New funding, both public and private, announced since the beginning of the year promises opportunities for laboratory instrument and product purchases.

Last month, Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, announced the formation of the $100 million Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, designed to fund “out-of-the-box approaches” to bioscience research. Funding will be awarded through the Allen Distinguished Investors awards and the Allen Discovery Centers, which are partnerships with organizations. Four Distinguished Investors, who will each receive a $1–$15 million grant, have been announced (Ethan Bier, PhD; James J. Collins, PhD; Jennifer Doudna, PhD; Bassem Hassan, PhD). Stanford University and Tufts University were named the first Allen Discovery Centers for “Multiscale, Systems Modeling of Macrophage Infection” and “Reading and Writing the Morphogenetic Code,” respectively. Each will receive $20 million for an eight-year period, as well as $10 million in “partner leverage.”

A major government investment was recently announced, according to SciDev.Net. Indonesia has committed to a $60 million Indonesian Science Fund (ISF), designed to fund 200 multiyear research projects annually at about $100,000 each. The ISF was created through a partnership of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences, the Indonesian government and foreign academic bodies. Money will be provided by the Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education, private gifts and international organizations.

As part of the newly elected Canadian government’s fiscal 2016 budget for research (see IBO 3/31/16), the Ministry of Science will allocate CAD 2 billion ($1.5 billion = CAD 1.37 = $1) to the Post-Secondary Institutes Strategic Investment Fund for construction, repair and maintenance of research infrastructure. As much as 50% of a project’s cost can be funded by the grants. Applications are due in May.

The US DOE announced in February the establishment of the $40 million Energy Materials Network at the DOE’s National Labs. The Network will utilize public, private and academic resources for designing, testing and producing clean energy products with the goal of commercialization. Four consortia will be established. The Lightweight Materials Consortium, led by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will work to increase fuel efficiency of cars by creating new alloys and carbon fiber–reinforced polymer composites. Led by Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Electrocatalysis Consortium will study alternatives for the use of platinum group metals in hydrogen fuel cells. Ames Laboratory’s Caloric Cooling Consortium will develop new cooling technologies for replacing current refrigerants. Another consortium will develop new materials for solar photovoltaic modules. Funding will be provided by the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.