The Office of Innovation and Partnerships (I+P) is a strong promoter of the discovery–to–innovation continuum and the technology transfer of promising technologies, methods, materials, and designs. One of the I+P objectives is to facilitate the transfer of the intellectual property or knowledge to a new or an established partner in Québec for generating economic benefits or creating social impact. The I+P Partnerships Program, supported by Quebec's Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, was established in 2019 to catalyze new partnerships and foster ongoing collaborations with Québec-based partners that support this objective. This program supports projects that include partners from for-profit organizations, social enterprises, and community organizations.
The total available amount of funding is approximately $500,000 for projects whose partner is a for-profit (private) organization or social enterprise. For projects whose partner is a community organization, the total available amount of funding is approximately $300,000.
This program is divided into two separate streams:
- Stream 1: For projects involving for-profit organizations or social enterprises
- Stream 2: For projects involving a community organization
Program parameters
| Partner eligibility | There are two categories of eligible partners: i) for-profit organizations and social enterprises, and ii) community organizations. Regardless of the partner type, the partner must have an established operation in Québec and must actively participate in the project research activities. The project must be carried out in Québec. For-profit organizations must be incorporated in either Québec or Canada. |
|---|---|
| Principal Investigator eligibility | The Principal Investigator applying for the funding must hold a full-time faculty position at McGill. Adjunct Professors, Visiting Professors, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Research Associates are not eligible to apply. |
| Co-Applicants | Projects involving co-Applicants from McGill or McGill affiliated hospitals are permitted. The roles and contributions of each co-Applicant must be defined. |
| Limit | A Principal Investigator can submit up to two (2) different project proposals per fiscal year (1 May to 30 April) subject to the availability of funding. A partner cannot be the same on more than one application with the same Principal Investigator. |
| Project duration | Up to 18 months |
| Indirect Costs of Research | A mandatory 27% Indirect Costs of Research must be added and calculated only on the partner’s cash contribution. Indirect Costs of Research are not applied to in-kind contributions. Indirect Costs of Research are not matched by the I+P Partnership Program. |
| In-kind contributions | In-kind contributions must be properly described and justified. In-kind contributions can take the form of cash-equivalent, goods, or services that represent an incremental expense that the partner would not normally incur and that would have to be purchased by project funds if not provided by the partner. In-kind contributions may also include the time of the partner’s scientific and technical or expert staff that will be providing direction and participating in the project (maximum rate of $100/hr for scientific/technical contribution). The partner may also provide access to special equipment or data as in-kind contribution. |
| Notice of decision | A notice of decision is expected to be provided within four (4) weeks from the time a complete application and a signed Research Funding Checklist have been acknowledged as having been received. |
| Partner collaboration | A partner collaboration agreement which details the transfer of funds from the partner(s) to McGill, including financial reporting on in-kind contributions, as well as sharing of results, publication, and ownership of Intellectual Property must be signed before the project can begin. If the partner collaboration agreement is not signed, the funding will be unencumbered, and the Principal Applicant will have to submit a new application. |
| Intellectual Property | All forward Intellectual Property conceived through project activities shall preferably vest in McGill, with the option to license (exclusive or non-exclusive). |
| Compliance requirements | For projects whose activities require Environmental Health and Safety and Ethics Review Board approval(s), the project will not be permitted to start without these certificate(s) of approval. |
| Conflicts of interest | If any conflict of interest exists between the Principal Applicant, co-Applicants, or any team member and with the partner (for example in the case of a McGill spin-off for which team members have an ownership share in the company), the potential conflict of interest must be disclosed at the time the application is sent. |
| Evaluation criteria |
|
Stream 1: For projects involving for-profit organizations or social enterprises
I+P Partnership Program will match cash and in-kind contributions provided by for-profit organizations and social enterprise partners at a 1:1 leveraging rate, regardless of the partner size.
For projects involving one or multiple for-profit organizations or a social enterprises, each individual partner must provide a minimum of $20,000 cash (in addition to mandatory Indirect Costs of Research). There is no minimum amount of in-kind that a partner must provide, however, the program will only match in-kind contributions up to an equivalent cash contribution from the partner. I+P Partnership Program will match the cash and the in-kind contribution (if any in-kind contributions are provided) up to $100,000 per project. Projects involving for-profit organizations or social enterprises could include objectives that:
- Develop new technologies or methods based on research activities or outcomes;
- Validate the potential commercial viability of a proof of concept;
- Create spaces for knowledge exchange, collaborative spaces or living labs to develop, validate, and implement solutions to complex problems;
- Enhances the training and research skills of students to become highly qualified personnel.
Examples of three project budgets
The following table provides three scenarios based on different levels of contributions from a for-profit organization or a social enterprise
|
Funding source |
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
Example 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Partner contributions |
$20,000 cash* $0 in-kind |
$35,000 cash* $15,000 in-kind |
$50,000 cash* $50,000 in-kind |
|
I+P Partnership Program match |
$20,000 |
$50,000 |
$100,000 |
|
TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET |
$40,000 |
$100,000 |
$200,000 |
*The amounts in the table exclude a mandatory 27% Indirect Costs of Research
Stream 2: For projects involving a community organization
For projects involving one or multiple community organizations, the individual partners are not required to provide a cash contribution. Instead, the I+P Partnership Program will provide funding to support a project, based on a budget and a justification on how the requested amount, combined with the team’s expertise, will enable the project to achieve its objective(s). A funding request of minimum $10,000 and up to $50,000 will be considered. Projects involving community organizations could include objectives that:
- Enhance research, teaching methods, and academic programs to proactively engage under-represented communities;
- Reinforce the decision-making capacity of community organizations;
- Improve services provided by the community organization to its members;
- Support joint knowledge mobilization between the community organization and the team.