Program Supports Innovation, Business Growth

The Rural Innovation Initiative: Eastern Ontario Regional Stream offers grants of up to 50% to a maximum of $100,000 for projects that support the growth of Rural Eastern Ontario businesses and the economic development of surrounding communities. Eligible projects include but are not limited to:

• Facility expansion and modernization
• Adopting, adapting or commercializing innovative products and processes
• Accessing new markets
• Employee skill development

Eligible expenses include:

• Retrofits, equipment purchases and installation
• Consulting and professional fees
• Employee wages and benefits
• Other project-related expenses

Building and land purchases as well as regular/ongoing operational and maintenance costs are ineligible. The program supports projects ending no later than December 31, 2020, undertaken in one of the following Eastern Ontario regions: 1) Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry 2) Prescott and Russell 7) Leeds and Grenville 9) Lanark 10) Frontenac 11) Lennox and Addington 12) Hastings 13) Prince Edward 14) Northumberland 15) Peterborough 16) Kawartha Lakes 17) Haliburton 18) Renfrew 19) Census subdivisions: Durham, Brock, York, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, and Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation.

Funding Offered for Projects Costing $20 Million or More

The Strategic Innovation Fund: National Ecosystems Stream (SIF) offers up to 50% grant funding towards the development and commercialization of innovative products, process, and services to facilitate collaboration, sector growth and business scale-up. Activities must be undertaken by two or more project partners (such as universities, businesses, not-for-profits), and lead to improved business competitiveness, expansion and/or the advancement of new technologies. Applications will be assessed under the following criteria:

1. Level of innovation
2. Economic benefits
3. Resulting benefits for Canadians

Only projects requesting funding of $10 million or more will be supported by SIF. Eligible costs include project-related direct labour, overhead, subcontracts, consultants, direct materials, equipment and land/building purchases Please note that securing SIF funding may reduce an applicant’s claim for Science Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credits as well as other federal funding. Additionally, it is recommended that an applicant investigates any additional tax implications prior to accepting SIF funding.

Grant Funding Supports Agriculture and Agri-Food Sector

The Canadian Agricultural Partnership offers grants of up to 50% (25% to a maximum of $200,000 for equipment) towards increasing the sustainability, competitiveness and prosperity of Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food sector. Eligible companies include equipment and technology manufacturers, food/pet food processors, agricultural-based pharmaceuticals/nutraceuticals, ornamentals (flowers, shrubs) and bio-products manufacturers, as well as other entities involved in the transformation of agricultural commodities and products. Maximum number of applicant employees is 200. Funding is provided for projects that support plant/animal health, food safety/traceability, increased productivity, market development, or business planning/assessments. Eligible expenditures include:

1. Productivity Improvement: 25% up to $200,000 to purchase technology to increase labour productivity
2. Business Assessment: 50% up to $15,000 for any start-up or scaling-up processing business that wants to identify or determine feasibility of growth and opportunities by analyzing trends, access to capital and business structure
3. Business Plans: 35% up to $15,000 for established and new businesses for plans to increase or improve financial sustainability, address growth needs and opportunities, and define concrete next steps
4. Marketing Plans: 35% up to $25,000 for established processors
5. New Process or Product Development: 35% up to $75,000 for consultants and equipment to satisfy a new demand
6. ERP systems implementation: 35% up to $100,000
7. Food Safety and Traceability Pre-Audit, Gap Assessment and Planning: 45% up to $3,000 for companies with 100 or less employees
8. Food Safety and Traceability System Improvements: 50% up to $75,000 for processors with 100 or less employees
9. Food Safety and Traceability Training: 45% up to $1,500 for companies with 100 or less employees.
10. Food Safety and Traceability Equipment: 35% up to $10,000 for companies with 100 or less employees
11. Ingredient Efficiency and Waste Reduction: 25% up to $75,000 for technology that has been adopted by less than 20% of the Ontario sector
12. Labour productivity Plans: 50% up to $25,000
13. Domestic Market Development: 35% up to $50,000 for increasing Canadian market
14. International Market Development: 35% up to $75,000
15. Plant Pest Monitoring and Management Tools and Equipment: 35% up to $100,000
16. Preventing Introduction and Spread of Pests through Isolation, Sanitation and Controlling Work Flow: 35% up to $50,000

Costs incurred before receiving approval are ineligible for reimbursement (note: it typically takes roughly 3 months for a decision to be made). Applicants must be based or establishing operations in Ontario, be able to demonstrate potential income of at least $30,000 within three years of applying, plus cannot use awarded funding to undermine other Canadian companies. A maximum of two applications may be submitted per intake. Next intake deadline is May 6, 2019  

Program Supports Companies Involved in Steel/Aluminum Supply Chains

The Regional Economic Growth through Innovation Steel and Aluminum Initiative (ISAI) offers grants of up to 45% to a maximum of $1 million to companies whose steel and/or aluminum expenditures are equal to or greater than 20% of total input costs. Applicants must have between 10-499 employees and be requesting at least $150,000 from the program to participate. Eligible activities may include:

• Productivity Improvements: acquiring, adapting, adopting new technologies, and/or processes; process re-engineering; improving manufacturing capacity.
• Business Scale-Up: market development/expansion; diagnostics; adopting best management practices, processes, and systems; business opportunity development.
• Technology Commercialization: late stage product development geared toward market diversification and growth, such as technology showcasing and technology demonstration.

All costs must be reasonable and directly related to eligible project activities. Eligible costs include, but are not limited to:

• Cost of labour (e.g. wages and benefits);
• Capital costs (e.g. purchase of machinery, equipment);
• Operating costs that are directly related to the project (e.g. management fees)- up to 20 percent of the total project cost;
• Professional, advisory and technical services;
• Costs related to intellectual property;
• Technological development and commercial demonstrations;
• Subcontracting costs;
• Production and distribution of promotional material and management tools; and
• Maintenance costs.

Ineligible costs include, but are not limited to:

• Costs incurred prior to application submission date;
• Basic and applied research;
• Land and buildings acquisition;
• Goodwill;
• Entertainment expenses;
• Salary bonuses and dividend payments;
• Allowance for interest on invested capital, bonds, debentures, and other debts;
• Losses on investments, bad debts and associated expenses, other projects and contracts;
• Refinancing of existing debts;
• Amortization or depreciation of assets;
• Federal and provincial income taxes, GST (recoverable portion), taxes or surtaxes on excess profit;
• Provisions for contingencies;
• Lobbying activities or commissions paid to consultants to secure funding.

All project activities must be completed by March 31, 2020. Only one application per firm is permitted under the Initiative. Total government assistance, from all sources (federal, provincial, municipal including SR&ED), will be limited to 75 percent of eligible costs. Total program budget is $100 million. Priority will be given to applications received from March 11, 2019, to April 8, 2019.

Program Accepting Applications Soon!

The Canadian Agricultural Partnership offers grants of up to 50% (25% to a maximum of $200,000 for equipment) towards increasing the sustainability, competitiveness and prosperity of Ontario’s agriculture processing sector. Eligible companies include equipment/technology manufacturers, food/pet food processors, agricultural-based pharmaceuticals/nutraceuticals, ornamentals (flowers, shrubs) and bio-products manufacturers, as well as other entities involved in the transformation of agricultural commodities and products. Funding is provided for projects that support plant/animal health, food safety/traceability, increased productivity, and market/economic development. Eligible expenditures include*:

1. Productivity Improvement: 25% up to $200,000 to purchase technology to increase labour productivity
2. Business Assessment: 50% up to $15,000 for any start-up or scaling-up processing business that wants to identify or determine feasibility of growth and opportunities by analyzing trends, access to capital and business structure.
3. Business Plans: 35% up to $15,000 for established and new businesses for plans to increase or improve financial sustainability, address growth needs and opportunities, and define concrete next steps.
4. Marketing Plans: 35% up to $25,000 for established processors
5. New Process or Product Development: 35% up to $75,000 for consultants and equipment to satisfy a new demand
6. ERP systems implementation: 35% up to $100,000
7. Food Safety and Traceability Pre-Audit, Gap Assessment and Planning: 45% up to $3,000 for companies with 100 or less employees
8. Food Safety and Traceability System Improvements: 50% up to $75,000. For processors with 100 or less employees
9. Food Safety and Traceability Training: 45% up to $1,500 for companies with 100 or less employees.
10. Food Safety and Traceability Equipment: 35% up to $10,000 for companies with 100 or less employees
11. Ingredient Efficiency and Waste Reduction: 25% up to $75,000 for technology that has been adopted by less than 20% of the Ontario sector
12. Labour productivity Plans: 50% up to $25,000
13. Domestic Market Development: 35% up to $50,000 for increasing Canadian market
14. International Market Development: 35% up to $75,000
15. Plant Pest Monitoring and Management Tools and Equipment: 35% up to $100,000
16. Preventing Introduction and Spread of Pests through Isolation, Sanitation and Controlling Work Flow: 35% up to $50,000

Costs incurred before receiving approval are ineligible for reimbursement (note: it typically takes roughly 3 months for a decision to be made). Applicants must have no more than 200 employees, be based or establishing operations in Ontario, be able to demonstrate potential income of at least $30,000 within three years of applying, plus cannot use awarded funding to undermine other Canadian companies. A maximum of two applications may be submitted per intake. Only expenses incurred after approval (i.e. July 15, 2019) are eligible for funding . Next deadline for applications is May 5, 2019 . 

*note the followings URL’s are not currently active, but will be available March 22

Program Accepting Applications Until April 5

The Canadian Agriculture Partnership (CAP): Organizations and Collaborations program offers up to 75% in grant funding to a maximum of $1 million (typically less than $100,000) towards initiatives focused on:

• Environmental Stewardship (Soil health and water quality improvements)
• Economic Development (Market development, business analysis, technological solutions)
• Protection and Assurance (Food safety and traceability, animal/plant health)

Eligible organizations include Ontario-based associations, marketing boards, municipalities, economic development offices, aboriginal groups, and other legally recognized, not-for-profit organizations related to the agriculture, agri-food and agri-products sector. Eligible collaborations are combinations of two or more Ontario-based legally recognized businesses, not-for-profit associations/organizations, and/or academic/research institutions in the agriculture, agri-food and agri-products sector. Funding is provided for the following:

• Communication/education/training materials (design, printing, translation, etc)
• Land and facility rentals
• Supplies, including shipping and transportation
• Equipment, construction, software, and retrofits
• Travel and accommodation
• Audits and assessments
• R&D, pilots, and demonstrations
• Skills development and training
• Salaries, contracted services, and consultants

Expenditures must be directly related to the project and incurred after receiving approval. Projects funded under this program are ineligible to receive additional support from other CAP programs.

*Please note that the next deadline to submit an application is April 5, 2019. Applicants wishing to receive feedback/suggestions on project ideas before submitting an application are encouraged to submit a pre-proposal by March 22 (although submission of a pre-proposal is not required to receive funding).