Leaders Opportunity Fund ($1M - $2M)

1. Vision

The Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF) offers institutions the opportunity to acquire foundational infrastructure for their leading research faculty to undertake cutting-edge research and to create competitive packages of research support. To this end, the financial limit imposed on traditional LOF proposals has been increased to further facilitate the investment in the attraction and retention of the very best researchers. In turn, this will enable universities to remain internationally competitive in areas of research and technology development that reflect their priorities as identified in their Strategic Research Plan.

2. Description

i) Proposal Characteristics

This competition seeks mid-range infrastructure projects that are larger than the average traditional LOF award but that maintain the original purpose of the program: to promote the research endeavors of candidates that demonstrate, or have the potential for, excellence, creativity and leadership in the proposed research field, and who are a source of competitive advantage for the institution and the country. Proposals should adequately demonstrate that the infrastructure requested is essential to establish or enhance the candidate’s capability to carry out innovative research or technology development that will lead to advances and advantages for Canadians.

In selecting proposals for the LOF ($1M - $2M) competition, institutions will be expected to address the availability and accessibility of similar infrastructure within their institution and region, as well as issues of complementarity, duplication, and sharing. The CFI does not require that the requested infrastructure be for the exclusive use of the LOF candidate but that the infrastructure is required to conduct his/her groundbreaking research and that he/she will have priority access to it.

ii) Funds available

A university that has sufficient funds in their LOF allocation may put forward a proposal with total project costs between $1M and $2M under this LOF stream. Proposals with total project costs of more than $2M will not be accepted. The CFI will provide funding for up to 40 percent of the eligible costs of a funded proposal.

iii) Operating and Maintenance (O&M) Costs

The CFI will contribute to the operating and maintenance costs of approved proposals through its Infrastructure Operating Fund (IOF). The IOF allocation will be equivalent to 30 percent of the CFI funding awarded to an institution for proposals approved under this LOF stream.

3. Eligibility

The usual eligibility considerations pertaining to institutions, research infrastructure and location of the infrastructure apply to this stream. Please refer to the CFI Policy and Program Guide.

Similarly, this stream is as well intended to serve the infrastructure needs of individual faculty, or small groups of up to three faculty members where there is a need to share infrastructure. The LOF is not intended to serve the infrastructure needs of larger groups, centres, departments or institutions. The sharing of equipment is encouraged to the extent that the candidate maintains priority access.

It should be noted however that the candidates put forward must be recognized leaders in their field of research or who show promise of becoming research leaders. They must be engaged in, or embarking upon, an innovative research program for which the infrastructure is essential and which will provide an enriched research.

4. Strategic Research Plan

Institutions must make choices and set priorities that build on their distinct advantages. The CFI expects that institutions will submit only proposals of exceptional quality that are consistent with their strategic research plans and reflect their institutional priorities. Institutions will identify how the requested infrastructure will aid in the attraction or retention of excellent researchers to advance the university’s strategic research plan.

Research initiatives in the social sciences and humanities are fully eligible and encouraged.

5. Review and decision-making

i) Criteria

The CFI evaluates proposals on the basis of the three broad criteria (below) that reflect its mandate. To be funded, a proposal must satisfy all three criteria to a degree appropriate to the size and complexity of the proposal. The application form will provide details on the information required to assess the results and outcomes expected.

1. Quality of research and need for the infrastructure
   • Quality, innovation and transformative potential of the research or technology development;
   • Extent to which the proposed candidate is a highly accomplished researcher or an emerging researcher that has demonstrated potential for excellence and leadership in the proposed field;
   • Appropriateness of the infrastructure in meeting the proposed research or technology development activities, and its complementarity to other existing infrastructure, where appropriate;
   • Effective ongoing management, operation, and maintenance of the infrastructure.
2. Contribution to strengthening the capacity for innovation
   • Enhance the institutional capacity in its strategic research priority areas;
   • Assist the institution to create or sustain a competitive advantage and a capacity for innovation that is internationally competitive;
   • Create a stimulating and enriched environment for training highly qualified personnel for research and other careers;
   • Strengthen multidisciplinary approaches and collaborations among researchers, as well as partnerships with different institutions and sectors.
3. Potential benefits to Canada
   • Lead to benefits to society, health, the environment, quality of life, or public policy;
   • Contribute to economic activities through new products and services, greater resource efficiency and productivity, and sustainable job creation in strong or emerging areas of the Canadian economy including the four priorities stated in the federal S&T Strategy: environment, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences, and information and communication technologies.

ii) Assessment Process

The CFI will initially assess proposals for eligibility and completeness, and may request additional material to ensure that all essential information is available for review. The assessment of each proposal will be comprised of two stages.

• Expert Reviews
• The Expert Review process is designed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the proposals in relation to the three criteria described above (quality of research, need for the infrastructure and benefits to Canada). Depending on the number of proposals submitted, the CFI may rely on expert written reviews, expert committees or a combination of these approaches.
• Multidisciplinary Assessment Committee
• The second stage of review entails the assessment of the proposals by one or more MACs. The specific number of MACs will be determined by the number of submissions. Based on its own assessment and informed by the expert reviews, the MACs are responsible for assessing each proposal against all evaluation factors relative to other competing requests and recommending projects that should be funded.
• MAC members will be specifically chosen for their capacity to assess proposals based on the three CFI criteria, and for their breadth and understanding of the research environment, the niches of innovative excellence in eligible institutions and knowledge of impacts and outcomes from research investments across the entire landscape of research activity.

Given the goals of this stream of the LOF, a focus of both the expert review and MAC assessments will be the evaluation of the candidate(s), as opposed to the other users or collaborators in the research process. Proposals will therefore have to clearly describe the:

• qualifications and accomplishments of the candidate(s) in relation to the proposed research and research training;
• infrastructure that is being requested for use by the candidate(s) and why it is essential to carry out the candidate's proposed research;
• how the infrastructure facilitates the attraction or retention of the candidate(s);
• value added of an additional award in cases where the candidate has previously received an award through the LOF, New Opportunities Fund, Canada Research Chairs Infrastructure Fund, or Career Award. Specifically, the results and outcomes of the previous award must be highlighted.

Final Decisions

All final decisions will be made by the CFI Board of Directors at its June meeting. Summary comments will be provided to the institutions for all projects.

6. Application Procedures/How to Apply

i) Notice of Intent (NOI)

While a formal NOI is not required, institutions wishing to submit a full application to the Leaders Opportunity Fund ($1M - $2M) competition must contact their CFI Senior Programs Officer by March 15 (for a June 15 submission) to express their interest of submitting a proposal.

The information provided at this time is used by the CFI to plan its assessment processes and to start the recruitment of the expert reviewers that will assess the scientific merit of the proposal. Consequently, it should contain accurate information about the infrastructure and the research it will enable. Institutions will be required to provide:

• A brief descriptive title for the project;
• the name of the project leader and of other principal users of the infrastructure;
• keywords that describe the infrastructure project;
• a brief (2500 characters) overview of the project including a description of the infrastructure, the research to be conducted with the proposed research and the area of application of the research; and
• a list of six potential reviewers for the proposal.

ii) Full Applications

The submission deadline for full applications is June 15 (or the following Monday if the 15 falls on a week-end).

Separate application instructions accompany the application form to assist institutions and project leaders in completing electronic applications to the Leaders Opportunity Fund ($1M - $2M) competition. Institutions must use the web-based electronic form available on the CFI website.