Six Canadian colleges have been awarded a cumulative $7 million to invest in advanced, industry-relevant research infrastructure. These research grants will help colleges to purchase new innovative equipment and reduce long-term operating and maintenance costs. Ultimately, this will allow Canadian colleges provide greater support for innovative research; this helps more businesses perform more cutting-edge projects and develops skilled youth workers.
Research funding for these colleges has been awarded through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF) and Infrastructure Operating Fund (IOF). These programs contributed $5,421,709 and $1,626,513 respectively to help colleges adopt and maintain innovative equipment that can be used to help businesses perform valuable research.
Businesses may not access these funding programs because they are designed specifically for college-institution applicants; however, businesses are encouraged to contact colleges or research facilities for more information about research collaborations.
Companies may be able to offset a portion of their research costs through other government grants for research and development.
Canadian Colleges Access Funding to Support Industry-Academic Research Partnerships
The Canada Foundation for Innovation is a federally-funded organization that administers government grants to Canada’s universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research organizations. By ensuring these research institutions are well-funded, more private-sector institutions will be able to access state-of-the-art facilities and top research talent; these are necessary for many small and mid-sized businesses to drive innovation.
One of CFI’s most recent funding announcements identified 6 Canadian colleges that were accepted for research funding. This includes:
| Institution | Project | Maximum CFI Contribution |
| Lambton College (Ontario) | Bioindustrial Process Research Centre (BPRC) | $859,843 |
| SAIT Polytechnic (Alberta) | Intelligent Sensor Network Infrastructure | $1,000,000 |
| Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe (Québec) | Platform for the prototyping and evaluation of technical textiles and innovative flexible materials | $1,000,000 |
| Cégep de Trois-Rivières (Québec) | Supplementary system for the development of biosourced products | $999,148 |
| Cégep de Victoriaville (Québec) | Research Infrastructure for Optimization of Organic Agricultural Systems | $1,000,000 |
| Collège Shawinigan (Québec) | Increase in biotechnology and environment laboratory – Phase 3 | $562,718 |
About the College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF)
The College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF) builds national innovation through the targeted funding of college-based research facilities. This research infrastructure is specifically designed to support industry collaborations; in fact, the purpose of the program is to help companies access post-secondary institutions more frequently.
Find a Research Facility:
CIIF provides two streams of funding support to colleges. This includes:
- Research Infrastructure: Provides up to 40% of infrastructure costs to a maximum $1 million in Canadian research grants. Projects should augment the existing applied R&D capacity of colleges, allowing them to respond to important sector industry needs more effectively. Applicants may submit applications by March 15 annually to be considered for funding.
- Innovation Enhancement: Combines funding through CIIF (up to 40% of infrastructure), the Infrastructure Operating Fund (up to 30% of operating and maintenance) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) to offset infrastructure and ongoing research costs over a 5-year period. Applicants may submit applications by May 25 annually to be considered for funding.
For more information about the collaborative research process and how to access government funding for it, please download the Business Guide to Industry-Academic Research Projects.