Federal investment of $6 million over 15 years brings together 15 organizations to drive real change in Canada's productivity performance
February 9, 2026-Ottawa Ontario
Strengthening Canada's productivity performance-a key factor in the nation's long-term resilience and prosperity-requires innovative approaches to research practices, strategies and policies that are informed by rigorous and sustained research.
Today, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, announced a federal investment of $6 million over 15 years to support a novel national research partnership that will drive solutions to boost Canada's productivity over the coming years.
The new multistakeholder partnership is led by the University of Calgary and will leverage long-term, high-impact research in the social sciences and humanities to develop and enact transformative economic policy. The initiative is directed by Trevor Tombe, Professor of economics at the University of Calgary and Director of economic and fiscal policy at its School of Public Policy.
This partnership brings together over 30 team members, six federal government partners and several university partners across the country. Through working groups, embedded researcher programs and joint conferences, it will support a lasting collaboration between researchers and policy-makers, producing knowledge and evidence that can be applied to long-term decision-making.
The grant is a first-of-its-kind funding opportunity, bestowed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through its new pilot Policy Innovation Partnership Grants program.
