Alberta announces more than $22M in funding for University of Calgary

The University of Calgary entrance sign and arch are shown in a stock photo. (Getty Images)

The province has announced a $22 million boost in funding for the University of Calgary to support research infrastructure and technology development.

The money comes from Alberta's Research Capacity Program, and will be provided over the course of four years.

The government says the money will help build the facilities and infrastructure needed to support 11 research projects, which will attract new talent and investment to the province.

"These projects are collaborative in nature and some involve participation from researchers at facilities from across Canada," the news release stated.

"The Alberta government’s investment in the University of Calgary leverages close to $170 million allocated for these projects across partner institutions, including the Canada Foundation for Innovation, other participating institutions, non-profit organizations and industry collaborators."

The government says the projects will support leading-edge discoveries in health and wellness, infectious diseases, machine learning, energy storage solutions, clean energy technology, quantum computing, wireless telecommunications and more.

“Transformative research is the engine that will drive diversification forward and power Alberta’s economy for the future," Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Doug Schweitzer said.

University of Calgary president and vice-chancellor Ed McCauley says the money will help support innovative and game-changing research.

"This funding means a range of research projects in health, science and engineering can take a big step forward," McCauley said in a news release.

The Research Capacity Program helps Alberta’s post-secondary institutions get equipment and research infrastructure.

This new funding is in addition to $4.9 million in Research Capacity Program funding for the U of C’s SMILE-UVI satellite project announced in October 2020.

NDP RESPONDS

Late Mondy afternoon, NDP Advanced Education Critic David Eggen released a statement saying the additional funding was meagre compared to what the UCP has already cut from Alberta post secondary institutions.

“Today’s funding announcement is a fraction of the amount the UCP has cut to post-secondaries across the province," it said.

“The UCP has already cut $87 million from the University of Calgary and $110 million from the University of Alberta with $700 million in planned cuts across the system under their government.

“The best asset for our future is education. If we want to diversify our economy and keep Albertans in the province, we need to be investing in our education system.”