The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada welcomed strategic investments in research and innovation in Thursday’s federal budget.

“The budget provides new opportunities for talented graduate students to gain research experiences in companies across Canada,” association president Paul Davidson said in a statement. “We’re also pleased the budget recognizes the importance of deepening international education and research linkages.”

In a climate where some federal government departments are seeing reductions, the federal budget provides ongoing funding for research and innovation, including:

• An additional $500 million over five years for the Canada Foundation for Innovation,

• Measures to give graduate students valuable research experience in the private sector,
• $60 million for Genome Canada to launch a new applied research competition in the area of human health, and to sustain the Science and Technology Centres until 2014–15,
• $40 million over two years to support CANARIE’s operation of Canada’s ultra-high speed research network,
• $17 million over two years to further advance the development of alternatives to existing isotope production technologies, and
• $10 million over two years to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research to link Canadians to global research networks.

Read the full statement, “Universities give high marks to smart investments in research and innovation.”