CANARIE Issues $2M Call for Proposals to Adapt Research Software for Reuse

Extends vision of creating a toolkit of reusable software that accelerates discovery, reduces duplication of effort, and maximizes the impact of research funding

OTTAWA, Nov. 1, 2016 /CNW/ - CANARIE, a vital component of Canada's digital infrastructure supporting research, education and innovation, today announced an innovative Call for Proposals that invests in research software teams to adapt their existing research platforms to support researchers from other disciplines.

Research Platforms (also known as Science Gateways or Virtual Research Environments) are complete software applications that fully support research activities and workflow. This funding call is directed towards researchers and software developers to modify their existing platform to meet the needs of at least one newly identified research team.  Additional funding is available to support ongoing maintenance of the platform, the development of additional platform functionality, onboarding of additional research teams, and user support.

CANARIE's Research Software Program adopts a highly efficient development model: new software draws from an existing toolkit of software, developed and contributed by other researchers.  Funded participants in this Program pledge to add new software to the toolkit, resulting in significant process and cost efficiencies through a powerful cycle of software development and reuse. The full suite of research software is available at no cost to the worldwide scientific research community at science.canarie.ca.

How to Apply

Researchers and development teams must notify CANARIE of their intent to apply by November 30, 2016. Detailed information on this Call for Proposals, including timelines and eligibility criteria, may be found at: canarie.ca/software/funding 

About CANARIE's Research Software Program:

CANARIE has been investing in the development of software to support scientific research since 2007. In its last mandate (2012-15), CANARIE funded the development of nearly 70 research software tools. These tools enable Canadian scientists to analyze, visualize and share immense volumes of research data, transforming data into knowledge and insights that contribute to Canada's economic and social development. More recently, CANARIE announced funding for five new research platforms, currently in development.

The purpose of the Research Software Program is to:

• Provide software tools to Canadian researchers to reduce time to discovery.
• Allow researchers to make effective use of Canadian digital infrastructure.
• Promote re-use of tools to minimize the costs of software development prior to the start of research.
• Create a community of research software developers in Canada to further accelerate research through collaborative software development and expertise sharing.

About CANARIE

CANARIE strengthens Canadian leadership in science and technology by delivering digital infrastructure to support world-class research that directly benefits all Canadians.

Twelve provincial and territorial network partners, together with CANARIE, collectively form Canada's National Research and Education Network (NREN). Canadians at universities, colleges, research institutes, hospitals, and government laboratories rely on this ultra-high-speed network to collaborate in data-intensive, cutting-edge research and innovation within Canada and with colleagues in over 100 countries.

Beyond the network, CANARIE funds and promotes reusable research software tools to accelerate scientific discovery. CANARIE also supports Research Data Canada as it leads national research data management initiatives, and through the Canadian Access Federation, provides identity management services that enable secure, ubiquitous connectivity and content access to the academic community. To boost commercialization in Canada's technology sector, CANARIE offers cloud resources to startups through its DAIR service, and links a powerful community of public and private sector partners in the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN). 

Established in 1993, CANARIE is a non-profit corporation, with the majority of its funding provided by the Government of Canada.

For more information, please visit: www.canarie.ca.

SOURCE CANARIE Inc.

Image with caption: "CANARIE Issues $2M Call for Proposals to Adapt Research Software for Reuse - extends vision of creating a toolkit of reusable software that accelerates discovery, reduces duplication of effort, and maximizes the impact of research funding. (CNW Group/CANARIE Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161101_C8785_PHOTO_EN_809338.jpg

Ela Ienzi, Communications Manager, CANARIE Inc.cafident, [phone], [email protected]