The Short Report - July 14, 2021: Rémi Quirion to lead International Network for Government Science Advice, mining gets a $40 million boost, and more

COVID-19 & HEALTH NEWS

The Government of Canada is funding five new projects through its Immunization Partnership Fund to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake in communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The five project recipients include: African Arts & Culture Community Contributor Society (up to $450,000), the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre (up to $123,000), Regroupement des centres d'amitié autochtones du Québec (up to $475,000), Regina Treaty/Status Indian Services (up to $100,000) and Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre (up to $460,000). – GoC 

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canada Foundation for Innovation have granted $2 million and $1.3 million respectively to Langara College (Vancouver) to support a five-year project for applied research in cannabis application and production. Additionally, the Applied Science for the Canadian Cannabis Industry project will be supported by $400,000 in funding from industry partners Pure Sunfarms (Delta, B.C.), Ascension Sciences (Vancouver) and Nextleaf Solutions (Vancouver), bringing the project funding total to approximately $3.7 million. – Langara 

Scatr (Vaughan, ON) will receive a $1-million grand prize from Health Canada and Impact Canada's Drug Checking Technology Challenge for technology that identifies the contents of potentially toxic illegal drugs and helps prevent overdoses. – Cision

COLLABORATION, INNOVATION & FUNDING

The Government of Canada is making a $40-million investment through the Strategic Innovation Fund to accelerate innovation in Canada's mining industry through the establishment of a Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator Network, which will be based in Sudbury and operate through the following main partners: the Bradshaw Research Initiative for Minerals and Mining at University of British Columbia, InnoTech Alberta (Edmonton), Saskatchewan Polytechnic, MaRS Discovery District (Toronto), Le Groupe MISA (Rouyn-Noranda, Québec) and the College of the North Atlantic (Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador). – GoC

RELATED: Mining innovation ecosystem needs dedicated federal funding to thrive, innovation groups say

The Government of Canada has released national security guidelines for research partnerships developed in collaboration with the Government of Canada–Universities Working Group. The guidelines protect Canadian research and intellectual property by integrating national security considerations into the development, evaluation and funding of research partnerships. Read Research Money's full story here.

The Government of Canada is launching a call for applications for the first stream of its Canada Digital Adoption Program, which will award funding of up to nearly $37 million to not-for-profit organizations to support small businesses as they adopt digital technologies (e.g. digital storefronts and e-commerce platforms) and expand their digital presence in the Grow Your Business Online program. The call for applications closes on August 6, 2021 at 5:59 p.m. PT. – GoC

The Government of Canada is making a $25-million repayable contribution in commercial-scale carbon capture company Svante (Burnaby, B.C) through the Net-Zero Accelerator Fund to develop and commercialize its low-cost carbon capture technology. – GoC 

The federal government is investing $10 million to renew the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program (FACTAP) for two more years. The program will support small and medium-sized businesses in adopting innovative, clean technologies in operations and provide funding to pilot test late-stage technologies in the aquaculture sector. Interested parties can apply for funding through the DFO website. – GoC

FedDev Ontario is investing $8.2 million for the University of Waterloo to establish the Additive Manufacturing Alliance, a collaboration between post-secondary institutions and industry to help southern Ontario businesses overcome barriers to adopting additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies. – GoC

The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Lincoln, ON) will receive nearly $4 million in funding from the Government of Canada's AgriScience Program and Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program (CASPP) to support horticultural research projects. The AgriScience Program will contribute up to $1.8 million towards developing tomato varieties adapted to Canada’s climate, nearly $900,000 on making Canadian roses more disease-resistant and adaptive and $931,000 to support research on pest management. The fourth project, funded through CASPP at up to $200,000, will accelerate the conversion of horticultural waste into value-added ingredients in Canada. – GoC

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has awarded Partnership Grants to Concordia University professors Dr. Erica Lehrer and Dr. Kim Sawchuk of nearly $5 million (combined) in research funding over seven years for integrative projects that will examine difficult knowledge curation in museums (Lehrer) and aging in data (Sawchuk). – Concordia

RELATED: Full list of SSHRC Award Recipients for Partnership Grants - October 2020 competition (announced June, 2021)

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council recently announced recipients of the 2021 Discovery Grants Program, which supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects. A full list of recipients can be found on the NSERC website.

Alberta Innovates is making up to $2 million available (with a maximum of $500,000 per project) through its Smart Agriculture and Food Digitalization and Automation Challenge (SAFDAC). The program is open to applicants including small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in either the agri-food or technology industries, industry associations, public and private research and development organizations, post-secondary institutions and not-for-profit organizations. – Alberta Innovates

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions is contributing more than $1.5 million to the Quebec Agrifood Innovation Center to expand its line of fermented beverages ($1 million),  develop and market for the entomophagy sector, which promotes the human consumption of insects ($156,000) and support its continuing operations during the COVID-19 crisis ($357,250). – GoC

REPORTS

The Innovation Cities Index 2021 from data analysts 2thinknow shows more than half of the top 100 most innovative cities were located in the U.S. this past year while Canada's ranking dropped by an average of 95 places. Toronto fell to 43rd place this year, down from 10th in 2019. Montreal fell from 22nd place in 2019 to 36th. Vancouver and Calgary didn’t make the top 100 this year, after placing 36th and 89th, respectively, in 2019. – 2thinknow

THE GRAPEVINE

Dr. Rémi Quirion is the new president of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) and the first French-speaking president of the organization. Quirion will serve a two-year term as president of INGSA; under his leadership Montréal will host the 4th edition of the INGSA Conference from August 29 to September 2. – Fonds de recherche du Québec

Geneviève Parent has been reappointed as a member of the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal for a three-year term, effective August 31, 2021. Parent is a full-time professor at the faculty of law at Université Laval, where she is also the legal research chair in food diversity and security. – GoC

Janet Bannister has been appointed co-chair of Canadian tech entrepreneur non-profit C100 (San Francisco), and will take the reins from Shari Hatch Jones to co-lead the C100 Board of Directors alongside co-chair Andre Charoo. Bannister joined VC company Real Ventures as managing director in 2014, where she became the first woman to lead one of Canada’s largest and most active early-stage venture funds. – C100