B.C. government spends $45 million on 20 research projects

[antiquity]

April 18, 2002 B.C. government spends $45 million on 20 research projectsVANCOUVER (CP) --

The British Columbia government will spend $45 million on 20 research projects.

Â*Premier Gordon Campbell said the money from the Leading Edge Endowment Fund will help advance medical, social, environmental and technological research at post-secondary institutions across the province.
Â*
Each of the research projects, called chairs, will receive a total of up to $4.5 million, which will be equally cost-shared with the private sector.
Â*
Rick Hansen, whose wheelchair trek around the globe to raise money for spinal cord research, was the first to match the provincial funding and help create the B.C. Leadership Chair for Spinal Cord Research.
Â*
He said he's optimistic the work will have a dramatic effect.
Â*
"To be able to have full physical recovery after an injury, to actually walk away again, that dream is a reality today," Hansen said.

Â*The money will support the recently established international spinal cord research centre at the University of British Columbia.
Â*University president Martha Piper said British Columbia has now accumulated all the necessary ingredients to be the leading centre for spinal cord research in the world.
Â*
Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond said the endowment fund gives the province a huge advantage.

Â*"We are going to build an environment where creativity and innovation are supported and able to grow and flourish."
Â*
The endowment money is to cover the salary, benefits and other operating costs -- such as equipment, research assistance and minor renovations -- of each project.
Â*
Those leading the projects will be high-level researchers who are internationally recognized in their fields. The leaders will be appointed for a specific term.
Â*
The fund was a Liberal election promise.

[Chris Chappell]

Thanks, Seneca.

Onward and Upward!