Definition & Mandate
The Canadian Network of Scientific Platforms (CNSP) is a pan-Canadian network of professionals engaged in various aspects of academic scientific platforms, including technology resources, platform management, and specialized services at technical, managerial, and administrative levels. In February 2025, the network comprised 31 institutional members and 320+ scientific platforms spanning 9 provinces. Collectively, it is estimated that the CNSP represents more than $2 billion in scientific research infrastructure funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), provincial funding agencies and corporate partners.
The CNSP advances scientific discovery and innovation supporting 30,000+ researchers across 10,000+ research laboratories in Canada. With an annual membership growth rate of approximately 20%, CNSP represents fields of research from engineering to health sciences and continues to expand its reach and influence.
CNSP Mission Statement
The CNSP empowers Canadian researchers by advancing infrastructure and expertise driving innovation, fostering collaboration and accelerating scientific discovery
CNSP Membership
CNSP is a community of engaged volunteers and offers valuable membership options – Memberships are for one year from the date of payment with a membership drive each January.
The Canadian Network of Scientific Platforms (CNSP)
The Role of CNSP in the Scientific Platform Ecosystem
Promote
The CNSP raises awareness, promotes utility of shared scientific platforms, and affects how these resources are funded in Canada.
We help shape the future of scientific platforms in Canada through advocacy, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
Educate
The CNSP educates research personnel working in scientific platforms by providing resources for leadership, administration and management of facility operations. We educate institutions on the importance of appropriate professional development for leaders of scientific platforms.
Best Practices
The CNSP encourages and supports scientific platforms in their goal to advance research and improve their service to facility users by setting and promoting best operations & management practices.
We promote sharing of these practices between institutions and network members.
Network
The CNSP creates opportunities for scientific platform leadership and staff to network, exchanges ideas and moves the field of shared resource management forward in an efficient manner.
The Canadian Network of Scientific Platforms (CNSP)
The Benefits of Scientific Platforms
Specialized instrumentation and services
Discrete units within the Institutions like centralized and shared laboratories.
They are directed by dedicated expert research personnel or faculty, have dedicated equipment and dedicated space and offer specialized instrumentation and services that are required by multiple investigators.
Component in the business model
Provide access to equipment with a fee-for-service component in the business model.
The business model may consist of cost recovery of a diverse nature including any or all of the following: direct institutional support, external grant funding, donations, hourly user fees, and many more
Open access
Provide individual researchers with open access to specialized instrumentation, technology, service and expertise including in-depth education and training initiatives that are generally too expensive, complex or specialized for investigators to reasonably provide and sustain in individual laboratories through operating grant funding and laboratory personnel.
Meet the collective needs
Scientific Platforms are typically supported by their parent Institution to meet the collective needs of its research community.
A number of platforms may share a centralized administrative and management structure.
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