NCE's International Partnerships Initiative provides $5.2 million for seven centres

Pilot program could be made permanent

Seven Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) are forging international R&D partnerships with the assistance of a new competitive pilot program and expanding collaborations to developing nations through the participation of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The NCE's new International Partnerships Initiative (IPI) is providing $5.2 million in existing funding to seven centres selected from a field of 17 competing NCEs. IDRC is topping up three of the winners with $738,000 (see chart), while international partners have committed $8.8 million in cash and in-kind.

The NCE-IPI has several objectives, most importantly leveraging international expertise through collaboration with Canadian scientists in areas considered key to economic and social well-being. The funding will be directed towards networking activities, training and collaborative knowledge development. The initiative positions the NCE program on the leading edge of Canadian academic research in formalizing new linkages to capitalize on the rapid internationalization of research.

"The IPI is helping to create a magnet for research excellence and bringing new people into Canada. Over the years, NCEs have established individual linkages at the researcher level but not the international level. This will help to advance research faster and generate more research," says NCE managing director Jean-Claude Gavrel. "If this pilot is successful, we may make it a requirement to have an international component when new networks apply."

business potential

While there is no explicit business dimension to the NCE-IPI, Gavrel says there's clearly an expectation that the benefits flowing out of the networks will benefit their partners, including industry. For an NCE like the Mathematics of Information Technologies and Complex Systems (MITACS), there's an expectation of industry involvement as its research programs often address industry-specific problems.

For other networks such as ArcticNet, benefits include access for Canadian researchers to major infrastructure that would otherwise be beyond their reach such as well-equipped Russian icebreakers. And IPI funding will allow the Stem Cell Network (SCN) to obtain faster results through international collaboration.

"Within the NCE program, there is a continued emphasis on independence with networks having their own boards of directors to create detailed programs that fit their particular environments," says Gavrel. "NCEs have evolved into mature models that continue to innovate beyond the research phase … That continued evolution puts emphasis on knowledge transfer and commercialization.

In addition to MITACS, IDRC funding goes to the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly to develop linkages with organizations in nine nations, including South Africa and India. AllerGen will use its IDRC funding to extend its collaboration to India.

Both AllerGen and PrioNet will establish linkages with their European counterparts which could lead to involvement in projects under the European Union's seventh framework program launched last year.

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