Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced January 4th that the Canadian Government will extend the Automotive Innovation Fund (AIF) for 5 additional years and inject an additional C$250 million into the auto sector through the AIF.
The AIF supports strategic, large-scale research and development (R&D) projects to build innovative, greener, more fuel-efficient vehicles. To qualify for funding, projects must provide for private investment in Canada of more than C$75 million over five years. Eligible projects include vehicle and powertrain assembly operations associated with significant automotive innovation and R&D initiatives and other large-scale automotive innovation and R&D initiatives that meet the C$75 million threshold.
If you’re considering or even in the planning stages for a large scale R&D initiative in Canada (or that could potentially be in Canada), the AIF can be a source of third party funding. To see if you qualify for funding or for more information on the AIF, please refer to http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/auto-auto.nsf/eng/am02257.html.