28 June 2017 – A new report, “Restoring Canada’s Competitiveness in Fundamental Research: The View from the Bench”, published today by the Global Young Academy, reveals that Canada’s support for fundamental research crumbled over the past decade, leaving many accomplished researchers completely unfunded.

"Research labs are ‘idea factories’, infusing our society and economy with new knowledge, skills and dynamism. Our previous government's disregard for fundamental research threatened to cut off the supply of new ideas that underlie an innovation-based economy", says lead author Julia Baum of the University of Victoria.

The new report reveals that between 2005 and 2015, the erosion of federal support for fundamental research to Canada’s three major research council’s was dramatic: losses amount to 36% per researcher in the Natural Sciences and Engineering, and 31% per researcher in the Social Sciences and Humanities (taking into account growth in the research community and inflation). Numbers are believed to be similar for health-related fields.

For more information please download the full press release.