Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network: AV Resarch and Development (R&D) Partnership Fund (Stream 2)

Eligible Projects

• Collaborative projects must be between two or more companies or between a company and another strategic partner such as a municipality, if applicable.
• Funded projects will require the lead applicant to have operations in Ontario and conduct the project R&D and technology demonstration work in Ontario
• Projects can be up to 24 months in duration
• Typical project activities include: technology development, demonstration, product validation, testing etc.
• This program is not intended for research to prove feasibility or basic technology research
• Eligible project areas include development and demonstration of one or more enhancement(s) to either vehicles or the surrounding transportation systems and infrastructure, related to: commercially ready technologies for application in mass light vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks and vans), heavy duty vehicles (including commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, RVs and others used for goods movement), transportation infrastructure, intelligent transportation systems ("ITS"), and transit-supportive systems and vehicles
• Eligible projects must include demonstration of actual products that can include a pilot or a technology that has the ability to be showcased at events, at the Demonstration Zone in Stratford, Ontario, on the road, and/or at customer sites
• Participants are encouraged to demonstrate close collaboration and the proposed project should be scalable with a high potential for commercialization
• Proposed demonstrations must aim to provide a competitive advantage or other significant benefit
• Applicants and partners must provide project metrics and progress reports to OCE
• A company may only be a lead applicant on one AVIN Stream 1 or Stream 2 project at a time – they may be a project partner on multiple projects Limits may be placed on the number of Stream 2 projects in each respective year

Eligible Applicants​

• Applicant companies must be small- and medium-sized enterprises (generally defined as less than 500 full-time employees)
• Applicant companies must be for-profit and have operations in Ontario.
• Applicant companies must aim to commercialize, demonstrate and/or implement the results of the project in Ontario and for the benefit of Ontario
• Applicant companies must be innovation-driven businesses developing products or services addressing industry challenges
• Applicant companies must have sound business plans and secure financial backing
• Applicant companies must be in good financial and reporting standing with OCE

Eligible Partners​

Eligible partnerships may be between two or more companies or between a company and another strategic partner such as a post-secondary institution or municipality, if applicable.

• Industry partner(s) must have a presence in Ontario and the operations in Ontario must be expected to commercialize, demonstrate and/or implement the results of the project.
  • Industry partner(s) must be a company with sound business plans and secure financial backing
  • Industry partner(s) must be an innovation-driven business developing products or services addressing industry challenges
  • Industry partner(s) must be in good financial and reporting standing with OCE
  • Companies that have over $100,000 in active projects must complete those projects (including all final reporting) prior to OCE considering other applications for funding. This excludes TalentEdge internships and fellowships
• Academic Partner must be a principal investigator at an Ontario-accredited post-secondary institution (college or university). For college projects, the applicant must be a representative of the college applied research office, with the primary researchers included as team members. The applicant must have an arms-length relationship with the industry partner.
• Municipalities in Ontario.