The Honourable Peter Milliken, M.P. ANNOUNCES $6,809,583 IN FUNDING FOR INDIRECT COSTS OF RESEARCH AT Queen's and RMC

KINGSTON, Ontario, December 5, 2003 - The Honourable Peter Milliken, M.P. for Kingston and the Islands today announced that Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada will receive a total of $6,809,583 this year to help cover indirect costs associated with federally sponsored research. 

Queen's University will receive $6,584,353 and the Royal Military College will receive $225,230.

"This is an important investment in Queen's and RMC, as this region looks increasingly to innovation as a source of economic growth and solutions to health and environmental challenges," said Mr. Milliken. "It will help our universities, colleges and affiliated research institutes sustain a research environment in which excellence can thrive." 

"Universities, colleges and affiliated research institutes are the backbone of the Canadian innovation system, both as generators of knowledge and as training grounds for highly skilled personnel," said the Honourable Allan Rock, Minister of Industry. "This program follows through on our commitment to work with universities and colleges to find a permanent solution to the challenge of funding the indirect costs associated with federally sponsored research." 

Launched in Budget 2001 as a one-time program, Indirect Costs was made permanent in Budget 2003. The program addresses a key need identified by the university/college and medical research communities, and other stakeholders in consultations leading up to, and during, the National Summit on Innovation and Learning. It supports the research efforts of large and small universities by providing funding for indirect costs such as the operation and maintenance of equipment and facilities, information management systems, and technology transfer and commercialization services.

"This is a welcome investment that will help our universities, colleges and related research institutes respond to the challenge of funding indirect costs which are growing in parallel to research programs," said Dr. Bill Leggett, Principal of Queen's University. "This permanent program provides a stable and predictable source of funds that will facilitate planning and the continued expansion of research activities."

"These funds are critical to our research effort, as we are not permitted to spend DND funds to support the indirect costs of granting council research," said Dr. John Scott Cowan, Principal of RMC. "The amounts are small now, as they are a fixed percentage of grants received in years past from federal granting councils, including the period before RMC became eligible for support from the federal granting councils two years ago. But the formula will cause our allocation to grow very steeply over the next two years." 

Under the Indirect Costs program, the distribution of funds to individual universities will be based on their past federal research awards from the federal university-research granting agencies: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The Indirect Costs program is a key element of Canada's Innovation Strategy, which outlines specific actions in areas such as skills development, knowledge creation and commercialization, smart regulation, and innovative communities designed to move Canada to the front ranks of innovative countries.

For additional information on the Indirect Costs program, visit http://www.indirectcosts.gc.ca.

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For more information, please contact:

Mylène Dupéré 
Office of Allan Rock 
Minister of Industry 
(613) 995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
(613) 943-2502