Research is an important policy issue in Canada, and the country’s research landscape is diverse and highly productive. There is enormous potential in closer cooperation between German researchers and their counterparts in Canada. To this end, the Helmholtz Association and the National Research Council of Canada sealed an agreement in 2007, and additional funding has been granted to further German-Canadian scientific cooperation.  

Over the next three years, the Helmholtz Association and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) will provide an additional one million euros annually to fund German-Canadian research projects. Furthermore, in a ceremony in 2007 attended by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a representative of the Helmholtz Association signed a reciprocal agreement with the NRC in which the two nations pledged to facilitate the integration of partners from industry in research projects.

Each of the two research organisations will provide 500,000 euros a year for the next three years. Research teams are invited to submit project proposals. The German-Canadian projects selected can expect to receive between 240,000 and 350,000 euros, with Helmholtz researchers receiving funding from the Helmholtz Association and their Canadian partners from the NRC.