NSERC to boost funding for colleges and small universities and open five regional offices as part of new vision

The president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has won the support of Industry minister Alan Rock for six new innovation initiatives, including developing a roadmap for “big science” projects, boosting research capacity at smaller universities and funding community college collaborations with industry. The initiatives are the cornerstone of NSERC’s new vision, which may rebrand the granting agency as ‘Science & Engineering Canada’ and narrow gaps in research and innovation, and in the training of highly qualified people.

What’s noteworthy about the plan is that it doesn’t come with a request for new money — at least not yet. Rather, NSERC expects to reallocate $1 million in this current fiscal year and $10 million in FY04-05 from existing program, administration and operating budgets to fund a series of small-scale pilot programs, and to open five regional offices across Canada. If the pilots prove successful, NSERC would go back to government for ongoing funding.

“To be credible, we believe we must start to do this within our existing resources,” states the vision document, which has been approved by NSERC’s governing council. “We also believe that if these pilots show that we are beginning to meet the needs effectively, more resources will be entrusted to us to expand the scale of our efforts.”

NSERC president Dr Tom Brzustowski says Rock provided his support for the new vision when they met Sept. 15, following an initial endorsement in late July by Alex Himelfarb, clerk of the Privy Council. In an interview with RE$EARCH MONEY, Brzustowski said the decision to delay any request for additional funding was deliberate.

“If you go into a cabinet committee or meet with the minister and say this is so important and should be done, the easy and logical comeback is, ‘Well, if it’s so important, why don’t you do it. You’re looking after $611 million a year of the taxpayers money, do it’,” said Brzustowski. “This isn’t going to be easy for us do. I can tell you that we will have managers in here sweating blood over this, but ultimately I’m sure we’ll do it.”

NSERC’s new vision is comprised of six initiatives designed to strengthen research and innovation at the community level, encourage more students to study math and science at the post-secondary level, and raise the granting agency’s public profile (see box).

Among its priorities, NSERC is designing a program to address the research capacity needs of universities in Atlantic Canada and the Prairies, as well as smaller institutions across the country. The hope is that by boosting their capacity, they will do better in national competitions for research support.

The new vision also sees a larger role for community colleges in supporting innovation at the community level, particularly among small- and medium-sized companies. Specifically, NSERC is launching a pilot program targeted at community colleges – one that would provide federal monies to projects in which the institution and an industry partner have contributed similar funds. The program would also be subject to different criteria than those established for universities.

“The challenge we face now is that all of our research is funded primarily by industry and by the institution itself,” says Gerry Brown, president of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC). “We’re hoping that the addition of a third party (NSERC) will provide us with an opportunity to provide additional resources, free up our faculty, to go into more in depth research, and to be able find a way to make that research available pan-Canadian.”

The pilot program signals an important turning point for the ACCC, which has spent the last year lobbying Industry Canada and Human Resources Development Canada to develop appropriate vehicles for boosting the contribution of colleges to innovation (R$, July 8/02). Its $116-million wish list includes $50 million for 200 Innovation Chairs, $20 million through the Networks of Centres of Excellence, $18 million for fellowships and internships, $15 million for a business incubator fund, $10 million for a Technical Assistance Program and $3 million for a Student Technical Assistance Program for small businesses.

Brown says the NSERC pilot program is a step in the right direction. “We’re hoping to get the pilot project off the ground this fall,” he adds. “We’re working with NSERC to define the perimeters and to identify the institutions that will contribute to the success of a pilot project which would then allow us to move forward into a bigger program.”

Another key plank in NSERC’s new vision is to develop a policy and process for making decisions on large-scale science projects. The granting council is working with the National Research Council to develop a framework for assessing and ranking “big science” proposals.

“We will develop this framework, validate it by applying it in hindsight to previously funded major projects, and make it widely available as a tool both for applicants in the research community and for decision makers in government,” the vision document states.

NSERC is confident that the success of the pilot projects will ensure their continued funding in a future federal Budget. The granting council is also continuing its push to have its base funding increased from $611 million to $1 billion by the end of the decade.

Brzustowski will discuss NSERC’s new vision when he appears Oct. 8 before the federal Standing Committee on Finance in Ottawa.

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