Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC)

Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) provides Canadian SMEs with funding and procurement opportunities to support R&D and commercialization of innovative technologies. It operates under two main streams: Challenge and Testing, helping solve public sector challenges and supporting tech validation.

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Funding Amount

ISC follows a three-phase model:

  1. Proof of Concept:
    Up to $150,000 for feasibility studies (up to 6 months).
  2. Prototype Development:
    Up to $2 million for prototype building and testing (up to 2 years).
  3. Pathway to Commercialization:
    No funding limit—successful Phase 2 prototypes may be procured by federal departments.

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Eligible Applicants

Applicants must:

  • Be for-profit, privately held, and incorporated in Canada.
  • Have a Canadian head office.
  • Employ 499 or fewer FTEs.
  • Pay at least 50% of total wages/salaries to Canadian employees.
  • Have 50% or more of full-time employees and senior execs based in Canada.

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Eligible Activities

ISC supports activities that:

  • Align with a participating government department’s innovation challenge (TRL 1-6).
  • Fall under the Testing Stream to validate pre-commercial prototypes in real-world conditions.

Participating departments include (20+ in total):

  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
  • National Defence
  • Public Health Agency of Canada
  • Transport Canada
  • Health Canada
  • Shared Services Canada
    (and many more)

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Deadline to Apply

Book a meeting to speak to our grants team for the latest information regarding the next application intake period or subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date.

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Apply for Funding

88%

Approval rating across all Canadian funding programs

93%

Average time savings to our clients, compared to
businesses that apply for funding in-house
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