The Canadian government announced the launch June 5 of a fifth stream under its Strategic Innovation Fund. “Stream 5: National Ecosystems” focuses on large-scale initiatives that “create high-impact collaborations to support Canadian innovation ecosystems.” The federal department of Innovation, Science & Economic Development is accepting Statements of Interest, the first of the two-stage application process.
Proposals funded under Stream 5 “will seek to create a high-impact approach to technology development, commercialization, business development, scale-up, and market growth.” Proposals are expected to “target technology areas where Canadian firms exist at a significant scale, where key Canadian leaders are involved, and where Canada has strategic assets that can be commercialized.” Target sectors are required to have both domestic growth and export potential.
Fields of particular interest are in Advanced Manufacturing, Agri-Food, Clean Resources, Clean Technology, Digital Industries, and Health/ Bio-Sciences.