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The CFI soliciting feedback on draft call for proposal for the 2021 Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund

Comments can be sent until September 13, 2021

OTTAWA, ONTARIO — To help support the bioscience infrastructure needs of post-secondary institutions and research hospitals, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is releasing a draft call for proposals for the new Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF). The CFI is soliciting feedback from the research community and research stakeholders in Canada prior to posting an official call for proposals.

This $150 million investment will respond to critical needs by supporting containment levels 3 and 4 (CL3 and CL4) facilities capable of working with human pathogens. The funding will help institutions to keep their facilities at the cutting-edge, strengthening their capacity to work with industry and government to advance promising discoveries and promote training and talent development in the biosciences.

Canadian researchers working in the biosciences need high-performance tools, innovative research spaces and biocontainment laboratories to bring their ideas from discovery through development and commercialization. In many cases, their work requires specialized equipment in appropriate biocontainment facilities to ensure that infectious disease research is conducted safely. Supporting surveillance, diagnostics, and preclinical and clinical trials with flexible research infrastructure capacity is critical to Canada’s biomanufacturing and life sciences ecosystem.

The objectives of this competition are to:

  • Address immediate infrastructure needs in postsecondary institutions’ and affiliated research hospitals’ capacity to support pandemic preparedness and response to emerging health threats, consistent with Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy;
  • Support the development of strong linkages among researchers working in a variety of settings, including government laboratories, and users of research results in all sectors;
  • Create an environment to attract and train highly qualified personnel linked to the needs of the biomanufacturing and life sciences sector.

READ the draft call for proposals: Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund

The funding for this competition comes from Budget 2021, where the CFI was allocated $500 million as part of Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Science Strategy. The remaining $350 million from Budget 2021 will be dispersed through a second, wider-ranging BRIF competition that is being developed in collaboration with the three granting agencies, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR. The next BRIF competition is scheduled to launch early in 2022.

The CFI welcomes comments on this draft call for proposals until September 13, 2021. Please send your feedback to BRIF-FIRSB [at] innovation.ca (BRIF-FIRSB[at]innovation[dot]ca).