The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 104

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Barbara Keyfitz
components; one is general, and one is special to its role in
Canadian mathematics. In general, research institutes that
operate substantial visitor programs serve to identify fertile
research areas, and to accelerate the pace of discovery in those
areas by bringing together people who might be geographically
scattered and burdened with distractions, and giving them the
freedom to focus on research for a reasonably long time.
They do so efficiently, taking advantage of the willingness
of most universities to support the research careers of their
faculty by allowing institutes to second their employees’
services at deep discounts. As a purely economic matter,
institutes count on this exchange, which also benefits
universities by raising the research profile of their faculty.
Nonetheless, the whole enterprise would fall apart if the
currency of research excellence lost its value.
I would
claim that, in fact, visitor research institutes are efficient
mechanisms for creating value in this currency. Most institutes
also devote considerable resources to support postdoctoral
fellows (PDF), another source of value added.
In most countries, including Canada, mathematics
institutes are funded publicly. In the case of Fields, the
objective of the principal funding source, the Province of
Ontario, was the education of high quality personnel, while
Government of Canada funding, at almost the same level,
was focused technically on research. It is my opinion that
having public funding is very important, as it leads to
public accountability. Right now, in the U.S., there is
some debate over this, with the National Science Foundation
(NSF), until now the principal funding source of the majority
of mathematics research institutes, putting pressure on its
institutes to diversify their funding. I feel this is a grave
mistake. Private philanthropy is not likely to make the funding
of mathematical research a priority, and corporate funding
needs to be based on a genuine scientific partnership to support