Biofood Innovation Program

• Application form for the relevant stream
• Financing plan and project schedule
• Partner commitment attestation, when required
• Curriculum vitae of the project team members, researchers, professionals, external experts, or specialized resources, when applicable
• Experimental design plan and confirmation of collaboration with the MAPAQ Laboratory of Expertise and Diagnosis in Plant Protection (LEDP), when applicable

Who is eligible?

• Research institutions
• Technology transfer institutions
• Dissemination centers
• Associations and groups of businesses or producers
• Commercial fisheries and aquaculture businesses, aquatic products processing businesses, and band councils

Who is not eligible

• Ministries, budget-funded organizations, state-owned enterprises listed in Annexes 1 and 3 of the Financial Administration Act, directly or indirectly government-controlled corporations, and municipal entities.
• Financial cooperatives and banking institutions.
• Applicants that failed to meet their obligations in the two years before the application after being duly notified by the Minister in connection with previous financial assistance.
• Applicants under an order issued by the Minister or a judge under the Animal Welfare and Safety Act, or under the protection of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
• For-profit applicants with more than 100 employees seeking $100,000 or more that cannot meet the Employment Equity Program requirements, and for-profit applicants with at least 50 employees for 6 months or more that cannot meet the Charter of the French Language requirements.

Eligible expenses

• Costs directly related to the project.
• Labour and student salaries for time directly devoted to the project, plus the corresponding social charges.
• Professional fees, consultant fees, external laboratory analysis fees, and specialized service contracts with research institutions.
• Purchase of materials, supplies, and equipment up to a unit cost of $7,000, plus the use or rental of materials, supplies, equipment, buildings, land, and experimental infrastructure.
• Communications and dissemination costs, guide and fact sheet layout, editing and linguistic revision, specialized training, administration fees where applicable, and the non-refundable portion of GST and QST.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Expenses not directly related to the project, and expenses incurred before ministerial acceptance of funding.
• Costs related to the purchase, expansion, or construction of a building, acquisition of land, or purchase of self-propelled equipment.
• Operating expenses, normal maintenance, debt service, loan repayments, capital losses or replacements, and capital payments.
• Travel and stay costs for participants who are not part of the project team, prize and gift purchases, public-sector staff remuneration and expenses, university researcher remuneration not dependent on project funding, and expenses paid to a subcontractor registered in RENA or in default after ministerial notice.
• Recoverable GST/QST, the portion exceeding the program's unit-cost limits, and projects or products related to recreational cannabis, non-approved cannabis products, fundamental research, sector portraits, or development of antiparasitic products outside the stated exceptions.

• Relevance of the project to sector and Ministry priorities and to the program and call-for-project objectives.
• Expected results in the short and long term for the sector, and the project's interest to industry.
• Coherence of the transfer or dissemination approach and scientific quality of the literature review, bibliography, and experimental protocol.
• Experience and expertise of the implementation team, and the technical, organizational, administrative, and financial capacity to carry out the project.
• Cost adequacy, benefits versus costs, commercial or application potential, realism of the schedule and financing plan, and contribution to sustainable development.

• Consult the applicant guide for the relevant stream.
• Complete the required documents in French.
• Send all required documents in a single email to pib.depot@mapaq.gouv.qc.ca.
• Wait for the automatic receipt confirmation and check junk mail if it is not received.

• The Ministère sends an automatic acknowledgement once a complete application is received.
• If information is missing or a document is absent, the Ministère sends a written request to the applicant.
• When the applicant and project are deemed admissible, the file moves to the next stage; otherwise, the applicant is notified and processing ends.
• An evaluation committee made up of MAPAQ representatives analyzes the project and may seek advice from an external scientific or technological expert.
• After evaluation, the Ministère sends an email decision on whether the project is funded, and a request for review of an evaluation decision may be filed within 20 working days after communication.