Canadian universities have recruited dozens of foreign scientists and researchers, many of them poached from prestigious U.S. institutions, in the first intake of a program to attract world-leading academics.

The hiring of the 64 new recruits is being funded over eight years by $504 million from the federal government.

All four of the highest-paid Eddie Goldenberg Distinguished Research Chairs, as well as dozens of others, were previously at U.S. institutions, including Harvard and MIT.

The researchers are being hired by universities across the country, including the University of British Columbia, McGill and the University of Toronto.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who helped announce the recruits at UBC in Vancouver on Thursday, says “Canada is doubling down” on science at a time when others were turning away from it.

More than $37 million in other funding will support recruitment of 63 “emerging leaders” over the next year.

“Attracting top talent will deliver breakthroughs that improve Canadians’ lives and advance Canada’s position as a global leader in science and innovation,” Joly says in a statement.

The research chairs are named after Eddie Goldenberg, a policy adviser and chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Goldenberg died last month, and the government says the research chairs were renamed to honour his “decades of leadership that helped strengthen the Canadian research and innovation landscape.”