The purpose of this fund is to build research capacity in New Brunswick via participation in large, multi-jurisdiction applied research projects. These projects have high potential impact, both in and outside of New Brunswick, and involve many partners outside of academia. Some examples include CFI Innovation Fund grants, Oceans Supercluster Technology Leadership Proposals, and ACOA Atlantic Innovation Fund grants.

We support these projects at an early stage in order to help you prepare a strong case for other funders (though our funding may be conditional on that success). Our funding is also conditional on a successful peer-review of the project, if a peer-review is not already planned we work with you to arrange this.

Researchers applying for this fund must be able to demonstrate how this is project represents an important opportunity for NB and quantify the economic benefit (direct or indirect). Strong partnerships with appropriate knowledge transfer / technology transfer plans are expected, and we expect the projects will offer experiential learning opportunities for research trainees.

Eligible expenses are listed in our Research Award Administration guide.

You can apply for this fund via the NBIF Application portal. Our application form is relatively short, as we expect you to attach other documents with detailed project descriptions and timelines. We strongly suggest that you to contact us before starting your application so that together we can make a plan for success.

Our partnership in these projects is not as a major funder, thus, a minimum leverage ratio of 4:1 is expected and higher leverage ratios will be viewed favorably. There is no limit on the size of the request, but we suggest you contact our team first to discuss what amount of funding is reasonable.