The Digital Research Alliance of Canada, funded by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, oversees coordination of the national ecosystem and works in partnership with national, provincial and regional organizations to deliver DRI services to researchers. The regional organizations (Compute Ontario, Calcul Québec, ACENET) and the provinces coordinate six national advanced computing platforms, two of which reside in Ontario. In Ontario, these platforms are operated by academic consortia who also provide technical, training and other services to support researchers. These resources are available at no cost to all researchers affiliated with a Canadian academic institution or research institute.

Ontario researchers also have access to significant compute resources through domain-specific DRI partners such as the Vector Institute, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), ICES, and Ontario Brain Institute (OBI). Several project-dedicated ARC systems are also available to researchers involved in specific research projects. Domain- and project-specific DRI resources are located within departmental research groups, as well as research hospitals and institutions and have their own access policies.  

Scholar’s Portal provides researchers with essential RDM services, while the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) provides high-speed fiber-optic network services to support research, education, and innovation. 

Compute Ontario works to coordinate activities and funding across these many partners to minimise duplication of resources while maximising return on investment, efficiency, accessibility and economic impact. CO also facilitates access to all the services provided by the national DRI ecosystem, and to provide independent advice and guidance to the Government of Ontario and Ontario’s research institutions.