Proposed Synchrotron project heads into final funding review
Posted October 21, 1998
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 20, 1998
98-10-18-OTHER
Proposed synchrotron project heads into final funding review
The University of Saskatchewan-led synchrotron project and three other
proposed research projects will advance to the final stage of review in the
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding competition.
The CFI announced Monday that its board of directors has decided to send
four U of S-based projects, including the $178.2 million Canadian Light
Source (CLS) synchrotron project, on to the second round of review which
entails more detailed assessment.
?We?re delighted that we?ve passed this hurdle with the CLS and we?re now in
the home stretch,? said University of Saskatchewan president George Ivany.
?This national research facility is now a very good bet to go ahead. This
is heartening news for our researchers and for those at the 17 major
Canadian universities that have endorsed our proposal.?
Saskatchewan Economic and Co-operative Development Minister Janice MacKinnon
said, ?We?re pleased to see the synchrotron moving to another stage in its
approval process, and are confident in the results from this due diligence
the CFI is performing. The synchrotron is a major project for our research
community and will create many research and construction jobs in the
provincial economy. We look forward to a lot of innovative research and
economic benefits from the
synchrotron, not only for Saskatchewan, but for the rest of the nation as
well.?
As expected, the CFI review panel wants more detail on specific aspects of
the proposal. However, the questions the CFI wants answered won?t be known
until the CFI informs the university later this week.
The final CFI decision on the synchrotron project may not be known until
March.
The proposed synchrotron, if successful in securing the final $71.3 million
from the CFI, would be the biggest scientific project ever built in Canada.
It could be under construction on the U of S campus as early as next April.
Of the $106.9 million that?s already in place, $42.8 million is committed
from public sector partners, there?s an in-kind contribution of $32.6
million (the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory site and beamline
contributions from the University of Western Ontario), and $31.5 million is
anticipated from corporations.
The CFI has also invited three other proposed U of S projects to undergo
further review. These are:
-Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Center - a centre for studying the
structure of matter using state-of-the-art instruments such as X-ray
equipment, microscopes and lasers.
Total cost: $7.75 million, with $3.1 million requested from the CFI and the
rest to come from provincial and federal agency partners.
-Infrastructure for Applied Animal, Plant and Microbial
Biotechnology - a sixth-floor addition to the College of Agriculture
building for applied biotechnology research in animal, poultry and food
science. It would include a food science research and development pilot
plant.
Total cost: $14.89 million, with $3.96 million requested from the CFI and
the rest from industry and private donations.
-Regional Site Licenses for Full-Test and Database Research Information
Services - purchase of Western Canadian-wide licenses for full-test digital
scientific and technical journals.
Total cost: $11 million, with $4.4 million requested from the CFI and $6.6
million to come from all Western Canadian university libraries.
The CFI is an independent, federally funded foundation with an $800 million
endowment to spend on boosting Canada?s national research infrastructure.
The four U of S projects are among 159 nationally that will advance for
further consideration.
Dr. Dennis Skopik, director of the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory,
stressed the CLS is critical to Canada?s ability to maintain its scientific
and industrial competitiveness. Canada is the only G7 country without one.
At present, Canadian academic researchers spend more than $1 million a year
using foreign synchrotron facilities.
The synchrotron would produce light a million times more intense than
medical X-rays by using strong magnets to accelerate elections. It?s an
indispensable high-tech tool for both pure and applied research by
university and industry researchers.
It would be used to probe the structure of matter, develop new drugs, design
new microchips for more powerful computers, manufacture tiny biomedical
implants, and create new materials.
A 1996 peer review sponsored by Canada?s leading scientific granting agency
has urged that Canada construct a synchrotron and that the national facility
should be located at the site of the accelerator laboratory on the U of S
campus.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Michael Corcoran
Vice-President (Research)
University of Saskatchewan
Phone: (306) 966-8514
or
Kathryn Warden
Research Communications Officer
University of Saskatchewan
Phone: (306) 966-2506
