Frequently asked questions (00878)

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada will launch annual calls for proposals. Each year the department may allocate up to $54 million for projects expected to be undertaken over a five year period. The program's goal is to support one or more large scale projects each year.

If one project is selected, the applicant would need to have $108 million in eligible costs over five years, 50% of which may be supported by the program. Annual expenditures would be in the order of $21.6 million, 50% of which would be covered by the program.

Partner applicants are not required to be involved in the project for its entire duration. The lead applicant may decide which organizations it requires to develop an effective R&D supply chain and has the flexibility to bring in additional partners throughout the project as required provided that the new partnerships contribute to the achievement of the overall objectives of the project, as defined in the contribution agreement and meet the program's eligibility requirements.

No, federal research institutes such as the National Research Council or Defence Research and Development Canada, being government entities, may not be direct recipients of Technology Demonstration Program (TDP) funding but may participate in the program's projects as sub-contractors of an applicant, who may claim eligible sub-contract costs under the contribution agreement.

The Technology Demonstration Program will support activities that may lead, in the longer term, to the development or improvement of new products, processes or services. Projects funded through this program are expected to be the basis for next generation manufacturing and services in Canada.

International organizations with Canadian companies incorporated pursuant to the laws of Canada and carrying out business in Canada may be eligible applicants (lead and partner applicants). Regardless of the location of their headquarters or ownership, they may be eligible to receive funding under the program for activities undertaken in Canada. Generally, eligible costs must be incurred in Canada. However, limited funding from the program may support R&D outside of Canada when necessary for the project's success and/or when the R&D cannot otherwise be undertaken in Canada.

The level of assistance from all government sources (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal) to an eligible project shall not normally exceed 75 percent of eligible costs.

The level of assistance from all government sources (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal) to any one eligible recipient shall not normally exceed 75 percent of eligible costs except for eligible recipients that are academic institutions, for whom the maximum assistance would be 100 percent.

Project activities are to be in the range of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) one (1) through six (6). Eligible activities are industrial research and technology demonstration in A&D carried out by the eligible recipients.

The combination of these eligible activities constitutes an eligible project:

1. Industrial research means the efforts and activities aimed at the discovery of new knowledge, typically related to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) one through three, with the objective that such knowledge may be useful in developing new products, processes or services or in bringing about an improvement to existing products, processes or services; and,
2. Large-scale technology demonstration means the efforts and activities aimed at advancing new technology from the laboratory to test and validate it in increasingly realistic settings, typically related to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) four through six with the objective that a successfully demonstrated technology may be further developed into product specific applications, and then tested and certified in an operational environment.

Both. The objective of the program is to position Canada's anchor companies to be globally competitive and to improve the productivity and competitiveness of SMEs by helping them to be more innovative. Large firms have made it clear that they need strong, innovative supply chains and SMEs want to be a part of those supply chains. The Technology Demonstration Program will support large scale projects that, normally under the leadership of OEM and Tier 1 companies, will create and strengthen R&D supply chains in Canada for the benefit of all the partners in a project.

Companies that are considering submitting a Technology Demonstration Program project and wish to have Program-related activities considered as an IRB/ITB activity on a current or future obligation are encouraged to: i) liaise with their own company's IRB/ITB/offset officials and ii) have them contact the IRB/ITB Directorate as early as possible in the process. The IRB/ITB policies have their own eligibility criteria (which differ from those for the TDP), so it would be important to understand these well in advance.

Contact information and IRB/ITB policies details are available at www.ic.gc.ca/irb. IRB/ITB officials have an engagement strategy in place, to provide information and feedback to companies on IRB/ITB eligibility and valuation of a proposed business activity.