"Ideas won't keep: something must be done about them."
Alfred North Whitehead, philosopher

In 2002, six innovative Memorial-based projects received $33.6 million in funding from the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF), a funding initiative created by the Government of Canada. The Pan-Atlantic Petroleum Systems Consortium, a partnership among Memorial and several other Atlantic Canadian universities, obtained $15.6 million to provide a comprehensive response to the special needs and skill requirements of the petroleum industry developing on Canada's east coast.

Memorial's Ocean Sciences Centre received support for two projects focused on innovations related to cod and salmon aquaculture. AIF funding will also assist the Electronic Rural Medicine Strategy to develop innovative on-line training tools and resources for physicians and other health care workers practicing in rural or remote locations.

C-CORE, a separately incorporated entity of Memorial located on our St. John's campus, received major AIF funding to transfer its expertise in cold water, ice, space and other harsh environments to resource industries including mining, forest products and gas pipelines. Memorial's Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation received $6 million from AIF for projects focusing on harvesting, processing and aquaculture.

In total, research funding, apart from our AIF successes, was $48 million in 2001-2002. Expanding on our success in the disciplines where we have traditionally excelled, we look to a future replete with new possibilities for innovation and action.