innovÉÉ — Primo-adoptants

• Completed and signed financial assistance application form.
• Incubator or accelerator commitment letter.
• First-time adopter commitment letter.
• Service offer from the eligible public research centre or consultants, if applicable.
• Resume of the project resource persons.

Who is eligible?

• Young innovative startups with high growth potential.
• Established companies acting as first-time adopters.
• Incubators or accelerators supporting eligible startups.

Who is not eligible

• Holding companies.
• Businesses in the pre-commercialization phase, when applying as first-time adopters for-profit.
• Companies with ownership or family links between the startup and the first-time adopter.
• Companies in gaming, fossil fuels, weapons, sexual exploitation, tobacco or drugs, or controversial arms-related sectors.

Eligible expenses

• Salaries, wages, and employee benefits.
• Specialized service fees, including subcontracting.
• Travel and accommodation expenses.
• Direct material and inventory costs.
• Equipment rental, direct equipment costs, external testing and certification, intellectual property protection, and project management fees within the stated limits.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Expenses incurred before the complete and eligible application is submitted.
• Fees paid to the first-time adopter.
• Fees paid to companies with shared shareholders with the first-time adopter or the startup.
• Debt service, loan repayments, capital replacement, and working capital uses.
• Operating costs, fixed asset purchases, land, building, and land development costs.

Eligible geographic areas

• All regions of Quebec.

• Scientific or technological quality of the project.
• Collaboration and expertise for project delivery.
• Project feasibility, implementation steps, and financing structure.
• Scientific, technological, and social outcomes.

• Step 1
  • Review the program guide.
  • Download the application form and prepare the annexes required by the guide.
• Step 2
  • Save the form on your computer and complete it in Adobe Reader.
  • Do not complete or modify the PDF in a web browser.
• Step 3
  • Prepare the signed electronic and scanned versions of the form.
  • Gather the mandatory supporting documents.
• Step 4
  • Submit everything in a single sending by email to startups-innovation@economie.gouv.qc.ca.
  • Applications can also be submitted online through clicSÉQUR Entreprises using the Primo-adoptants form.
• Step 5
  • Submit by one of the announced 2026 deadlines.

• Applications are first reviewed for admissibility.
• Eligible files are assessed by a sector-based evaluation committee.
• Projects are scored on scientific or technological quality, collaboration and expertise, project feasibility and financing, and scientific, technological, and social outcomes.
• The ministry publishes the list of selected projects or successful companies on its website.
• A financial assistance agreement is signed before funding is paid, and reports may be required after approval.

• The maximum project duration is 18 months.
• Financial assistance cannot be combined with another funding program from the Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie.
• Applications must be submitted by one of the official 2026 deadlines: April 3, 2026 at 5:00 p.m., July 17, 2026 at 5:00 p.m., or November 4, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
• Save the official application form locally and complete it in Adobe Reader rather than in a web browser.