Research + Development Grants

You can request up to $300,000. Funding is paid in annual instalments of approximately equal amounts, following submission of annual reports.

Applicants need $2 matching dollars for every $1 from Ignite. Matching dollars can come from corporate and/or government. Matching dollars can be cash or in-kind services. Up to 50% of matching funds can be from government (e.g. NSERC, IRAP, and Mitacs) and up to 50% can be in-kind. 

E.g. $300,000 in Ignite funding matched by $600,000, broken down as:

No, but applications with secured matching funds may be viewed more favorably by the review panel.

Yes. However, the majority of your company’s revenue must come from sales — not government aid. 

No, this funding does not cover retroactive expenses prior to the start date indicated in your application. 

Research and development expenditures. Eligible costs include but are not limited to:

• Salaries/stipends 
• Materials, supplies and equipment (e.g. prototyping, scale-up, product refinement, validation studies, etc.)
• Activities related to technology transfer and commercialization (e.g. sharing of patenting and licensing fees with university, consulting fees for IP strategy, etc.)
• Travel and accommodation for collaborative purposes
• Indirect administrative costs (e.g. university overhead)

The program does not fund companies directly. All members in the partnership must agree that the primary academic partner's institution will receive and administer the funding. A formalized partnership agreement is required for the proposal stage.

The partnership must have at least one academic partner and one industry partner. The majority of your partners must be based in B.C. and be able to exploit the research results in B.C.

Organizations must be registered in B.C. and have a significant presence in the province. Multinationals may be eligible if they have project-related commercial activities that take place in B.C.  

Partners from outside the province or country are welcome, provided: 

• the majority of the team is from B.C.,
• that an eligible B.C. organization maintains a leading role throughout the project, 
• results will be exploited in B.C., and 
• the contributions of non-B.C. members are clearly demonstrated.

Yes, thanks to our close collaboration with Mitacs. If interested, please reach out to Marcelo Mora.  

IP and its ownership should be discussed with your partner(s) before submitting the application.