Built to be shared: Lessons from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) on funding core facilities

Core facilities constitute an increasingly significant component of research infrastructure at Canadian institutions, providing shared access to specialised equipment, services, and expertise. We present a funder's perspective on the value of core facilities, which the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has supported for over a decade leading to the recent creation of a dedicated funding stream for core facilities as part of its 2025 Innovation Fund competition. This article details the CFI's consultative approach and steps taken towards the launch of the core facilities funding stream. The new stream's key features include expanded eligibility for scientific and technical personnel support, core facility-specific assessment criteria, and inclusion of experienced core facilities experts in merit review processes. Findings from the 2025 competition indicate that the core facility stream was well-structured and that proposals in this stream had similar or higher success and funding rates than those submitted to the open stream (project-based proposals). The CFI's next steps include enhanced data collection, the development of performance and reporting approaches, and continued refinement of funding mechanisms to better reflect the operational characteristics and system level role of core facilities within Canada's research ecosystem.