Canada's New Government Funding Strengthens Canadian Research

Ottawa, May 31, 2007 - The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, today highlighted Budget 2007 funding of $120 million in 2006-07 to CANARIE Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that manages CAnet, a sophisticated broadband network that links Canadian universities, research hospitals, and other science facilities to each other and to leading science facilities in other countries. This funding will enable CANARIE to maintain CAnet over the next five years and to develop the next-generation network.

"The CANARIE network is essential to Canada's innovative capacity, and to our future science and technology research success," said Minister Bernier. "CANARIE's network infrastructure supporting advanced research is an important element of our newly released Science and Technology Strategy. It enables Canadian researchers to benefit fully from the research being undertaken elsewhere in Canada and abroad by collaborating and sharing results in real time, and provides opportunities for Canadian students to access knowledge generated around the world."

Many of Canada's research sectors, including oil and gas, life sciences, mining, agriculture, energy and the environment, require CANARIE's advanced network, its vision and expertise. There are tens of thousands of Canadian researchers and scientists who use CANARIE's advanced network.

"We thank the Government of Canada for its commitment to world-leading research," said Dr. Andrew Bjerring, President and CEO of CANARIE. "By continuing the evolution of the network and advanced networking technologies, we will ensure the capacity and capabilities are there to meet the needs of Canada's research and scientific communities for the next five years."

More information about CANARIE can be found on its website at http://www.canarie.ca.

For more information, please contact:

Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
613-995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502

Backgrounder
Five-Year Funding for CANARIE Inc.

Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage is Canada's New Government's S&T strategy designed to strengthen our economy by tapping Canada's deep well of entrepreneurial energy and marrying it to scientific and technological expertise. The strategy focuses on creating a more competitive and sustainable Canadian economy and seeks to maximize the freedom of scientists to investigate, and of entrepreneurs to innovate.

CANARIE Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation that manages CAnet, Canada's sophisticated broadband network that supports research and links Canadian universities, research hospitals and other facilities to each other and to leading science facilities in other countries.

This continued support for CANARIE has three key objectives: 1) to provide Canada's research and scientific communities with a fundamental tool for innovation; 2) to foster collaboration among research institutes, universities, colleges and the private sector; and 3) to encourage world-leading research and development.

Research is increasingly multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and network-based. The collection, analysis and sharing of large amounts of data requires a very high-speed, large-capacity and high-resolution network, whether the data be for research into diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, or for oceanography, astrophysics, mining or oil and gas exploration.

With this funding, CANARIE will position Canada's research community, in both the public and private sectors, to take full advantage of the next transformation: the integration of data, major facilities, sensors, computers and other research equipment into an integrated, network-accessible set of services, serving many different industry sectors. CANARIE's advanced network connects:

Canada's provinces and territories
80+ universities
50+ colleges
60+ hospitals
40+ research centres
40+ government departments
10+ cultural institutions
40+ countries
20 000 government scientists and more than 35 000 university researchers across Canada
CANARIE positions Canadian researchers and research institutions to lead and participate in a number of large international science initiatives.