Who can apply for the AV R&D Partnership Fund program?

by

Last updated: 19-Nov-2025

Eligible Stream 1 Projects

• Minimum one Applicant and a Primary Partner with minimum 1:1 cash match by Applicants and/or Partners

• For Stream 1, an Applicant is either a Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) (generally defined as having fewer than 500 full-time employees) or a post-secondary academic institution
• An academic Applicant’s Primary Partnercannot be an academic institution

• Applicants and Partners are required to have operations and carry out their projects in Ontario
• Projects can be up to 12 months in duration
• This program is not intended for research to prove feasibility or basic technology research. Projects should be at Technology Readiness Level 3-7 (proof of concept; 7: operational environment functional demonstration)
• Typical project activities include:
• Technology development
• Demonstration
• Product/service validation
• Testing
• Proof of concept

Eligible Stream 1 Partners

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• National and multi-national enterprises (NEs and MNEs)
• Publicly-funded post-secondary academic institutions
• Municipalities
• Indigenous communities
• Not-for-profit organizations 

Stream 1 projects require a minimum of two organizations:  Generally, an SME – the Applicant – works with a Primary Partner.  Additional partners - Secondary Partners – can be any eligible organization and part of the team for strategic and commercial reasons.

Eligible Stream 2 Projects

• Minimum one Applicant and a Partner (An Applicant is an SME (generally defined as having fewer than 500 full-time employees) with a minimum 1:1 cash match by Applicants and/or Partners
• Applicants and Partners are required to have operations and carry out their projects in Ontario
• Projects can be up to 24 months in duration
• This program is not intended for research to prove feasibility or basic technology research. Projects should be at Technology Readiness Level 3-7 (proof of concept; 7: operational environment functional demonstration)
• Typical project activities include:
• Technology development
• Demonstration
• Product/service validation
• Testing
• Proof of concept

Eligible Stream 2 Partners

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• National and multi-national enterprises (NEs and MNEs)
• Publicly-funded post-secondary academic institutions
• Municipalities
• Indigenous communities
• Not-for-profit organizations

Stream 2 projects must be carried out between one SME, the Applicant, and one Partner from the Participants list. Additional Partners can also join the project. For Stream 2, publicly-funded post-secondary academic institutions cannot act as Applicants. 

There is no limit on the number of Partners. Partnerships should represent significant potential commercial opportunities for all industry Applicants and Partners.

For more information please visit the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) website.