARIE’s VP External Relations.

CANARIE’s new support package was first revealed in May along with the government’s announcement of a new DRI strategy. At the heart of the strategy is a (yet unnamed) new coordinating and funding entity. The national, not-for-profit organization will advance and invest $375 million in data management (DM), research software (RS) and advanced research computing (ARC), areas currently supported by several separate entities. RE$EARCH MONEY has learned that at least one — Compute Canada — will be wound down.

“This [new] organization will coordinate and fund activities in ARC, DM, and RS to ensure that Canada's researchers have equitable access to the necessary infrastructure and tools to support research across all disciplines,” states the ISED DRI strategy.

Compute Canada’s demise was confirmed by ISED

“The Canada Foundation for Innovation will continue to fund the Compute Canada Federation until March 31, 2022 to provide stability and minimize disruption to both highly qualified personnel and researchers,” ISED stated in a Q&A with RES$EARCH MONEY. “The new DRI organization will take over national responsibilities when fully operational.”

The successful proposal for the new organization was led by a steering committee comprised of Dr. Gail Murphy, VP Research and Innovation at the University of British Columbia; Lori MacMullen, Executive Director, Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers (CUCCIO); Dr. Rafik Goubran, VP Research and International at Carleton University; and Dr. Guillaume Bourque, Director of Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics, Associate Professor, Human Genetics, McGill University.

The DRI strategy caps a seven-year effort to convince the government to create and fund all the component pieces of the nation’s DRI and was first announced in Budget 2018, to “deliver more open and equitable access to advanced computing and big data resources to researchers across Canada."

“We had to go through two different governments to get to this point. But there was reception all the way by ISED with leadership from [former DM] John Knubley, … [former assistant DMs of the science and research sector] Lawrence Hanson and Rob Dunlop and a whole succession of people who have been supportive all along,” says Dr. Steven Liss, Ryerson University’s VP Research and Innovation and a long-time supporter of DRI. “Where we are now and going forward is built on an underlying foundational principle [and] firmly embedded in a policy framework.”

For CANARIE, which accounts for one quarter of the government’s five-year DRI commitment, the latest funding tranche announcement comes a full year before its current mandate expires, giving the organization the ability to roll out a set of detailed policy and funding initiatives stretching to 2024. These include an expansion of its successful Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research (DAIR), a cloud-based computing, networking and storage service that offers a highly scalable cloud computing environment for small- and medium-sized companies to test and commercialize new products and services.

“We’re in the midst of a pilot to evolve the DAIR program, [which is] changing on two fronts. One is, rather than have all DAIR users work on the private cloud we have built, we’re going to provide access to commercial clouds and use a cloud broker to manage their access,” says Anthonisen. “[The second and] exciting part is, we’re building something called Booster Packs which is machine learning or the Internet of Things in a box. … We’re doing this in a pilot phase during the last year of the current mandate to see if it’s helpful for start-ups and entrepreneurs and if so, that’s how we would evolve DAIR into the next mandate.”

Also set to expand is CANARIE’s collaboration with the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) which offers the Next Generation Network Program (NGNP) to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

LCDRI plays policy and strategic roles

Key to the success of the DRI advocacy campaign has been the Leadership Council for Digital Research Infrastructure (LCDRI), which was commissioned by Science Minister Kirsty Duncan to prepare a report exploring ways to put Canadian DRI ahead of the global curve. Founded by Liss in 2011, LCDRI and its key proponents aim to represent all stakeholders in the DRI ecosystem, including the provincial and territorial nodes of the National Research and Education Network (NREN).

“LCDRI is a coalition of the willing to help frame a policy position with respect to DRI in Canada – a policy position from which one can build upon and take strategic directions,” says Liss. “The stakeholder groups around the LCDRI table … have multiple levels of interest. There will certainly be consolidation around data management for sure. There’s a number of things out there like Portage (a national, library-based research data management network) that will need to be rationalized.”

Liss adds that Compute Canada will also likely “wind down” with its advanced research computing functions assumed by another entity.

With CANARIE’s future now secure, the ultimate structure of the DRI ecosystem will be determined by the new national organization in consultation with the stakeholder community. Liss says the upcoming election may delay the new entity’s announcement but he’s confident the strategy’s implementation will go forward.

“It’s exciting times. We’re all very pleased. Everyone rolled up their sleeves at the end of the day,” says Liss. “There will be growing pains and there will always be resource constraints and resource issues, but the community is now galvanized and realizes how important it is to work together. To be seen as working well with the receptor community in Ottawa requires us to take a different tact and approach and that’s been good for everybody.”

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It’s a far cry from just two years ago, when Canadian DRI was deemed to be “fragmented, oversubscribed and underfunded.” At that time, Liss and others expressed concern that DRI’s “precarious state compared to competitor nations comes at a time when more and more areas of R&D are becoming digitized and data driven (and) while the size and complexity of data sets are increasing exponentially.”

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