Province Adds $1M to ResearchNB to Fund Discovery

ResearchNB is getting an additional $1 million from the province. The Government of New Brunswick announced the new money on Sept. 29, with Post-Secondary Education and Training Minister Jean-Claude D'Amours and ResearchNB CEO Candice Pollack making the announcement together.

What it funds

ResearchNB puts provincial money behind research and innovation across the province. In ResearchNB's own post on the announcement, researchers Dr. Sarah Gander, Dr. Erik Scheme, Dr. Clod Aranas and Dr. Yang (Vince) Qu described how its funding supports their work, from health research to new technologies.

The province tied the money to the research areas it calls essential to growth: health, natural resources, technology-driven sectors and defence-related industries. Pollack said the increase has already let ResearchNB launch new programs in civilian and defence technologies and forestry, and invest in student funding. "This is the beginning in developing more programs that are aligned with the province's priorities," Pollack said. The new money follows a $1.5-million round in February, when ResearchNB funded five projects: four University of New Brunswick teams, including health and aquatic-ecosystem work, and the Northern Hardwoods Research Institute's research on mixed and hardwood forest management.

The bigger plan

The province links research investment to its economic development strategy's goal of growing New Brunswick's economy by 10 per cent by 2030. A million dollars in discovery money is small beside a typical venture round, but it is patient capital that keeps universities producing the founders, patents and prototypes that become the next Picketa or SomaDetect. "Research is about more than what we discover; it's about what those discoveries make possible," Pollack said.

Sources

• ResearchNB — organization site
• ResearchNB on LinkedIn — announcement post naming researchers Sarah Gander, Erik Scheme, Clod Aranas and Yang (Vince) Qu
• Academica — UNB, NHRI research teams receive $1.5M from ResearchNB — the February 2026 round: five projects, four UNB teams and NHRI
• Government of New Brunswick — Increased research funding to support areas deemed essential to province's growth — Sept. 29 release: the $1M increase, D'Amours and Pollack, priority areas, new defence-technology and forestry programs, the 10%-by-2030 growth goal