COUNTRY FOCUS : CANADA
In 2023 , the University of Toronto was awarded a $ 200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund ( CFREF ) to revolutionize the speed and impact of scientific discovery through the Acceleration Consortium . The funding – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – supports the consortium ’ s work on self-driving labs that combine Artificial Intelligence , robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules in a fraction of the usual time and cost .
Applications include everything from life-saving medications and biodegradable plastics to lowcarbon cement and renewable energy . Researchers in the consortium have used the technology to develop a potential cancer Drug in just 30 days – a process that typically takes years or even decades .
BayBE unites several advanced technologies under one umbrella and focuses on making them useful for industrial purposes .
The federal government ’ s critical support of this initiative builds on years of strategic planning and decisions in this space by the University and the federal government , including the 2017 launch of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy that helped cement Toronto ’ s status as a global hub for a revolutionary technology .
Launched as an Institutional Strategic Initiative in 2021 , the Acceleration Consortium brings together partners from academia , government and industry to accelerate the discovery of materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future .
The consortium aims to reduce the time and cost of bringing advanced materials to market , from an average of 20 years and $ 100 million to as little as one year and $ 1 million .
The CFREF funding , along with additional support from U of T – which includes an investment of $ 130 million to expand facilities to house the Acceleration Consortium ’ s state-of-the-art labs at the Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories building on the St . George campus – will help secure the researchers , spaces and partnerships needed to build a world-leading center for accelerated materials discovery and innovation .
The funding will also help the consortium rapidly create high quality datasets to better train AI models and validate the model ’ s predictions in real time .
That , in turn , will dramatically accelerate the discovery and development of molecules and materials for a wide range of industries .
Overall , the Acceleration Consortium comprises nearly 100 researchers across a wide variety of disciplines , including AI , computer science , mathematics , chemistry , economics , engineering , materials science , mechatronics , biology , pharmacology , robotics , technoscience and more .
It also includes 30 partners from the private and public sector , including the University of British Columbia – a lead partner on the grant . p
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