Canada Foundation for Innovation awards homeland security grants

Published 30 November 2006

Research into protecting infrastructure and developing new energy sources receive special attention; hundreds of million of Canadian dollars awarded for a wide range of scientific endeavors; Universities of Toronto and Calgary among winners

Our frequent reporting on the Canadian homeland security market is often marked by Dudley Do-Little references — not to poke fun at our Canadian brothers but to show how far they have come in adopting a serious-minded view of the terrorism problem. Readers may recall, for instance, a major government initiative to arm the country’s border guards, but the private sector has a critical role as well. The Canada Foundation for Innovation’s inaugural New Initiatives Fund and Leading Edge Fund, which gives grants to support research into infrastructure, competitiveness, and international leadership, has announced this years recepients, and a number of them will be using the money to keep Canada safer.

Among the homeland security-related projects receiving funding are: University of Toronto for the “Large-Scale Impact and High-Velocity Loading and Sensing Facility for Critical Infrastructure” (C$3.2 million); University of Calgary for “In Situ Upgrading: The Next Generation Technology for Canada’s World Class, Oil Sands Energy Resources” (C$9.3 million) and “Full-Scale Wastewater Treatment and Aquatic Streams Research Facility for Advanced Technologies, Public Health and Environmental Protection” (C$10.3 million); University of Prince Edward Island for “Disease Models to Address Aquatic Food Animal Health Surveillance and Management” (C$2.3 million); and the University of Waterloo for “Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio System” (C$5 million).

-read more about the grants at the Canada Foundation’s Web site