The federal government has created a $250 million Innovation Assistance Program (IAP) to assist early stage and scale up companies that cannot access other federal subsidies such as the ​Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP).

Explaining the need for this funding NRC President  ain Stewart explained that the situation is very dire, both in Canada and globally, with a 6.2% contraction in Canada. The IAP program will help companies like start-ups, scale-ups and software as a service (SaaS) companies to keep their innovative talent in these difficult times.

Stewart emphasized that this program is not additional Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) project funding and it will be available to a wide range of companies, not just IRAP clients. Existing IRAP clients will need to apply for funding directly and their existing Industrial Technology Advisors (ITAs) will not be able to assist them with their applications.

April 22 Update: Applications and the application criteria are now available.

Applications for the IAP program are now open on the National Research Council (NRC) website and will remain open until 11:59 pm on April 29, 2020.

To be eligible for the IAP program your company must meet the following criteria:

• Be ineligible for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
• Be an incorporated, profit-oriented small or medium-sized business in Canada
• Be a company with 500 or fewer full-time equivalent employees
• Plan to pursue growth and profit by developing and commercializing innovative, technology-driven new or improved products, services or processes in Canada
• Lack sufficient financial resources to sustain operations during the COVID-19 downturn period
• Have a Canada Revenue Agency business number
• Be incorporated by no later than March 1, 2020

Applications close April 29, 2020 at 11:59 pm EDT - here is the online application form.

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