CMF — Innovation & Experimentation Program

• Narrative Positioning Attestation
• Narrative Positioning Statement
• Community Engagement Plan
• Sustainability Plan
• Budget and cash flow

Who is eligible?

• Canadian for-profit production companies
• Canadian broadcasters
• Companies in the interactive digital media sector

Eligible expenses

• Content research and preparation
• Project team salaries, wages, benefits, and contracts
• Technology infrastructure, including hardware and software
• Travel, accommodation, audit fees, and other technical or administrative costs
• Localization, marketing and promotion, and sustainability-related costs

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Projects that have substantially commenced production before submission
• Projects already publicly available, except for demo or prototype testing in previous phases
• Projects refused funding for the same activity two or more times since 2010-2011
• Projects submitted to both the Innovation & Experimentation Program and the Commercial Projects Program in the same spring or fall deadline period

Eligible geographic areas

• Canada

• Team quality and experience [13 points]
• Parity [2 points]
• Diversity [2 points]
• Community engagement and sustainability [4 points]
• Innovation, creativity and advancement [60 points]
• Financial viability [9 points]
• Strategic positioning and marketing [10 points]

• Review the program guidelines, the IDM Main Module, Appendix B, and the reference documents for the selected program.
• Consult the List of Required Documents and complete the forms that must be attached to the application.
• Register online to create a Dialogue account.
• Complete all required information in Dialogue and attach all required documentation.
• If needed, click Save to continue later, then return through Tasks and Complete Application to resume a saved form.
• Check the Declaration box and submit the application by the published deadline.

• Eligible projects are assessed through a selective and competitive review process.
• Applications are evaluated against an evaluation grid, with separate criteria for lower-budget projects and main-stream projects.
• Applicants receive a funding decision after the review process.
• Approved applicants must sign a contract before funding is paid.

• Any material that exceeds the maximum page count will not be reviewed during the selective evaluation process.
• Documents uploaded directly to Dialogue must not exceed 25 MB and must be in PDF, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format.
• Unsupported file formats, such as Apple Pages and Apple Numbers, will not be evaluated.
• Only video hyperlinks are accepted, and they must not lead to platforms that require registration or the sharing of users’ personal information with the applicant.