Harper Government Renews Commitment to Leading-Edge Research Infrastructure

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 8, 2012) - The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), today announced the renewal of CANARIE's mandate and funding.

Economic Action Plan 2012 allocated $62 million to CANARIE, Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network, and renewed its mandate for three years.

"The Harper Government's investment in CANARIE will help keep our economy strong and support leading-edge research from Canadian researchers, educators and students," said Minister of State Goodyear. "We recognize CANARIE as an important component of Canada's digital infrastructure for research and education."

CANARIE is a not-for-profit corporation that manages an ultra-high-speed network supporting leading-edge research and education (R&E). As the core backbone of Canada's national R&E network, CANARIE connects twelve provincial and territorial R&E networks to each other and to international networks while meeting the ever-increasing need for network capacity.

CANARIE also connects one million researchers, educators and students at more than 1,100 Canadian institutions, including universities, colleges, research institutes, hospitals and federal laboratories. Beyond providing connectivity to researchers, CANARIE has started to offer Canadian small and medium-sized companies opportunities to test their innovative new services through a test bed pilot program. The test bed network allows companies to accelerate innovation and commercialization, giving them a first-to-market advantage.

Since 2006, the Harper Government has invested nearly $8 billion in initiatives supporting science, technology and the growth of innovation firms in Canada, including $5 billion for advanced research, education and training, $2 billion for post-secondary infrastructure and $1 billion for applied research and financing. This funding has helped to make Canada a world leader in post-secondary education and research and to create the knowledge and highly skilled workforce that are required for a more prosperous economy.

This news release is available online at www.actionplan.gc.ca.