Thanks to recent funding from the Quebec government to encourage collaboration between universities and Quebec companies, the McGill Engine is pleased to announce the opening of its new funding program, the Triple IQ program, that is, Implementation of Innovation in Industry in Quebec/Implantation de l’innovation en industrie Quebecoise (IIIQ).
This new program provides funding for R&D projects being carried out between McGill Faculty of Engineering professors and Quebec private companies. The government’s objective is to support projects that lead to the implementation and diffusion of innovation within the Quebec private companies. The latter will match the McGill Engine’s cash contribution with a cash and in-kind contribution (maximum 50% of company total direct costs contribution), and the company will cover the standard indirect project costs (27% of their direct cash contribution). Only the direct costs of the project will be matched by the McGill Engine. The total direct project costs can range from $25,000 to $100,000 and project duration is from 6 to 12 months. Companies’ in-kind contributions shall be essential to carry out the work, and their value shall be thoroughly documented and justified (auditable if required). They must correspond to actual costs incurred to carry out the work. They can take the form of cash-equivalent goods or services that represent an incremental expense the company would not normally incur and that would have to be purchased by project funds if not provided by the company. In-kind contributions may also include the time of the partner organization’s scientific and technical or expert staff that will be providing direction and participating in the project. The company may also provide access to special equipment or data. See example of project cost contributions below.
This program will allow Quebec companies to accelerate the implementation of their technological projects at any TRL in order to achieve innovations within their organizations, and will allow for McGill researchers to more readily interact and collaborate with industry in Quebec.
We are looking for professors to work on industry-driven projects that the Engine will co-support in order to improve the levels of innovation in Quebec companies.
The second call for collaborative projects is now open! Deadline to submit is February 2, 2020, 11:59PM (EST). Project start dates are for March 2, 2020. The projects must be different from the projects submitted to the OIP Partnership Program, i.e. company contribution cannot be leveraged twice for the same project but two different projects can be submitted.
The project evaluation committee, that is, the Triple IQ Committee, will be comprised of the dean, the associate dean, research and innovation of the Faculty of Engineering, along with the Engine leadership team. Applicants will be informed by the Engine as to whether they will be awarded the grant or not within 2 weeks after the submission deadline.
- Program Eligibility and Application Support
- Evaluation Criteria
- How to apply
- Terms and Conditions
- Example of Project Cost Contributions
Program Eligibility and Application Support
- Triple IQ program is open to professors from the Faculty of Engineering (adjunct professors will not be considered as the lead applicant).
- Triple IQ program is open to any private Quebec company operating out of Quebec and that produces goods or services. The company must also be at arm's length from McGill University.*
- Professors have access to the support of the Engine’s business development officer to help them initiate projects with industry as well as help develop their project applications.
- Professors’ team gain hands-on experience working on real-world problems and opportunities from Quebec companies through the execution of the projects.
- Companies get leverage on their cash and in-kind contributions towards the projects.
- The projects must involve technological opportunities or problems.
- The projects can have more than one professor and more than one Quebec company involved.
*A company is not at arm’s length if you, as the applicant, or your co-applicants or any other participants in the academic research team:
-Have an ownership position in the company of more than 30%
-Are employed by the company in any role, whether salaried or not
-Are a member of a governing board of the company; or
-Are related to a person who controls, or who is a member of a governing board that controls, the company (i.e., are connected by blood relationship, marriage or common-law partnership, or adoption).
Evaluation Criteria
The proposal must be clear about the methodology that will be used for data collection, identification of sources, analysis, and any other development activities in the project. This methodology must be recognized as an appropriate one in the discipline and suitable for the type of problem being addressed. In addition, the following questions are used to guide their assessment of the proposal:
- Are the objectives clear?
- Is the methodology appropriate to achieve the objectives?
- Are the deliverables clear?
- Is the timeline realistic?
- Is the budget realistic?
- Other comments and suggestions for the applicants. For example, is there prior work that should be considered by the collaboration team (academic and industrial)?
- Will the work potentially have adverse effects on the environment? Do you recommend that an additional environmental impact review be conducted?
The application is also evaluated using the following criteria:
- Significance of the intended outcomes and of the economic, social and/or environmental benefits and value creation for Quebec companies.
- Likelihood of achieving the intended outcomes.
- Appropriateness of the partnership to achieve the intended outcomes.
- Degree of clarity of each partner organization’s function in the collaboration with respect to defining the problem or opportunity, co-designing and implementing the development, and utilizing the results to achieve the desired outcomes.
- Appropriateness of the identified indicators and methods for monitoring progress during the project and for assessing outcomes afterwards.
Submission Process
All Triple IQ applications are administered as industrial research contracts, and thus subject to McGill’s internal procedures. Once the Triple IQ Committee selects the awardees, those applications will be forwarded by the Engine’s business development officer to the Office of Innovation + Partnerships for institutional signature and approval.
Application Instructions
All Triple IQ applications should include the company letter of support, the OSR checklist (signed by PI and chair) and graphs and/or figures, references, if required, in the appendix of the application document. The proposal and letter of support may be written in English or French. Please fill out the application template:
Triple IQ Application 2019
and submit your application (maximum 3 pages, not including appendix) by e-mailing the pdf version (labelled as Last-name_First-name_TripleIQ_Proposal) to: vivian.diniz [at] mcgill.ca
Terms and Conditions for Triple IQ Projects
A simple agreement detailing the transfer of funds from Company to McGill, including financial reporting on in-kind contributions, as well as publication, use of results and ownership of intellectual property will need to be put in place within two months of award.
Example of Project Cost Contributions
| Project | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total direct project costs (with in-kind, without indirect) | $25,000 |
| Contribution from Engine (cash) | $12,500 |
| Contribution from company (cash) | $6,250 |
| Contribution from company (in-kind) | $6,250 |
| Indirect costs (27% of company cash) | $1,688 |
| Cash from company | $7,938 |
| Total project costs (without in-kind, with indirect) | $20,438 |
| Company cash contribution | 39% |
| Engine cash contribution | 61% |
