A national company that tracks Canada\u2019s research and development performance has ranked Brock University first place out of 21 universities in its category for corporate research income growth.<\/p>\n
The value of Brock\u2019s research grants and contracts received from corporate sources grew 134.5 per cent from fiscal years 2019 to 2020, says Research Infosource\u2019s latest report, released Tuesday, Jan. 25.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrock is certainly on the right track,\u201d says Ron Freedman, CEO, Research Infosource Inc. \u201cThe University has a long history of partnerships with local industry.\u00a0This year’s result is evidence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brock\u2019s research income totalled more than $15.5 million in 2020, according to the Canada\u2019s Top 50 Research Universities 2021 report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Corporate research income, or sponsored research, comes from a variety of sources. Agencies such as Mitacs<\/a>, FedDev<\/a> and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council\u2019s (NSERC) Alliance Grants program<\/a> leverage funding to Brock obtained from the private sector.<\/p>\n These programs, funding from the Ontario Grape and Wine Research Inc.<\/a> (OGWRI) and other grants and contracts negotiated between Brock and industry accounted for the rise in sponsored research between 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n For Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon, the increase in sponsored research reflects the University \u201cmaking good on an institutional, shared aspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople come to Brock\u2019s researchers seeking a solution to a specific problem,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are looking for support, for partnership, and they find it at Brock. It\u2019s about building bridges and the difference our research makes in our community and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenyon says it is important for Brock and other universities to diversify their research funding pool beyond the federal government\u2019s Tri-Agencies: NSERC, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).<\/p>\n