Quebec R&D & Innovation Funding
Quebec pays innovators better than almost anywhere in Canada — but the money is split across a refundable tax credit, a stack of project grants, and a federal layer that most founders never combine. This is the plain-English map of the R&D, innovation, and technology funding a Quebec company can actually get in 2026.
See the top programs →Quebec R&D funding is best understood as a stack, not a single program. The base layer is two refundable tax credits you claim every year: the federal SR&ED credit (up to 35% for a CCPC on the first $6M of eligible spend) and Quebec's new CRIC credit (20–30%). On top, you add project grants — INNOV-R for GHG-reduction R&D, Technoclimat for cleantech demonstration, the Primo-Adoptants innovation call, and NRC IRAP. Combined, federal and provincial support can exceed 50% of your eligible R&D spend.
The Quebec R&D funding stack
Most founders search for "the Quebec R&D grant" and give up when they can't find one program that does everything. That's the wrong mental model. Quebec funds innovation the way it funds most things — in layers, delivered by different bodies, and the winners are the firms that combine them rather than pick one.
There are four kinds of R&D money in Quebec, and they behave completely differently:
The tax credits are the reliable base — they have no application deadline and reach almost any firm doing genuine development work. Grants and talent programs sit on top for specific projects. The Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie (MEIE) and Investissement Québec deliver most of the provincial side; NRC IRAP and the Canada Revenue Agency handle the federal layer.
Build from the base up. Lock in your SR&ED and CRIC tax credits first — they are the non-dilutive cash that arrives every year regardless of which grant competition you win — then layer a project grant on top. Chasing a single large grant while ignoring the credits is the most expensive mistake a Quebec innovator makes.
The CRIC tax credit explained
The single most important R&D program in Quebec in 2026 is a tax credit, not a grant. The CRIC — crédit d'impôt pour la recherche, l'innovation et la précommercialisation — is Quebec's consolidated R&D credit, and it reaches more companies than any grant on this page.
What makes it powerful is that it is refundable. A pre-profit startup with no tax to offset still receives the credit as a cash payment. On eligible research, innovation, and pre-commercialization spending, the CRIC is worth 20–30% — a base rate of roughly 20%, with an enhanced rate up to 30% on the first tranche of eligible expenditures. Because it's refundable and annual, it functions as a dependable source of non-dilutive cash for Quebec innovators.
The refundable credit is cash, not a future deduction
A loss-making Quebec startup doesn't have to wait to be profitable to benefit. Because both the CRIC and the SR&ED CCPC credit are refundable, you file your return and receive money — often the largest single cheque an early-stage deep-tech company gets in a year.
The top Quebec R&D & innovation programs in 2026
These are the programs a Quebec company doing research, development, or innovation is most likely to qualify for, grouped by what they give you. Every figure below is confirmed against our live catalogue — including which programs are open and which are between intakes.
| Program | What it gives | Typical amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec R&D Tax Credit (CRIC) | Refundable tax credit | 20–30% | Open |
| Quebec AI Adoption Credit (CDAEIA) | Refundable tax credit | Up to 30% of AI salaries | Open |
| SR&ED (federal) | Refundable ITC (CCPC) | Up to 35% on first $6M | Open |
| Programme Innovation — Primo-Adoptants | Project grant | Up to $75,000 | Open |
| Technoclimat | Cleantech demonstration grant | Up to 50% of costs | Open |
| INNOV-R PME | GHG-reduction R&D grant | Up to $450,000 | Between intakes |
| Multimedia Title Credit (CDTIM) | Refundable tax credit | Up to 37.5% | Open |
| NRC IRAP (federal) | R&D grant + advisory | Up to ~$1M (median ~$75K) | Open |
| Mitacs Accelerate (federal) | Research-internship subsidy | $15,000 / unit | Open |
| CanExport Innovation (federal) | R&D partnership grant | Up to $37,500 | Between intakes |
| CED — REGI Scale-up & Productivity | Federal contribution | $150,000–$1M | Open |
How federal SR&ED and Quebec CRIC stack
The reason Quebec is one of the best places in Canada to do R&D is that the federal and provincial credits stack. You claim SR&ED on your federal return and the CRIC on your Quebec return, on the same underlying work.
SR&ED vs CRIC — how they differ
| Federal SR&ED | Quebec CRIC | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Canada Revenue Agency | Revenu Québec |
| Rate | Up to 35% (CCPC) | 20–30% |
| Refundable? | Yes, for CCPCs on the enhanced portion | Yes |
| Covers | Scientific research & experimental development | Research, innovation & pre-commercialization |
| Filed with | Form T661 + T2 corporate return | Quebec corporate return |
Founders sometimes skip the provincial credit because they've already done the federal SR&ED work and the marginal effort feels high. That's a mistake. The technical narrative — the "what was the technological uncertainty and how did you systematically try to resolve it" story — is largely the same for both claims. Once you've built it for SR&ED, the CRIC claim is mostly a re-mapping of the same eligible costs onto the Quebec form, plus the pre-commercialization activities that federal SR&ED excludes.
The practical playbook: keep a single, contemporaneous R&D log — salaries by project, contractor invoices, and materials — from the first day of the fiscal year. Reconstructing this at year-end is where both credits get diluted or denied. Firms with clean records claim both credits from the same evidence base and clear 50%+ combined support; firms that reconstruct after the fact routinely leave a third of the money on the table. If your R&D spend is material, a specialist review of the first joint claim usually pays for itself.
By sector: cleantech, AI, and manufacturing R&D
Beyond the two base credits, the right project grant depends heavily on what kind of innovation you're doing. Three sectors have dedicated Quebec money worth naming.
GHG & energy R&D
Quebec funds low-carbon innovation harder than almost anything else. Two programs anchor it.
Applied AI & software
Montréal is a world AI hub — Mila, IVADO, and Scale AI — and Quebec now pays firms to adopt AI.
Process & product R&D
Manufacturers adding real development work qualify for the base credits plus scale-up support.
Your stack is credits + talent, not one big grant
An AI or deep-tech company in the Montréal / Mila / IVADO / Scale AI ecosystem should build on SR&ED + CRIC for the R&D, add the CDAEIA credit for AI-adoption salaries, and fund researchers through Mitacs internships and partnerships with McGill, Université de Montréal, Polytechnique, ÉTS, or Université Laval. Grants like Primo-Adoptants come later, for a specific validated project.
Your process improvements probably already qualify
Manufacturers in Sherbrooke, Québec City, or the regions routinely under-claim because they don't think of process and product development as "R&D." If you're resolving a genuine technical uncertainty on the line, SR&ED and CRIC apply — and CED's REGI Scale-up & Productivity ($150,000–$1M) funds the capital side of scaling what you develop.
Who qualifies
Eligibility differs by program, but the R&D funding on this page shares a common spine. You generally qualify for the core credits and grants if:
- Your business is a corporation carrying on R&D in Quebec — for the CRIC and SR&ED, that means work performed in the province (SR&ED also credits R&D done elsewhere in Canada).
- The work meets the R&D test: you're resolving a genuine scientific or technological uncertainty through systematic investigation, not doing routine engineering or styling changes.
- You can document eligible costs — salaries of the people doing the work, contractor fees, and materials consumed — with contemporaneous records.
- For project grants (INNOV-R, Technoclimat, Primo-Adoptants), you can meet the program's specific gate: GHG-reduction, a defined cleantech demonstration, or a first-adopter innovation project, and usually matching funds (most cover 50–75% of eligible costs).
Being a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC) is what unlocks the most generous, refundable SR&ED rate (35% on the first $6M), so incorporation status matters more here than on most funding pages. The refundable Quebec credits reach non-CCPCs too, at their own rates.
How to claim & apply
Tax credits are claimed with your return; project grants are applied for to the delivering body. The path that captures the most money:
- Confirm the work is R&D. Before anything, be honest about whether you're resolving a real technological uncertainty. This one test decides both SR&ED and CRIC eligibility.
- Track eligible costs from day one. Log salaries, contractor fees, and materials tied to the R&D as you go. Contemporaneous records are the single biggest driver of a clean claim.
- Claim federal SR&ED. File Form T661 with your T2 corporate return; a CCPC earns the 35% refundable credit on the first $6M of qualified expenditures.
- Claim the Quebec CRIC. File the consolidated R&D credit with your Quebec corporate return — refundable, and built from the same evidence base as SR&ED.
- Layer a project grant. For a specific project, apply to INNOV-R, Technoclimat, or Primo-Adoptants through Investissement Québec / the MEIE, or engage an NRC IRAP advisor for federal R&D support.
- Fund the people. Use Mitacs internships and university partnerships to add researchers, and CanExport Innovation to commercialize the result abroad when its intake reopens.
Common R&D-funding mistakes
The Quebec R&D system is generous but easy to under-use. The mistakes that cost innovators the most:
- Claiming SR&ED but not CRIC. The provincial credit is built from nearly the same evidence — skipping it leaves refundable cash on the table every single year.
- Reconstructing records at year-end. A claim built from memory in month twelve is smaller and riskier than one logged as the work happened. This is the number-one reason credits get diluted or denied.
- Waiting for one big grant. Founders stall for months chasing a single large grant that doesn't fit their stage, while ignoring the credits that would have paid out regardless.
- Assuming pre-profit means no benefit. The best Quebec R&D credits are refundable — a loss-making startup receives them as cash. Not claiming because "we're not profitable" is pure lost money.
- Missing that a program is between intakes. INNOV-R and CanExport Innovation are real but not always open. Building a plan around a closed window wastes a quarter.
- Searching only in English. Quebec's programs surface under French names — crédit d'impôt R&D, aide à l'innovation, recherche et innovation. English-only search misses half the map.
What's changed in 2026
Quebec consolidated its R&D tax credits into the CRIC. The province replaced its older suite of separate research credits with a single, streamlined credit — the CRIC (crédit d'impôt pour la recherche, l'innovation et la précommercialisation). For most companies it is simpler to claim, still refundable, and now explicitly covers innovation and pre-commercialization, not just lab research. This is the headline change and the reason to revisit your R&D claim this year.
A new AI-adoption credit arrived. Quebec's CDAEIA credit gives back up to 30% of eligible salaries tied to integrating artificial intelligence into your operations — a genuinely new lever for tech and services firms in the Montréal AI ecosystem and beyond.
Budget 2025 doubled the SR&ED enhanced-rate limit. Federally, the SR&ED expenditure limit for the enhanced 35% refundable rate was raised directly from $3M to $6M, letting a CCPC earn the top refundable rate on a much larger base of qualified expenditures.
Cleantech R&D funding stayed strong. Technoclimat continues to fund demonstration projects and INNOV-R PME continues its GHG-reduction R&D calls between intakes — Quebec's clearest signal of where it is directing innovation money.
Sources: Revenu Québec (CRIC, CDAEIA); Ministère des Finances du Québec (2025 budget); Government of Canada — Budget 2025 (SR&ED expenditure-limit increase from $3M to $6M); MELCCFP; InnovÉÉ.FAQ
What is the Quebec R&D tax credit (CRIC) worth?
Can I claim both SR&ED and the Quebec CRIC credit?
Are there R&D grants in Quebec, or only tax credits?
Does my Quebec startup need to be profitable to benefit?
What is the CDAEIA AI adoption credit?
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