NSERC Funding opportunities
Funding Prizes About Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Funding opportunity

Synergy Awards for Innovation

Overview

Closed
Who can apply
  • Researcher > Early career
  • Researcher > University
  • Researcher > College
Eligible institution
  • University
  • College/Polytechnic/Cégep
Program type
Award/Prize
On this page
  • Description
  • Eligibility
  • Application
  • Review
  • Post-award requirements
  • Regulations, policies and guidelines
Description

The annual Synergy Awards for Innovation recognize examples of collaboration that stand as models of effective partnership between partner organizations and colleges or universities.

Call for nominations

Nomination deadline: December 5, 2025, 8:00 pm (ET).

The Synergy Awards for Innovation honour partnerships of strong, complementary and collaborative teams who have generated new knowledge and accelerated the application of research results to create benefits for Canada and Canadians. The awards recognize outstanding teams that have combined their expertise and resources to create partnerships resulting in significant impacts.

Synergy Awards for Innovation include two categories:

  • University partnerships: A partnership between one or more eligible Canadian universities and one or more non-academic partner organizations. The highlighted research partnership must focus on natural sciences or engineering.
  • College partnerships: A partnership between one or more eligible Canadian colleges and one or more non-academic partner organizations. The highlighted research partnership can be across the spectrum of natural and social sciences, engineering, humanities or health.

Synergy Awards are an opportunity to showcase what Canadian ingenuity and collaboration can accomplish.

Eligibility

For university partnerships:

  • The nominated partnership must be for research in natural sciences or engineering. Up to 30% of the research can be in another field, such as social sciences, humanities or health. It must have also been supported, in whole or in part, by at least one NSERC research partnerships grant, such as Engage, Collaborative Research and Development, Strategic Partnerships (Projects or Networks), Industrial Research Chairs, Idea to Innovation, Alliance or Calls for Collaborative Research Projects. The grant must have contributed to establishing the partnership or contributed significantly to solidifying the partnership.
  • In addition, the partnership must be between at least one Canadian university professor or group of professors and one or more partnering organizations from the private, public (non-academic), or not-for-profit sectors. One member of the academic team must be designated as the nominee, and all other members, if applicable, as co-nominees. All academic team members must meet NSERC’s eligibility requirements for faculty to apply for or hold grant funds (at the time of the nomination). Partnering organizations must be recognized for cost-sharing based on the guidelines established for Alliance grants. Refer to the Role of partner organizations web page for more details. The partnership must comply with the conflict of interest policies of all participating institutions. Refer to the Conflict of interest guidelines for partner organizations for more details.

For college partnerships:

  • The nominated partnership must be between at least one eligible Canadian college and one or more partnering organizations from the private, public (non-academic), or not-for-profit sectors who have implemented research results from a previous College and Community Innovation program grant. A partnering organization cannot be a not-for-profit organization affiliated with a college. Partnerships in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities or health research disciplines are eligible. The leader of the research project (faculty member, research administrator, or technical or professional staff, as applicable) must be designated as the nominee and can be from the college or a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the college. All other research team members (faculty member, research administrator (excluding the college’s research grants officer), or technical or professional staff, as applicable) must be designated as co-nominees and can be from the college or a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the college. The partnership must comply with the conflict of interest policies of all participating institutions. Refer to the Conflict of interest guidelines for partner organizations for more details.

Partnerships involving both eligible Canadian colleges and universities and one or more partnering organizations are eligible. The partnership should be presented under the category of either university partnerships or college partnerships, depending on the nominee’s affiliation.

An individual (nominee or co-nominee) may be nominated for the Synergy Awards for Innovation and other NSERC Prizes (Herzberg, Polanyi, McDonald, Brockhouse or Strickland) in the same year but can only win one prize in a given year. There is no limit to the number of nominations for the Synergy Awards for Innovation that a university or college can put forward in a given competition.

Application How to apply

Partnerships may be nominated by any individual or group. Self-nominations (by a nominee, co-nominee or one of the partnering organizations) will not be accepted. For a college, the nominator cannot be the college’s research grants officer.

NSERC strongly encourages nominators and university officials to consider equity, diversity and inclusion in their nomination processes.

Because nominations are reviewed by a multidisciplinary selection committee, the nomination material should be written for non-specialists.

The nomination package must include the following:Footnote*

  1. The Synergy Awards for Innovation form, completed and signed by the nominator (electronic signature accepted)
  2. The Terms and conditions form for nominees, completed and signed
    1. For universities, it must be signed by the nominee and each co-nominee, if applicable (academic researchers only; one form per person)
    2. For colleges, it must be signed by the nominee only
  3. The Terms and conditions form for nominators, completed and signed by the nominator
  4. A letter of nomination (maximum one page), signed by the nominator. The letter should describe why the proposed partnership is being nominated for a Synergy Award for Innovation
  5. The Nomination template. See the template for instructions
  6. Letter(s) from the partnering organization(s)Footnote† (maximum two pages per letter). If there is more than one partner, all letters combined must not exceed 20 pages. The letter(s) must be signed by the most relevant person designated as their authorized contact. Letters must not duplicate information provided in the nomination and should describe:
    1. how and why the partner organization was involved
    2. the resources (human, equipment, facilities, etc.) provided
    3. how the organization benefited from the outcomes of the partnership
  7. A concise profile for each partnering organization (maximum one page each) that contains a description of the organization, its mandate and the nature of its operations in Canada. A reference to the partner organization’s website is not acceptable as a substitute for the profile

Nominators are responsible for assembling the required documentation, which must follow NSERC’s general presentation guidelines. The nomination package must be submitted as a single Portable Document Format (PDF), in the order outlined above. Documents that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected or at a disadvantage in comparison with those that meet the presentation standards. Only the requested documents will be made available to the selection committee. Any additional material will be removed.

Nominations must be submitted electronically via the Secure Submission for NSERC’s Synergy Awards for Innovation site before 8:00 p.m. (ET) on the deadline date. Only submit a single PDF (do not upload PDF portfolios) using the provided template. Late nominations will not be accepted. Once you have submitted your nomination, you will not be able to update it.

Collection of self-identification data

The collection of self-identification data is central to the agencies' commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). This data provides information on the diversity of the population applying for and receiving agency funds, and is important for monitoring the fairness of our programs and informing future measures to increase EDI among all those involved in the research enterprise. The questionnaire covers eight dimensions: age, gender identity, sexual orientation, Indigenous identity, visible minority identity, population group, disability and language. Completion of the questionnaire is mandatory; however, each question includes the option “I prefer not to answer.” Self-identification data will not be seen or used by NSERC peer reviewers, and choosing to self-identify has no bearing on the outcome of the nomination. A link to the questionnaire will be sent to nominees and co-nominees once the nomination package has been received.

Review

All eligible nominations will be reviewed by a selection committee of distinguished academic, government, not-for-profit and industry research representatives from a variety of disciplines. Committee members are selected according to NSERC’s guidelines governing membership of NSERC’s peer review committees.

The selection committee will review your nomination, using merit indicators to rate each of the following equally weighted criteria, and will recommend the winning partnerships to NSERC.

1. Partnership (25%)

significance of the involvement from the partner organization(s) throughout the partnership

2. Impact and benefits for the partner organization(s) (25%)

significance of the impact and benefits to the partner organization(s)

3. Training (25%)

quality of the training environment and enriched learning experiences for research trainees that led to the development of advanced research, technical and/or professional skills

4. Impact and benefits to Canada (25%)

significance of the social, environmental and/or economic impact and outcomes for the target audience in Canada and internationally, if applicable

As a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), NSERC recognizes that scholarly contributions are not limited to published journal articles but can also include, amongst other contributions, article preprints, datasets, software, protocols, well-trained researchers, societal outcomes and policy changes resulting from research.

Impact must be results-based, not anticipated. Surrogate measures of quality and impact, such as the prestige of a publication venue or citation-based metrics (for example, journal impact factor or h-index), must not be used, as they introduce bias in the merit review process. Indicators of impact of research contributions include influence on the direction of thought or activity among other researchers, within the specific field, in the discipline as a whole or in other disciplines, or beyond academia. Impact can be seen as advancing knowledge, developing technology, addressing socio-economic or environmental needs, or increasing equitable and inclusive participation in the research ecosystem, among other things. The relevance of such considerations may differ depending on the discipline and the nature of the research being conducted.

The nomination should clearly describe the quality and impact of the partnership within this broader context for the multidisciplinary selection committee members.

The names of the award recipients will be announced at a public ceremony.

SignaturesNominees and co-nominees

Before you, as a nominee (or co-nominee if at a university), can submit your documents to the nominator, you must read and agree to the Terms and conditions form for nominees. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records.

Nominators

Before you, as a nominator, can submit your documents to NSERC, you must read and agree to the Terms and conditions form for nominators. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records.

Partnering organizations

By signing and submitting a letter, the authorized individual certifies that the partnering organization:

  • agrees with the content of the nomination
  • agrees to comply with the Public Communications Policy of the Federal Research Funding Organizations
  • agrees to the release of a summary of the partnership and to the publication of the organization’s name as a supporter of the initiative
Post-award requirements
Reporting

The recipient will be asked to report on the impact that the award has had on their research activities.

Regulations, policies and guidelines

The STRAC Policy addresses risks related to Sensitive Technology Research Areas performed with research organizations and institutions that pose the highest risk to Canada’s national security. The STRAC Policy applies to this funding opportunity.

Applicants must identify whether the grant application aims to advance a Sensitive Technology Research Area. If so, the submission of attestation forms will be required from researchers with named roles (see the list of named roles specific to this funding opportunity) to certify that they are not currently affiliated with, nor are in receipt of funding or in-kind support from, a Named Research Organization (NRO).

The Tri-agency guidance on the STRAC Policy provides more information on applicable procedures and requirements, including responsibilities of researchers and the responsibilities of institutions.