COVID-19: Update on 2020 Innovation Fund competition and other CFI activities
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – The current global pandemic underlines the necessity of diligently keeping Canada’s research facilities at the leading edge. Recognizing the importance of delivering research funding programs to all areas of research in a timely way, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is striving to continue conducting its regular business as much as possible.
As of March 16, CFI staff are working remotely but are endeavouring to provide the same high-quality service to its funded institutions and other stakeholders.
2020 Innovation Fund competition
To protect the health and safety of our staff and valued reviewers under these exceptional circumstances, and to comply with the advice of public health officials, the CFI will reconfigure the merit-review process for the 2020 Innovation Fund competition to avoid in-person meetings.
Upholding the integrity and high standard of excellence that are the foundations of our well-regarded merit-review process remains a priority, and we will strive to preserve that in any new procedure we introduce.
Given the rapidly changing recommendations and the accompanying challenges of implementing new systems of communicating virtually, we anticipate that changes to the process at this stage may lead to delays in the competition schedule. This could include a delay in funding decisions.
As we reschedule some of the review activities, we will continue to keep the research offices of the affected institutions up to date. If you are a researcher and you have questions, please contact your institution’s CFI liaison for more information. We will work directly with them. For all other stakeholders in the 2020 Innovation Fund, please write to if-fi.2020@innovation.ca if you have questions.
If you are an expert reviewer, we would like to emphasize the immeasurable value you bring to this process, and to express our sincere gratitude for your flexibility as we work to adapt to these challenging circumstances.
We are committed to the institutions we fund and to the cutting-edge research our programs support.
Contact us
For urgent questions regarding CFI activities, write to feedback@innovation.ca. We will answer your queries to the best of our ability in a timely manner.