To summarize the six areas, what we're really talking about is investing in people and, as Dr. Blais mentioned, having stability and flexibility in funding. It's not about just targeting a specific scientific question but about raising up the entire ecosystem. It's investing in our brain science workforce across all sectors in academia, in industry and in other areas. It's being able to scale up brain research from our smallest research centres to the largest hubs.
The six areas are specific ways that we can promote collaborative transdisciplinary and open brain research. It is our unique strength in Canada that we can do this. I worked at major research centres in the U.S.; this is something only Canada has. This is the only way that we're going to make any impact in studying something as complex as the brain.
Some of the six initiatives are around open science, which is the sharing of data, and sharing of protocols and materials. It's that attitude of sharing that we have in Canada. As we all know, research can be very competitive for these dollars, but in Canada we have this culture of sharing. It's about having research platforms, and that's speaking to shared resources.
Dr. Guy Rouleau spoke to this committee. He said that they were able to attract a candidate who had applied for a job in Germany and was offered 10 million euros. The candidate went to McGill, because in Germany they need 10 million euros to set up their lab, but at McGill they have the resources and infrastructure there that are being shared. It's not their own; it's being shared, and it's going to be collaborative.
We want to do that for the entire ecosystem in Canada. We have 30 research leaders and directors of institutes across the country, from major centres like Toronto all the way to Lethbridge and to Carleton University here in Ottawa. We want to leverage that excellence.
That's what our priorities are about. It's being able to bring out the excellence across the country together. It's a unique and special thing we have in Canada.