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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the delivery of collaborative, jointly-funded research and innovation programmes.

The MoU has been signed by Dr Ian Campbell, Executive Chair of Innovate UK on behalf of UKRI and Iain Stewart, President of the NRC.

It confirms a joint aspiration to intensify and strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science, engineering, research and innovation, in the form of joint research projects, industrial engagement in technology innovation projects, the sharing of best practice and the organisation of meetings to encourage interaction between relevant research groups.

It follows the overall UK-Canada MoU on Science, Technology and Innovation signed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development in September 2017.

UKRI and the NRC have also announced a call for proposals to strengthen collaborative ties between NRC and UK research and innovation centres, including the Catapults and Research Council facilities across the UK. The call is targeted at, and only open to, Catapults and other authorised centres identified by the funding bodies. It will be launched later this month.

UKRI is investing £500,000 in the call, which has an overall value of $2 million (US) and will support collaborative Research and Development projects and a series of network relationship building activities to help forge stronger strategic links between UK and Canadian centres-of-excellence.

The UK element of the call is being managed by Innovate UK and will feature contributions from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Natural Environment Research Council.

Dr Ian Campbell, Executive Chair of Innovate UK, said: “Our work with Canada is all about building and accelerating businesses of the future in two advanced knowledge-based economies. This builds on strengths in both countries with significant potential for growth on a global scale and will support the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy.”