Details
| Opportunity Name | Ontario Agri-Food Research Initiative |
| Agency | Government of Ontario |
| Value | Applied Research – Up to $200,000 Pilot and Demonstration – Up to $200,000 Commercialization – $30,000 to $150,000 |
| Indirect Costs | Eligible at 25% |
| Duration | Applied Research – Not stated Pilot and Demonstration – Not stated Commercialization – Up to 18 months |
Deadlines
| Application due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for full review | 12-18-2023 |
| Application and fully signed ORS checklist due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for mandatory review | 01-04-2024 |
| Final application and fully signed ORS checklist due at ORS for mandatory review | 01-09-2024, by 9:00AM |
| Application due at agency | 01-11-2024, by 11:59PM |
Objective
- To fund demand-driven research and innovation activities in the agri-food sector;
- To support the sector’s resiliency and facilitate sustainable growth;
- To improve knowledge or technology to address business challenges;
- To expand market opportunities locally and globally.
OAFRI has the following four funding streams to support research and innovation projects:
- Applied Research – to fund agri-food applied research projects (original investigation) that leads to new knowledge that will advance or create new products, processes or practices.
- Pilot and Demonstration – to fund new pilot projects for the development of testing, validation and demonstration of functional prototypes or models of agri-food technologies (products or practices)
- Commercialization – to fund activities which may include:
- Market validation – conducting market research to determine the size and quality of market opportunity for a new and promising technology, product or service
- Production development – creating prototypes, performing field trials, removing any barriers to a market launch or private sector adoption and optimizing a minimum viable product that best meets the needs of customers (will advance technologies through TRL 7-9)
- Knowledge Translation and Transfer (KTT) – focused on activities designed to drive the transformation of research knowledge into use, including: synthesis, exchange, engagement, dissemination, dialogue, collaboration and brokering between researchers and research users.
Eligibility
To be eligible for funding, the lead applicant must:
- be located in Ontario
- demonstrate their capacity to perform quality research and innovation activities
- be part of:
- a university or college
- a research organization, institute or foundation
- an industry organization or business
- a non-government organization
- a municipal or indigenous government or government agency
How to Apply
York University researchers are reminded that all applications for external research funding, including Letters of Intent, must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Research Services before they are submitted to the granting agency. For internal approval, the application must be accompanied by a completed ORS Checklist, which requires the Dean’s signature. Please send the complete application, with the finalized budget and a completed ORS checklist to sciapps@yorku.ca, five days prior to agency deadline.
ORS is accepting electronic applications – the process is outlined here.