Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund (SAIF)
Compared with the 242 other application forms we have read
- What does not disqualify you: No IP ownership transfer to funder. 119 record an exemption like this.
- Asks 16 written answers. The median programme we have read asks 5.
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Eligibility & Details
What this program funds and who can apply
Program Description
Up to $450,000 (30% of total project budget) for Saskatchewan-based organizations leading R&D projects with active private sector partners. Industry must fund 50%+ of the project. Supports collaborative research and development across key Saskatchewan sectors.
Eligibility Requirements
- Saskatchewan-based organization leading an R&D project
- Must include active private sector partners
- Industry partners must fund 50%+ of total project budget
- Project must be collaborative research and development
- Lead proponent must be a for-profit entity intending to commercialize the developed technology
Quick Assessment
Funding Details
- Amount
- Up to $450,000 (30% of total project budget)
- Type
- Grant
- Level
- Provincial
- Co-Funding
- Up to 30% of eligible costs
- Deadline
- Open (twice-yearly intakes via EOI)
Program Scorecard
Competition, effort, and approval at a glance
Moderate — standard application process
High competition — many applicants
Moderate — standard requirements
How to Win
Insider tips, common pitfalls, and what successful applicants look like
Insider TipThe EOI stage is a critical filter — invest serious effort in making it compelling.
Success Profile
Evaluation Criteria
How Innovation Saskatchewan judges your application
What the reviewer scores, what gets applications rejected, and what to write.
Distilled from 6+ source documents, condensed into one brief. Sources as of 2026-09-11.
6 of the sources
- Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund — Program Guide innovationsask.ca
- Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund — programme page innovationsask.ca
- SAIF Program Guide — Out-of-Province Applicants innovationsask.ca
- SAIF for Out-of-Province Innovators — programme page innovationsask.ca
- Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund — Program Application Portal innovationsask.smapply.io
- Innovation Saskatchewan Invests Nearly $2.2M to Accelerate Tech in… innovationsask.ca
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What Innovation Saskatchewan favours
Solve a specific industry challenge and benefit the sector◦
“Demonstrates how the technological innovation will solve a specific industry challenge and benefit the sector, not just individual companies.”
The form
Eligibility screen
- 1Eligibility Questionnairecheckboxes
Expression of Interest
- 2Project Overviewwritten answer
Provide an overview of the proposed project and the technology being developed. Include the project's objectives, major activities planned, partners and timeline.
- 3Benefits to Sectorwritten answer
Demonstrate that the technology being developed is driven by industry demand. Highlight the specific industry challenge being addressed by the proposed technology. Explain how the technology will provide broad and tangible benefits to the related sector(s).
- 4Innovationwritten answer
- 5Path to Commercializationwritten answer
Full proposal
- 6Executive Summarywritten answer
- 7Alignment with Industry Needswritten answer
- 8Financial Leveragetable
- 9Academic Research Asset Leveragewritten answer
- 10Project Designwritten answer
- 11Proponent Capacitywritten answer
- 12End User Impact/Adoptionwritten answer
- 13Challenges to Technology Adoptionwritten answer
- 14Competitive Analysiswritten answer
- 15Riskswritten answer
- 16Economic Impactwritten answer
- 17Environmental Impactwritten answer
- 18Long-term Impactwritten answer
Financials and letters
- 19Financial Informationspreadsheet
Innovation Saskatchewan states no length limits for these answers.
Judged against
- 1
Does this fit the province's R&D priorities?
Show them Tie the technology to one of the five focus areas and show a Saskatchewan-anchored consortium with industry demand behind it.◦
- 2
Is the technology genuinely new and buildable?
What to show, and the funder’s 3 criteria behind it in Premium
- 3
Will the sector actually adopt and buy it?
What to show them in Premium
- 4
Can they fund and deliver the whole project?
What to show, and the funder’s 4 criteria behind it in Premium
7 questions the reviewer answers about you, in Premium.
Where applicants fail
“Proponents should only request amounts that can be broken down into eligible costs. Unjustified expenditures will negatively affect the success of an application.”
“Projects that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be invited to submit full proposals.”
Premium · the rest of this brief
See all 11 rules that can reject you and every criterion you are judged on. Then we draft your application for you.
7 more rules that can reject you · 7 more criteria · 17 more prompts
Do you pass?
11 can rule you out; 2 are preferences. Tick the ones you meet.
You
For-profit lead proponent
Lead proponent(s) must be a for-profit entity with the intention of commercializing the developed technology.
Led by a Saskatchewan organization
Led by a Saskatchewan-based organization.
Lifetime SAIF cap of $900,000
Lead proponents cannot receive more than $900,000 in SAIF grants over their lifetime.
The project
Solves an industry challenge, benefits sector
Demonstrates how the technological innovation will solve a specific industry challenge and benefit the sector, not just individual companies.
1 thing this funder says you do NOT need, in Premium.
Documents to attach
Ticks are kept on this device.
The money
Maximum per projectup to $450,000
Lead proponents can receive a maximum of $450,000 in SAIF grants to support the commercialization of their innovation.
Lifetime cap$900,000 lifetime cap
Lead proponents cannot receive more than $900,000 in SAIF grants over their lifetime.
In-kind limit20 per cent of budget
In-kind matching contributions cannot exceed 20 per cent of the budget and must be valued at cost.
Your share30 per cent IS, 50 per cent industry
IS will provide no more than 30 per cent of the project's budget and industry partners must provide 50 per cent or more of the project's budget.
StackingOther sources incl. federal funding
The remaining amounts can be secured from other sources like federal funding agencies.
What it pays for · 6
- Consumables
- Capital expenditures within length of project required for R&D (e.g., equipment purchase) valued at depreciation during the length of the project
- Incremental R&D and technical personnel salaries
- Contracted professional technical services or expertise (e.g., third-party software developer)
- Costs related to intellectual property (IP) protection, technology transfer and commercialization
- Travel and accommodation for collaborative purposes
What it does not pay for · 9
- Capital expenditures beyond length of project and/or not related to R&D activities
- Land and/or building purchases
- Non-R&D and/or technical personnel salaries
- Professional/association membership fees and dues
- Marketing and business development
- Overhead
- Contingency
- Hospitality and entertainment
- Technical and/or economic feasibility studies (considered only as a component of a larger project, never as the sole focus)
From application to money
- Draft review with ISFeedback on draft before deadline
- Submit EOIApril 30 and September 30Submit EOI by April 30 and September 30
- Shortlist invitationsMay 31 and October 31Shortlist invitations by May 31, October 31
- Full proposal dueJuly 31 and December 31Full proposal due July 31 and December 31
- Funding decisionSeptember 30 and February 28Decision September 30 and February 28
- Sign the agreement30 daysSign agreement within 30 days
In the funder’s words · 6
- Draft review with IS
- IS will provide feedback to any applicants that submit a draft of their proposal or EOI before the submission deadline.
- Submit EOI
- Expressions of Interest (EOI) can be submitted anytime, but they are only evaluated inside an intake window.
- Shortlist invitations
- Only the most strategically aligned proposals are invited to submit a full proposal, and the shortlist decision is final.
- Full proposal due
- Invited applicants submit the full proposal, the financial information and at least two customer letters of intent.
- Funding decision
- It will take approximately two months from the submission deadline before funding decisions are made.
- Sign the agreement
- The proponent group signs a funding agreement with Innovation Saskatchewan.
Quoted lines are word for word from the source documents; lines marked ◦ are our reading of them.
Everything you need to win SAIF
Not a marketing summary. The actual checklist, intel, and stack strategy reviewers look for.
- 7-document checklist with what each reviewer is actually checking
- Your Application Game Plan — the print-ready PDF the preview below describes
- 8-step application timeline with prep hours per step
- Insider tip from program officers on what separates winners
- 4-program stacking strategy to combine with compatible funding
- Success profile + evaluation criteria — exactly what reviewers score on
Application Playbook
Step-by-step process, required documents, and expenses
Application Steps
Required Documents 7
Eligible Expenses 6
Ineligible Expenses 12
Intake Periods
Deadline Notes
Ineligible Organizations
Funding Stack Strategy
Compatible programs, clawback risk, and combined funding potential
Compatible Programs
Clawback Risk
Medium RiskHow SAIF Compares
Side-by-side with similar programs
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Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions founders most often ask about SAIF