College and Community Innovation Pilot Program

Duration	Application Deadline	How to Apply
Up to 3 years	The 2004 competition is closed	Model Budget Performance Measures
Program Contacts

Important Information

• Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

Canada has a national network of colleges that are closely connected with local business and industry and sometimes form a direct technology link between university-based fundamental research and the application of this research by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the local community. The colleges are well positioned to enhance innovation and economic revitalization within the communities where they are located and to play a critical role in building an innovative productive economy.

Objective

The objective of the College and Community Innovation Program is to increase the capacity of colleges to support innovation at the community and/or regional level. The program design and funding are intended to stimulate new partnerships and increased entrepreneurship and to assist the colleges to take risks and be nimble in developing new ways of working with local businesses and industries to spur innovation and economic growth.

This program is being launched as a pilot program in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach so as to obtain funding to sustain this initiative at the appropriate level. Feedback will be sought from the selection committee and applicants, both successful and not successful, in terms of modifications to the program design and selection process. Throughout the grant term, the progress of successful applicants will be tracked to determine the impact, and potential for impact, of the program and modifications will be made to the design to enable the colleges to play a bigger role in supporting innovation at the community and/or regional level.

NSERC appreciates the cooperation and assistance of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) in preparing the program description and of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) as well as the ACCC in publicizing the program.

Description

Eligible Canadian colleges will receive funds to build capacity related to advancing innovation (the process of bringing new goods and services to market) at the community level. The program is intended to build on the community’s and/or region’s strengths and resources. As such, in building the capacity of the college to contribute to innovation, complementarity and effective collaboration with existing community resources are expected.

This pilot program will award a maximum of six grants. A base grant of $100,000 a year for three years will be made to successful applicants; funding for years two and three will be contingent on successful progress in achieving the goals outlined in the proposal. In year two of the grant, up to an additional $100,000 will be available based upon the college’s ability to leverage an equivalent amount from sources outside the college. In year three, the base remains at $100,000, and the maximum amount to be leveraged increases to $200,000. Again the funds eligible to be leveraged in years two and three may be in cash and/or auditable in-kind, but must be incremental and relate directly to the activities proposed by the college in support of innovation. As this pilot is providing seed funding for a potential program, funding for future competitions and continuing funding of existing initiatives will be subject to a successful review of the pilot and the availability of funds.

The deadline for receipt of applications at NSERC is May 28, 2004. Successful proposals will be selected by a selection committee of experts on the basis of excellence in relation to the stated selection criteria. As this is a pilot program with the goal of assessing the program approach, the committee will strive to select a maximum of six proposals, within those applications deemed to be excellent, striving to reflect the nature and diversity of the Canadian college community.

Eligibility

In this document “college” refers to community college, institute of technology and cegep. Only colleges that have been declared eligible to administer NSERC grants or those colleges that have submitted complete applications for eligibility to NSERC before the deadline may apply to the pilot program (http://www.nserc.ca/institution/eligibility_e.htm). No funding will be released until the institution has been declared eligible. For the purpose of this pilot, eligibility will be restricted to those colleges eligible to administer NSERC grants whose faculty members are not already eligible to the full spectrum of NSERC programs (e.g., some university colleges). Information on applying for eligibility has been distributed to all colleges.

Use of Funds

The pilot program will provide grants to colleges on a competitive basis to initiate or increase activities to support innovation in one specific area where the college has recognized expertise and that meets local community needs. The program is intended to be flexible and to accommodate a variety of activities and address the needs of a range of institutions (small/large; rural/urban); however, all proposals must involve students. The activities supported must be incremental to those already planned by the institution and the institution must demonstrate this incrementality in their application.

Funds may be used for, but are not limited to, the following:

• providing release time from teaching to faculty members to allow them to work on innovation programs and projects;
• supporting student involvement in projects;
• developing facilities;
• outreach to local business and industry, including SMEs, in the targeted area;
• developing technology transfer expertise;
• developing a technology evaluation program:
• testing or benchmarking for certification so that the technology meets industry standards and/or specifications;
• demonstrating the efficacy of the technology for marketing purposes;
• meeting government regulations;
• activities to support innovation such as:
  • developing new or enhanced products and processes;
  • building and testing prototypes;
  • carrying out non-routine testing or field studies;
  • conducting market and product feasibility assessments;
  • bringing new knowledge to market;
  • establishing pilot facilities, technology development centres and demonstration sites;
  • building awareness of new and best practice technologies.

Funding cannot be used to support routine testing of samples or products or for technical consulting or solely for the purchase of equipment. Requests for equipment must be incorporated into the research proposal; separate equipment requests will not be accepted in this program. Applicants must justify the need for the equipment to effectively conduct the activities discussed in the proposal.

Application Guidelines

The application is to be submitted over the signature of the President of the institution. There is no application form; however, applicants must follow the detailed Application Guidelines for the program. Applicants must provide a detailed description of the initiatives that the grant will support, the impact on and involvement of the local community, particularly SMEs, details on how the proposal will contribute to training students, and a budget showing how the grant will be spent and describing any additional funding the grant will leverage. All applications must include the institution's strategic plan and clearly demonstrate how the proposed area and initiatives fit into that strategy and how they are incremental to the current plans of the institution and will accelerate the strategy. Letters from local firms describing how the proposal will benefit them and contribute to local and/or regional innovation should be included with the application.

Review Procedures and Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated by a committee of experts who understand the role of colleges in economic development and their link with SMEs and have experience in innovation activities at the community level. The selection criteria are described below. Proposals will be judged in the context of the environment in which the institution operates, including its available resources and opportunities and the commitment of the college to undertake this initiative. Contributions to local innovation will be of primary importance.

Potential to Contribute to Local and/or Regional Innovation

• fit of the proposal to the needs of the community;
• relationship of the proposal to the institution’s strategic plan;
• opportunity for expanding innovation in the community;
• track record of the institution in contributing to local innovation;
• quality and incrementality of the training to be provided;
• need for the skills of the trainees in the local community;
• involvement of, and impact on, various partners in the community, i.e., business and industry, including SMEs, universities, local municipalities, etc.

Quality of the Proposal

• feasibility of advancing the institution’s strategic plan;
• focus and clarity of the specific objectives of the proposal;
• appropriateness of the proposed activities to meet the objectives of the proposal;
• feasibility of the work plan to achieve the objectives of the proposal;
• appropriateness of the management structure to the nature and size of the initiative.

Demonstrated Need for Resources

• need for capacity to contribute to local innovation;
• need to increase the level of interaction with potential users in the context of the proposed new activities at the institution;
• challenges of exploiting new knowledge and technology locally that will benefit Canada in the context of the proposed new activities at the institution;
• the overall budget* and the justification of individual budget items;
• sustainability of the proposed activities after the term of the grant.

* Note: During the tenure of the grant, reallocation of more than 20 per cent of any budget item to other items is permitted on approval by NSERC of a revised budget and justification for the changes.

Anticipated Impact of the Program

The College and Community Innovation Program in the long term will increase the economic development of the community and create new quality jobs based on know-how and technological innovation. This will be achieved by increasing the capacity of the colleges to transform the results of R&D into economic activities easier and faster.

In the short term, the impact of the program will be demonstrated by:

• increased awareness by local business and industry of the services available at the college;
• involvement of the colleges with key players in the community;
• evidence of colleges developing new or improved technologies or new applications of technologies;
• evidence of the development of a technology evaluation framework;
• involvement of students in activities to support innovation;
• evidence of students acquiring the applied knowledge and skills needed to build capacity for technology adoption and innovation in industries, particularly SMEs;
• prototypes developed or tested by the colleges;
• adoption of new technologies by local businesses;
• adoption of new or improved processes by local businesses;
• increased productivity or expansion of local businesses;
• other specific impacts identified by the applicant.

Reporting

The grantee will be required to provide annual reports on performance and expenditures. Payment of subsequent instalments of the grant is contingent on satisfactory progress.

Performance will be based on the degree to which the objectives of the original proposal have been achieved and demonstration of the short-term impacts. All applicants are required in their application to provide baseline information on appropriate performance measures, to identify any additional measures for their proposed activities and to make projections on changes to these measures during the tenure of the grant. A form is provided in the Application Guidelines.

Within six months of the end of the grant, grantees must submit a final report outlining the tangible and intangible outcomes of the funded activities.