Innovative Solutions Canada

Program Description

Helps Canadian entrepreneurs bring their innovations to market by connecting them with federal departments and agencies that have a challenge to solve.

Eligibility Requirements

• Challenge stream: incorporated Canadian for-profit SME (not-for-profit organizations and cooperatives are ineligible). Testing stream: a private company, public company, not-for-profit organization, university or individual may submit a proposal
• Challenge stream: 499 or fewer full-time equivalent employees
• Majority of operations, wages, and senior executives located in Canada
• Challenge stream: the innovation addresses a specific active federal department challenge posted on the ISC website. Testing stream: the applicant offers a pre-commercial good or service between TRL 7-9 that the government can buy and test in a real-life setting; entry is through a periodic PSPC Call for Proposals (roughly 2-3 a year), not the challenge form — none was open as of this record's last check.
• Challenge stream: Technology Readiness Level must match the phase the challenge is open to — TRL 1-4 to enter at Phase 1, TRL 5-9 to enter at Phase 2. Each Challenge Notice states which phase(s) it accepts.
• Challenge stream: at least 2/3 of Phase 1 R&D work must be performed internally (subcontracting capped at 1/3 of budget)
• Proposal must address all mandatory Essential Outcomes listed in the challenge notice
• ISC funds through either a grant or a procurement contract depending on the challenge — the Challenge Notice states which. A contract challenge is governed by the PSPC Call for Proposals EN578-24ISC4; a grant challenge by the ISC Grant Instructions and Procedures. The mechanism changes what you sign, who you email with questions, and whether the government can buy the result.
• Pre-agreement costs back to the date the proposal was submitted may be considered eligible, at the applicant's own risk until a funding agreement is signed, capped at 20% of total eligible costs.
• The 499-FTE count includes every affiliated business worldwide, including a foreign parent company and its subsidiaries, in or outside Canada. An FTE is someone receiving a T4 or equivalent at 30+ hours a week, with part-timers counted as fractions.