Today@Dal

» Go to news main

Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Major Science Initiatives (MSI) Fund competition

Posted by Dalhousie Research Services on January 6, 2014 in General Announcements

CFI has recently announced a special Major Science Initiatives (MSI) Fund competition.  Up to $25M is expected to be awarded to eligible recipients to support the eligible operations and maintenance (O&M) needs of national research facilities over a three-year period (2014-15 through 2016-17).

This special competition will broaden the MSI eligibility criteria to include:

•   A greater range of facilities, both in size and complexity, across all research disciplines

•   Facilities with diverse levels of CFI investment (not restricted to a one-time $25 million capital investment)

•   Facilities without previous CFI investments.

Eligible facilities must meet all of the following five criteria:
 
Facility
1. The MSI is a national research facility offering to all Canadian and international researchers highly specialized capabilities that are not standard in a discipline or research area and are not readily available elsewhere in Canada.
2. The MSI has demonstrated annual eligible O&M costs exceeding $500,000 to support significant human and operational resources beyond what is standard in Canadian research institutions. In the case of facilities that are part of an integrated distributed network, the O&M threshold applies to the network as a whole.
 
Governance and management
3. The MSI has an established governance and management structure appropriate to the size and complexity of the facility. For larger or more complex facilities, this may include a Board of Directors responsible for such activities as long-term strategic and multi-year business planning and risk management at both strategic and operational levels.
4. The MSI is owned by one or more CFI-eligible institutions.
5. The MSI is operational and accessible to a broad range of researchers from across Canada and internationally, a significant number of which are from outside the host or local institutions and beyond its regional and provincial borders. It also has an established merit-based access policy.
Furthermore, the CFI expects that all eligible MSI facilities will rank amongst the leading comparable facilities internationally and will provide an environment to conduct leading-edge research. This will be a key aspect of the merit-review process under the criterion of scientific excellence.

Please refer to the Draft Call for Proposals (http://www.innovation.ca/en/Media/News/DraftCallProposalsMajorScienceInitiativesMSI2014SpecialCompetition) for specific details on the eligibility criteria, review process and oversight activities for this special competition.

Expressions of Interest will need to be submitted to CFI by January 21, 2014.  Comments on the draft Call for Proposals can also be submitted at the same time.

CFI is planning to organize meetings across the country in late January and early February to consult with key stakeholders and potential institutional applicants.

For more information on the CFI MSI competition and the internal process for Expressions of Interest, please contact Nancy.Hayter@Dal.Ca by January 13.