Research and Innovation > About > Research at U of T > Moving U of T Research Forward
Moving U of T Research Forward
Excellence, Innovation, Leadership, 2008–2012
The past five years have seen remarkable progress and innovation in U of T Research. The Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation would like to recognize the contributions of our university community, the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario, and our partners in business and industry.
The following are some of our major milestones.
Our new Tri-Pillar structure allows for streamlined services and enhanced support. We are the first university in the country to create a dedicated Research Oversight & Compliance Office in recognition of new accountability expectations.
All major government funding competitions undergo an excellence-driven internal peer-review process. From inception, the 2008 CFI LEF/NIF competition, which resulted in $135 million awarded to U of T and partner hospitals, this approach has dramatically increased our success.
With a new dedicated focus and strategy around institutional nominations for prestigious awards and honours, U of T has seen a dramatic increase the number of our colleagues whose accomplishments are being recognized.
With extensive support from the Office of the VP Research, the academic divisions and our partner hospitals were able to recruit two Canada Excellence Research Chairs in the inaugural competition. We are committed to success in the current second round of this program.
We are a founding partner of MaRS Innovation (MI), Toronto’s foremost technology transfer engine. Working closely with our Innovations & Partnerships Office, MI has already had several notable U of T commercialization successes.
Our 2010 Annual Report, Ideas That Could Change the World, showcased our innovative scholars and researchers across disciplines as they explored 10 key questions that will transform the future of global society.
After extensive consultation with the University community, we established a new suite of internal research funding programs to promote excellence in research and innovation and achieve comprehensive and transformative impact.
In addition to Edge Magazine, annual research reports and our website, OVPR keeps target audiences informed of advances in U of T research through mechanisms such as news stories and, more recently, via the Research Alerts messaging system and the Research Insider e-newsletter.
Our 2010 Annual Report provided a critical analysis of the evolution of the Canadian research funding landscape and the concomitant challenges, and identified opportunities to enhance the impact of U of T research.
This initiative will develop more effective and efficient business processes and on-line tools associated with research administration. Management of research funds will be easier for everyone involved at U of T.
After two years of planning, collaboration, and consultation with research leaders across the university community, U of T has a new Strategic Research Plan that creates a framework to support research for the next five years.
In partnership with IBM, as part of their Smarter Planet initiative, we have led the development of a $27M research consortium with six other Ontario universities to use next generation computing to tackle critical issues facing our society.
As the institutional planning process moves Towards 2030, the Office of the VP Research has developed an integrated strategy to seize the opportunities of today’s research funding landscape to help U of T achieve the goal of joining the ranks of the world’s 10 leading research institutions.
Our 2012 annual research report and stats insert focuses on 16 U of T professors in the early stages of their careers as they examine the major challenges facing global society and how the challenges can be approached over the next 15 years.