Investment funding to accelerate the development of innovations with commercial potential at TRL 3 or higher. Our Lab-to-Market Fund aims to accelerate the development of technologies that have commercial applications. This fund supports activities that help develop new or improved technologies and/or transfer knowledge that address specific, well-defined market problems.
Researchers applying to the Lab-to-Market Fund should have a commercialization partner, student participation, a self-assessment of technology readiness level (minimum TRL 3), and a plan for intellectual property. They should also have a clear understanding of the market problem being solved and the competitive advantages of their new technology.
Most projects take between six to 18 months to complete. If the project is expected to take longer than 24 months, researcher should divide the project into an appropriate number of phases and submit applications for each phase separately.
We will fund up to 33 per cent of projects with New Brunswick small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or not-for-profit organizations, and up to 25 per cent of projects that do not have New Brunswick SMEs or not-for-profit organizations as partners.
Funds can be used for:
- Student stipends, researcher salaries;
- Course relief cost;
- Lab equipment and supplies;
- Prototyping and bench testing;
- Market research and pilot projects;
- Tech transfer, knowledge mobilization; and
- Costs to secure IP.
* Please note that this list is not exhaustive.
Project plans must include clear deliverables and timelines. This fund is milestone-driven based on deliverables with frequent reporting. Some examples of deliverables are:
- Formation of industry-academic partnerships;
- TRL level self-assessment, and TRL advancement;
- Patent applications and knowledge transfer;
- Business plans and competitive market analyses;
- Entrance into accelerators and business plan competitions;
- Incorporation of new business ventures;
- Market research and early adopter feedback; and
- Prototyping and customer demonstrations.