We are located in Montréal.  No, there is no sign on the building, as implied in Figure 11.  At the beginning, we

discussed whether Ouranos should be virtual or real.  We decided that it has to be real for people to believe in.

We need a physical place for people to meet and talk, because at least   of the business is done in the corridors -

- not done in the computer room, not in the office, in the corridors.  We need corridors in order for people to

interact with one another.  It is informal, it is non-aggressive -- that is how people interact.

Figure 11

Ouranos today has a facility of around 65 - 70, and next fall we will reach capacity at around 90.  Ouranos has a

small super-computer facility running the Canadian regional climate model.  The meteorological office has a

faster computer, but it is used for weather and is shut down twice a day.  We need a dedicated computer, and we

have our corridor for discussion.

Ouranos invests in science in order to get tools for decisions.  We try our best to invest in our own people but, if

they cannot do the job and we need the answer, we will buy it, wherever it is.  We were asked, why should we

invest in the Canadian regional climate model if you turn to Hadley or another one?  That’s the bottom line.  We

will get the answer wherever it is, because we need the answer.

We need tools and we need scenarios, because that is the way that Ouranos plans and acts.  We discuss with

stakeholders, based on assumptions and scenarios.  We are risk takers, so that is the usual way of doing busi-

ness.  We are interested in both climate change and climate variation, because that is how climate change is

going to behave.  Changes in natural variability will occur.  We have to understand that.  If it results in an

avalanche, it matters not whether it is related to climate change or climate variation.  It is still an avalanche, and

it still kills people.  My job is to get them out of there.

As shown in Figure 12, Ouranos is structured by projects.  That means a coordinator who we call the champion.

For an issue, find a natural champion who everybody is looking at and convince him to undertake leadership.

Ouranos will supply some paid personnel.  We ask the stakeholders, if they believe in the project, to provide

their own dedicated personnel for the project, also institutional personnel from universities.  Ouranos has

started 14 projects since last September, with a workforce of around 250 people.   This looks huge, but it is

actually only 10% of what we feel will be needed.  We will need a tenfold increase just to try and understand

what kind of risk we will have to decide upon.

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