The CFI — Building a Better Canada

February 15, 2005

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)—established by the Government of Canada in 1997—has the mandate to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other non-profit research organizations to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians.

Since its inception, the CFI has received $3.65 billion from the Government of Canada to provide infrastructure to eligible institutions to support leading-edge research. To date, the CFI has invested $2.9 billion in over 3,800 projects in 62 municipalities in all 10 provinces. An online listing of all funded projects is available to all Canadians.

Through a unique funding partnership, the CFI funds up to 40 percent of a project’s infrastructure costs. The funded institution commits its own resources and works with its partners—provincial governments, municipal governments, private sector, federal departments, and the voluntary sector—to generate the remaining balance required to complete these projects. Based on this formula, the total capital investment by the CFI, the research institutions, and their partners, will exceed $10 billion by 2010.

Because of its unique status as an independent organization entrusted with public funds, the CFI places paramount importance on operating in an economical, effective, and transparent manner, and on communicating its activities and results to the public. The CFI’s Annual Report is tabled in Parliament each year through the Minister of Industry. This report includes information on financial performance, funded projects, evaluations of CFI programs, results, and corporate plans.

The CFI is governed by a Board of Directors that approves the projects to be funded in accordance with the legislative mandate and the terms and conditions of the funding agreement with the Government of Canada. The CFI’s project assessment process involves the rigorous and independent evaluation of each project’s strengths and weaknesses against established criteria. This task is accomplished by experts in the relevant fields, either alone or in committee, depending on the size and complexity of the projects. Final decisions are made by the Board of Directors.

The foundation model has enabled the CFI to plan its investments in an orderly manner and to design innovative and flexible programs with a medium- and long-term perspective. Most importantly, it has encouraged institutions to develop strategic plans for research and research infrastructure. The transformation of research enterprises is a long-term process. Knowing that funds will be available for three, four, or five years for new infrastructure projects is invaluable to institutions and researchers.

The foundation model ensures the timely spending of funds, and allows for very effective planning and flexible implementation of research infrastructure projects. This model has made it possible for the CFI to design programs that are well adapted to large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Canadian Light Source (CLS) project at the University of Saskatchewan. This $173.5-million facility required many years of careful planning and several years to build. The awarding of $56.4 million to the project by the CFI facilitated unprecedented leveraging of support from the provincial and municipal governments, research funding agencies, and industry, and provided assurance to the University that the CFI funds would be disbursed when needed. Indeed, the foundation model allows the CFI to make secure, multi-year commitments, and allows the cash flow to our clients to be based on actual need, which the CFI carefully manages and monitors.

The philosophy underlying the foundation model is to put resources into the hands of experts, subject to a government-determined framework and objective, and to enable them to use their expertise to achieve the objectives set out by the government. In effect, the approach taken in creating the CFI resembles a university endowment. Like any endowment, the interest generated by funds allocated to the CFI but not yet disbursed is used to fund additional investments in research that benefits all Canadians.

I invite those who wish to learn more about the accountability of the Canada Foundation for Innovation to read our recent submission to the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance.

Eliot A. Phillipson, M.D.
President and CEO
Canada Foundation for Innovation