Campus Alberta Small Business Engagement (CASBE) Stream II 2023-2024

Eligibility

Applicants:

Principal Investigators must:

• be researchers from Alberta Post-secondary institutions (Alberta Colleges, Polytechnics and Universities);
• meet eligibility criteria for NSERC research programs within the scope of CASBE;
• have a physical presence in Alberta; and
• demonstrate that the relationship with the industry partner does not create a conflict of interest.

If you have received an NSERC Alliance grant in the last 12 months, you are eligible to apply to the CASBE program.

Industry Partners must:

• be a for-profit SME with at least 2 Full Time Employees (FTE);
• have demonstrated operations in Alberta and able to continue to adopt and develop in house the results of the academic research;
• meet the following definition of an SME: a company with fewer than 500 Full Time employees and less than $50,000,000 annual gross revenue;
• be a legal entity: incorporated in Alberta, or incorporated federally or in another jurisdiction AND extra-provincially registered in Alberta, or a General Partnership, Limited Partnership or Limited Liability Partnership AND registered in Alberta; and
• be in good financial and final reporting standing with Alberta Innovates and its subsidiaries InnoTech Alberta and C-FER Technologies.

Summary

The Campus Alberta Small Business Engagement (CASBE) program leverages the research industry partnerships programs offered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Stream II is for applicants from Alberta Universities who are applying to, or have already been awarded, NSERC Alliance or NSERC Alliance Quantum grants. CASBE aims to facilitate Alberta small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to adopt emerging technologies in Alberta’s research and commercialization priorities to diversify their technological services and/or products with the support of post-secondary institutions.

Projects

• align with the objectives of the CASBE program;
• meet NSERC’s eligibility criteria;
• align with any of Alberta’s research and commercialization priorities outlined in the Alberta Technology and Innovation Strategy (ATIS);
• align with any of the emerging technologies priorities outlined in Alberta-Innovates-CASBE-NSERC-program-Priority-Emerging-Technology;
• include at least one Alberta SME as an Industry Partner (multiple partners including MNEs are encouraged);
• be completed within the one or two-year term;
• have technology being developed that is within Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 2 to 6.

Funding Considerations

• Individual proposals can request at least $20,000 and up to $150,000 per year from Alberta Innovates and at least $20,000 from NSERC.
• NSERC will match contributions to the project from the SME according to the cost-sharing ratios and within the funding brackets and durations of the Alliance program.
• The CASBE program leverages NSERC’s contribution up to $150,000 per year for 1 year or a maximum of 2 years depending on the project duration funded by NSERC.
• The maximum length of the CASBE funds will be 2 years regardless of the original length of the project supported by NSERC, which could be 1-5 years for NSERC Alliance or Alliance Quantum grants.
• The industry partner(s) is expected to provide cash and in-kind contributions in the NSERC application.
• If there are additional partners such as large companies providing cash in the proposed NSERC application, the Alberta SME could provide only in-kind contributions in the AI CASBE application.
• All partner cash contributions will follow NSERC Alliance matching guidelines.