Program Aims to Increase Demand for Canadian Wood Products 

Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) Stream 1: Capital Projects advertises 50% grant (non-repayable) funding up to $10 million to develop/adopt transformational technologies and diversify forest-products, strengthening the competitiveness of Canada’s forest sector as well as improving economic and environmental sustainability. Eligible applicants are existing businesses that produce forest products or new entrants in the forest sector with market ready innovations.

Program Categories:

• Advanced Biomaterials and Biochemicals: Cutting-edge materials and high value chemical applications derived from wood components (i.e., lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose).
• Pulp and Paper Diversification: Innovative products that significantly diversify revenue streams in an existing pulp and paper facility or lead to innovative products derived from pulp in a stand-alone facility.
• Next Generation Building Products: Innovative structural and architectural applications, e.g., advanced wood-based building systems/products that displace traditional building materials such as concrete, steel, and fossil-based insulation materials.
• Advanced Biofuels: Wood fibre-derived biofuels from thermochemical or biochemical processes in liquid, gaseous and solid form.
• Process Efficiency and Decarbonization: Reducing energy consumption or greenhouse gas (GHG) emission or improving processes. Projects advancing BioEnergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) are eligible within this category. BECCS has been identified as an area with special considerations within the context of the IFIT program.
• Improved Fibre Utilization: Increased use of harvest residuals, pest/fire damaged wood, reclaimed/recycled wood fibre, and other sources of underutilized wood fibre, resulting in greater value generated from harvest wood.

Eligible expenditures:

• Capital equipment, upgrades and retrofits.
• Professional and technical consulting fees.
• Employee salaries and benefits.
• Direct overhead costs, capped at 1.5% of eligible expenses.
• Other project related costs including licensing fees and environmental assessments/audits costs, travel expenses, publicity materials expenses.

Projects must represent an innovative advancement of a technology or process that enhances the competitiveness of Canada’s forest sector, and/or demonstrate a first-in-kind innovation or an early adoption of technology that requires further de-risking in a range of conditions before widespread implementation. Any costs associated with the production or exports of softwood lumber products are ineligible for support. The deadline to apply is December 31, 2023.