[PDADC-L] IMPORTANT RESEARCH FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence, Round 5

MEMORANDUM

TO: PDAD&C to be forwarded to all Professors and Researchers eligible to apply
FROM: Professor Paul Young, Vice President, Research
DATE: June 8, 2010
RE: IMPORTANT RESEARCH FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence, Round 5
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The Ministry of Research & Innovation has just released information on Round 5 of the Ontario Research Fund-Research Excellence (ORF-RE) program. The ORF-RE program promotes research excellence of strategic value to Ontario by supporting new leading-edge, transformative, and internationally significant research.
While research proposals in all disciplines are eligible for ORF-RE Round 5, the Ministry particularly encourages collaborative projects across institutions and disciplines from the following focus areas:
• Bio-economy and clean technologies;
• Advanced health technologies;
• Digital media and information & communications technologies.
The ORF-RE focuses on scientific excellence and strong commercialization potential. All proposals are required to provide a rationale as to why an investment in their research project is important to Ontario. As a general rule, the minimum support provided by the ORF-RE to a project is $1 million and the maximum support provided is $8 million. ORF-RE investment constitutes one-third of the total project budget, and requires a $1-$1 match from the institution and from a private sector partner(s). Strong participation by industry is a significant part of the ORF-RE mandate and applications with meaningful private sector commitment will be given additional consideration in the Ministry’s assessment process.
An information session will be held 28 June 2010 2:00-4:00, Macleod Auditorium (1 King’s College Circle). The internal deadline at the Research Services office (RSO) for Notices of Intent (NoI’s) is July 23, 2010. RSO staff will submit all UofT NOIs to the Ministry for their July 30, 2010 deadline. RSO staff will work with applicants and their division heads to finalize full submissions. Internal deadlines for staged development of proposals will be established in consultation with project teams. The Ministry’s deadline is Oct 29, 2010. Forms and additional information on the competition can be found on the Research Services’s website: http://www.research.utoronto.ca/for-researchers-administrators/funding-sources/funding-opps/?showopp=481
Regional information sessions are proposed for June/July 2010. Details will be posted on the RSO website soon.

Please make your colleagues aware of this wonderful opportunity for UofT faculty to attract significant research investment. Questions may be directed to Sheila Van Landeghem (416-976-3603; sheila.vanlandeghem@utoronto.ca ).