Lab to Market Grants

Lab to Market grants support post-secondary institutions and their affiliates, including research hospitals and other eligible research centres, colleges, and college centres for the transfer of technologies (CCTT) in creating and sustaining networks dedicated to developing and delivering entrepreneurial skills training. For Lab to Market grants, these training networks must include at least two post-secondary institutions, although more extensive networks are highly encouraged. These grants support collaboration between post-secondary institutions and various organizations from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. This institutional collaboration will contribute vital resources and services to the Canadian academic entrepreneurial landscape.

Lab to Market grants are designed to equip researchers and highly qualified personnel (HQP) with essential tools, resources and knowledge to transform their academic research into innovations ready for market. These grants aim to nurture commercialization capabilities within the academic community, foster entrepreneurial skills in the early stages of the commercialization and knowledge translation process, and make training and services widely available beyond immediate networks to a diverse range of researchers and HQP within the Canadian post-secondary landscape. Lab to Market grant proposals must include collaborative plans with organizations that contribute to developing and implementing entrepreneurial skills training programs. The grants are intended to provide stable, long-term funding and to be open to all disciplines in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities and health fields.

Lab to Market stems from the Government of Canada’s commitment in Budget 2022 to launch a new national program to help students and researchers take their work to market. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) administers the program in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).