Collaborative funding refers to public–private funding models and co-investment arrangements where two or more partners share cash, contributions, roles, and risk to deliver an innovation project. These partnerships can include industry and academia, multiple firms, or cross-sector consortia.
What distinguishes collaborative funding from single-applicant grants isn’t just the number of partners—it’s the shared financial commitment, defined responsibilities, and formal frameworks for decision-making, IP, and commercialization.
What Typically Qualifies as Collaborative Funding
While requirements vary by program, most collaborative funding opportunities include the following elements:
- Two or more partners with defined roles, supported by letters of support (e.g., SME + university lab, or multiple industry partners).
- Partner cash contributions, often structured as matched or leveraged funding. Many programs require a minimum industry cash contribution per funded unit.
- Eligible in-kind contributions, such as staff time, equipment or lab access, data, materials, or testing environments.
- A commercialization or deployment path, particularly for late-stage or co-investment streams. Go-to-market plans are often mandatory.
- Governance and IP arrangements that explain how partners will manage the project, use results, and share benefits (via consortium agreements, partnership terms, or letters).
- Clear public or economic benefit, such as job creation, supply-chain resilience, productivity gains, or export growth. This is especially emphasized in federal and infrastructure programs.
How to Frame a Strong Collaborative Application
- Demonstrate market commitment. Show purchase intent, pilot agreements, or letters confirming willingness to host demonstrations or buy prototypes. This is especially important for commercialization-focused streams.
- Name partners and show concrete commitments. Clearly outline cash versus in-kind contributions and ensure they meet program minimums. Include dated letters of support that align with the proposal.
- Tie deliverables to commercialization. Define realistic milestones such as TRL progression, demonstrations, IP development, or licensing strategies.
- Explain how the consortium is governed. A short paragraph covering decision rights, IP ownership and use, and confidentiality helps reviewers understand how the collaboration will operate in practice.
Examples of collaborative funding opportunities
Mitacs remains one of Canada’s most accessible platforms for industry–academic collaboration. The Accelerate program is open on a rolling basis, with partner contributions starting at approximately $5,000 per 4–6-month internship unit.
Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters
Formerly known as the Superclusters, Canada’s five Global Innovation Clusters operate as co-investment programs supporting multi-partner innovation projects.
Projects must demonstrate a defined consortium, industry commitment with leveraged contributions, and a credible path to commercialization or deployment.
Each cluster runs its own calls, many of which are currently accepting applications.
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) (not currently accepting applications)
The most recent CFI Innovation Fund competition closed in February 2025.
While no national competition is open at the moment, CFI funding operates on recurring cycles, with future opportunities expected.
CFI projects typically require multi-party collaboration, leveraged institutional, provincial, and industry contributions, and shared access to research infrastructure.
NSERC Collaborative Funding
NSERC continues to support industry-academic collaboration, but availability depends on the specific program.
Final Thoughts
At its core, collaborative funding is about shared commitment—financial, operational, and commercial—between partners working together to accelerate applied innovation. Whether you’re pursuing Mitacs, Global Innovation Cluster funding, CFI opportunities, or NSERC calls, clarity around partner roles, contributions, and intended impact is critical.
