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Cloud Computing Pilot Project Call

The Alliance is pleased to provide preliminary information regarding its upcoming Cloud Computing Pilot project (CCP) ($2M). This funding call aims to build national research capacity and deliver on the Alliance’s mandate to create a broad and integrated Canadian digital research infrastructure (DRI) ecosystem. Specifically, the call will address the needs of the research community related to DRI, while promoting an equitable and inclusive DRI environment in Canada. 

The full description of the call will be provided in the upcoming weeks.

Cloud Computing Pilot Project Call

Aim and Scope: The Alliance’s CCP project will support projects from eligible Organizations proposing large scale distributed computing approaches that are driven by economies of scale, in which a pool of abstracted, virtualized, dynamically-scalable, managing computing power, storage, platforms, and services are delivered on demand to Canadian researchers over the Internet. Specifically, the Alliance encourages projects that could be scalable and replicated across geographic regions and/​or academic disciplines. These projects should respond to the needs of the scientific community with adherence to the FAIR Principles. In doing so, funded proposals will serve as flagship projects of an integrated and open Canadian DRI landscape.

Key Objectives: The objectives of the CCP project are to:

  • bring benefits to private or public cloud computing
  • inform potential investment decisions
  • explore innovative approaches to provide ARC capacity
  • facilitate researchers’ access to commercial cloud hybrid models of access while maintaining shared academic efforts
  • develop new or enhanced tools that simplify and facilitate the use of cloud services (i.e. on premise and/​or commercial cloud) by researchers

Value and Duration

The CCP project will offer one stream of funding for projects up to $300,000.

Eligibility

Eligible Lead Organizations include:

  • a university or post-secondary college or educational institution or a hospital that is situated in Canada and that carries on, or is capable of carrying on, meaningful research;
  • a non-profit organization that is situated in Canada and that carries on, or is capable of carrying on, meaningful research; or
  • an institution or non-profit organization that is situated in Canada and whose activities support Canada’s DRI ecosystem.

The Alliance welcomes and encourages submissions from: 

  • small institutions,
  • Indigenous Research Groups,
  • non-profit Organizations.

Federal Government institutions and agencies (Federal departments, agencies or Crown corporations, including their research facilities), Provincial or Municipal organizations, and non-profits situated in Canada that are a vested stakeholder of Canada’s DRI and whose activities depend upon the Alliance are encouraged as Project Collaborators. Collaborations with international partners and private sector organizations within the Project Team are also desirable and encouraged. 

Application Process

The CCP project application process will consist of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and a Full Proposal. An Expert Merit Review Committee will review applications at both stages. Only applications selected at the LOI stage will be invited to submit a Full Proposal. Selection criteria for both stages of the competition will be published in the detailed program description. 

Competition Timeline

Due to the federal election call, the launch of the CCP project call is delayed. A new competition timeline is under review and will be launched later. Please accept our apologies for this delay. The updated timeline will be published here as soon as it becomes available and shared to our mailing list. You can sign up here.

Contact

Should you have any questions about the Alliance’s CCPP call, please contact funding-​subventions@​alliancecan.​ca.