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Lab to Market grants are institutional grants; the lead institution for the network is identified as the applicant. The applicant prepares the application and is responsible for administering the grant on behalf of the network. Other post-secondary institutions and affiliated organizations participating in the network are co-applicants.
The primary applicant institution is represented by a senior manager in the post-secondary institution’s administration who is delegated by the institution’s president to create, prepare, and manage the grant. The applicant is responsible for creating and completing the application in the Convergence Portal.
Co-applicants are represented by senior managers from other eligible institutions that will form a network with the primary applicant’s institution to deliver Lab to Market activities. The applicant invites co-applicants to access the application via the Convergence Portal, and those invited will receive an email asking them to accept the invitation. Upon accepting, the co-applicant(s) will be redirected to Convergence to log in (or create an account), to determine their eligibility and to complete their information section.
Contributors are individuals designated by the institution who have access to edit the application, and who typically help the applicant complete the application. The applicant invites the contributor(s) to access the application via Convergence, and those invited will receive an email asking them to accept the invitation. Upon accepting, contributors will be redirected to Convergence to log in (or create an account). The contributor(s)’ information is not captured in the application.
Collaborators are individuals and organizations not affiliated with the institutions who will contribute to or advise the network on its overall direction. Collaborators need to provide letters of support in applications. See
The individual who has been delegated authority from the institution’s president approves and submits the grant application on behalf of the institution. This role is called Research Administrator in Convergence. The senior designated institutional representative must click on the Research Administrator button in the blue bar at the top in Convergence to access their account and see the application.
- For program-related information, contact
l2m-lam@nserc-crsng.gc.ca . - For matters related to the Convergence Portal, email
websupport@convergence.gc.ca or call 1-855-275-2861.
The information you provide in your application is collected under the authority of the
Your application must be received at NSERC by 8:00 pm (ET) on September 9, 2024.
You will not be able to edit your application once it has been submitted. You may not send updates separately before or after the deadline date.
As the applicant, you must complete and submit your application using the
Follow the instructions provided in Convergence to complete your application. Details on the information needed to complete an application are outlined below.
All relevant information from your Letter of Intent (LOI) will be pre-populated in the full application. Participants (co-applicants, collaborators) may be added, and information for existing participants may be updated at this stage if needed. The Enrolment section below includes instructions on how to add participants. To access your full application in Convergence, go to the Applications tab and locate the application with the same identification number as your LOI. Then, select Application in the Actions column to complete your full application.
- Sign in to the
Convergence Portal . If you have an account on NSERC’sResearch Portal , please use your existing account credentials. - Select Funding Opportunities.
- Select Lab to Market grants, Stage: Application, Create Application.
- Complete steps 1 to 5 detailed below and agree to the terms and conditions for applying.
The applicant and co-applicant(s) will be required to complete enrolment steps when creating (applicant) or accepting an invitation to participate in an application (co-applicant[s]). If you have previously completed the enrolment steps in Convergence, some fields may be pre-populated. You can update any information that may have been previously provided.
Step 1 – Eligibility: Confirm that you have been delegated the authority to apply by the institution's president.
Step 2 – Affiliations: List all of your current affiliations and identify your primary affiliation (select your current affiliation associated with the application).
Step 3 – Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI): Completion of the self-identification form is mandatory. However, you may select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions; see the self-identification information section below for more information.
Step 4 – Keywords: Provide a maximum of five keywords that best describe, overall, your areas of activities. They do not need to be directly related to a specific application and will not be used for evaluation purposes.
Terms and conditions: Accept the terms and conditions to access the application.
The applicant and co-applicant(s) must complete the self-identification form to apply for NSERC funding. However, you may select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions. NSERC appreciates your participation, which supports the granting agencies in monitoring the equity of their programs and strengthening EDI in the research enterprise.
The self-identification information is collected as part of your user profile when you register in the
Select View application to access the application. You can also access the application from the Application tab on the home screen. Select Application to edit the application.
You can access the My Profile section by selecting your name from the navigation menu in the top-right corner; however, you do not need to complete your entire profile in Convergence.
Provide the name of the proposed Lab to Market Network. Do not include names of other organizations or the full name of the institution in the name of the network. The main body of your application should be written in either English or French rather than in a mix of both official languages.
Click Invite participant to invite co-applicants and/or contributors to complete their sections in the application. Collaborators are not invited; they are listed in the Collaborators sub-section.
This section lists all co-applicants and contributors who have accepted your invitation and accessed Convergence. If any co-applicants and contributors have not accepted your invitation, follow up with them to confirm that they have received it.
If an invited co-applicant has a status of Pending Eligibility, they have accepted your invitation but have not completed their enrolment (steps 1 to 4 in Convergence and agreeing to the Terms and conditions of applying) to access the application.
Once you (as the applicant) and all co-applicants have completed the respective sections, you (the applicant) must finalize each co-applicant’s record by selecting Finalize information from the Actions menu, which changes the status to Complete. Once finalized, the applicant or co-applicant(s) cannot edit the information. If you need to make changes, email
Only the applicant can finalize information entered by co-applicants.
If applicable, list the collaborating organizations not affiliated with the applicant and co-applicant institutions who bring their own resources to the network. A description of the organization and a demonstration of interest in the network activities (up to two pages for each organization) may be attached as a single PDF file in the Supporting documents section under Letters of support (see below).
Provide at least one primary
Socioeconomic objectives were previously referred to as “areas of application.”
List a maximum of ten keywords that best describe the application.
The summary is intended to give an overview of the network to the public. Briefly describe the nature of the proposal, context, objectives, planned activities and anticipated results. Indicate how important the proposal is for the stakeholders that the network will serve at the local, regional, provincial, territorial and national levels. This plain-language summary will be available to the public if your proposal is funded. The maximum character count is 2,500.
Before completing this section, consult the
Enter the yearly amounts requested. You must complete and provide a detailed budget table in the Supporting documents section. Ensure that the annual amounts requested from NSERC calculated in the budget table match the yearly amounts entered in this section. In case of a discrepancy, the budget version entered in the Convergence Portal will supersede the budget table in the Supporting documents section.
The budget can vary annually based on a realistic projection of the planned expenditures. Use the Budget justification sub-section under Supporting documents to explain and justify each budget item.
It is important to note that there should be only one budget, regardless of the number of institutions participating in the network. The applicant is responsible for justifying the proposed expenditures and allocation to each institution. Once the grant is awarded, the administering organization can transfer the funds to the other co-funded institutions (see the
You are responsible for submitting a complete application that conforms to the presentation standards established by NSERC. You must review the number of pages and formatting of any attachments uploaded to Convergence. Incomplete applications, or applications that do not meet the presentation standards outlined below, may be rejected or be at a disadvantage, in comparison with those that are complete and respect the presentation standards. If a submitted application contains one or more attachments that do not comply with the page length or formatting standard, the application may be deemed ineligible.
- Any acronyms and abbreviations must be explained.
- Pages must be 8 ½ inches × 11 inches (216 mm × 279 mm).
- Text must be single-spaced, with no more than six lines of type per inch.
- All text must be in black, using the 11 pt Arial font; condensed fonts will not be accepted.
- Margins must be set at a minimum of ¾ inch (1.87 cm).
- In multi-page attachments, pages must be numbered sequentially.
- The applicant’s name must appear outside the set margins of the page, at the top right corner of every page.
- The name of each document must appear outside the set margins of the page at the top left corner of every page (e.g., Proposal, Budget justification).
All attachments must be converted to portable document format (PDF) before they can be attached to the application. The conversion process varies with the operating system and word processing or spreadsheet software you are using. If you have questions about converting your documents to PDF, contact your institution’s technical support staff.
If you do not have a PDF conversion program, you may download a free version of
The following supporting documents must be attached to the application. The File column in the Supporting documents section of Convergence indicates which documents are required.
Your application will be evaluated according to the
Write the description in clear, plain language. Avoid jargon, acronyms, and highly technical terms. Using the headings below and following the listed order, describe the proposed activities in sufficient detail to allow the peer review committee members to make an informed assessment.
The instructions below are meant to provide guidance on the contents of the application and are not meant to be exhaustive for all Lab to Market networks. Use your best judgement when determining what information to include. The proposed network activities can vary and will be influenced by the local/regional innovation ecosystems of the applicant and co-applicant(s). Establishing broad partnerships with institutions, stakeholders, and collaborators can provide greater access to the network for participants across the country.
With real and perceived duplication between the membership of different networks in the competition, as well as the activities that they will offer, applicants must convincingly demonstrate the steps taken to collaborate with other networks, and if efforts were not combined, explain why and describe the unique value offered by their application. Applicants must also demonstrate how a broad range of viewpoints and perspectives will be incorporated into the proposed network activities’ design, planning and monitoring. Proposals must clearly demonstrate how networks with a primarily regional focus could complement other networks of national scope.
In some cases, similar information can be placed under more than one heading. If this is the case, use the limited space strategically to avoid repetition.
- Describe the lead institution (applicant) and the member institutions (co-applicants) of the network. Include the name and role of the lead individuals for each of the member institutions.
- Explain why these institutions have been selected, the synergy among the members, and the plans to incorporate elements of regionality in the network activities. Explain each member’s strengths, contributions, and responsibilities in ensuring access to participants in the context of a national program.
- Provide a rationale explaining the relevance and the benefits of a regional network in the context of a national program.
- Describe the proposed vision of the network, including a discussion of the regional, provincial, territorial and national economic, social and/or health benefits resulting from the initiative.
- Explain the value of the proposed collaborative approach from a wide variety of institutions and the advantages it brings to the participants of the network.
- Describe the network’s governance and accountability framework and how it will result in effective leadership and sound financial decision-making.
- Include specific and concrete practices to consider EDI in the structure of the network and how the network will address the EDI barriers in the regional, provincial, territorial and national innovation ecosystems.
- Describe the network’s vision to provide diverse and complementary training for fostering entrepreneurship and innovation across a broad spectrum of researchers. The plan should also include the high-level expected progress of the network over the five years of funding, with major milestones and success metrics for the proposed activities.
- Describe how the network will collect and compile data to assess the impacts of the program, what metrics are going to be developed and used, and how the participants in training activities will be tracked.
- Describe the organizational structure of the network and the responsibilities of each member.
- Describe the key personnel in each member institution and their role (commercialization, knowledge mobilization or social innovation experience is strongly encouraged).
- Present the management structure (including how regional diversity is being considered), strategic planning process and decision-making process.
- Describe how the Lab to Market network will develop and offer entrepreneurship, commercialization and knowledge mobilization training activities for researchers, students, and other highly qualified personnel in post-secondary institutions and affiliated institutions.
- Give a description of what skills will be taught and how. Identify the tools that will be used to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and the best practices amongst the network members and to aid in developing virtual resources and platforms to reach and deliver training to broad audiences.
- Describe how the network will leverage the mentors and business professionals to capitalize on the wealth of expertise and experience and to build connections in the ecosystem.
- Explain how providing access to commercialization, entrepreneurship, and knowledge mobilization training opportunities will help foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation within the Canadian academic research community.
- Provide an estimate of how many trainees will be supported by the network and where the training will be offered.
- Describe how the organizational structure presented above will maximize the training and the delivery of commercialization/social innovation/knowledge mobilization, and support to the network’s participants.
- Describe how the network will deliver training to students from all disciplines and to researchers and highly qualified personnel at various points in their commercialization, social innovation or knowledge mobilization journey, offer multiple on-ramps and off-ramps and maintain networking opportunities.
- Describe how the members of the network will collaborate to develop training material and best practices and how each member institution will coordinate its activities with other internal services to develop an entrepreneurial culture.
- Explain the approach to facilitate outreach to the community and how the network will support participants from different institutions (including participants from non-member institutions) and provide access to a wide variety of innovation ecosystems.
- Describe how the network will set up an effective process to recruit industry mentors who represent the diverse Canadian population. EDI considerations should be integrated into the rationale for the process of recruiting role models and mentors.
- Identify the processes to assure the quality, timeliness, and effectiveness of the delivered services.
- Describe how the network will pull together a wide variety of innovation ecosystem stakeholders (e.g., technology transfer offices, provincial innovation associations, industry and business associations, accelerators and incubators, investors, etc.).
- Describe synergistic collaborations with other innovation support providers in the network members’ local, regional, provincial or territorial areas.
- Describe how the proposed network offers a unique training opportunity, what its value proposition is, and what any potential duplications may be with other networks.
- Explain how, as part of the training opportunities, the network could link participants to other federal support initiatives (e.g., the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), ElevateIP, etc.) and how the network will continue supporting the participants in their entrepreneurship journey.
You may include one additional page for literature references. Use this section to provide a list of the most relevant literature references. Do not refer readers to websites for additional information on your proposal. Do not introduce hyperlinks in the list of references.
In a maximum of five pages, provide an explanation and justification for each budget item identified in the budget table. Provide sufficient information for reviewers to assess whether the resources requested are appropriate. These pages should contain only information pertinent to the budget.
You and your co-applicants may receive funds from other sources to cover direct costs of the network. These sources of funds could include cash contributions provided by other funding agencies or collaborating organizations to add to and complement those requested from the Lab to Market grants. Applicants should ensure that there is no duplication of funding. You must include all of the network's direct costs funded by sources other than the Lab to Market grant in the budget table. All costs must be explained in the proposal and will be considered in the merit assessment of your proposal.
In-kind contributions are important for the success of any project. All organizations collaborating with the network must play an active role in it and can provide in-kind contributions through such involvement.
Give the names (if known), categories of employment, and proposed salaries (including non-discretionary benefits) of those in each of the positions listed below. Briefly describe the responsibilities for each position and indicate the amount of time they will spend on the network’s activities.
- Network administrators or Technology transfer specialists: Include administrative personnel, managerial staff, or project managers needed to conduct the network’s activities. Include those dedicated to developing and strengthening collaborations with local, regional, provincial, territorial, and national innovation ecosystem organizations. Include marketing/advertising personnel here.
- Network professional and technical services: Include all professional and technical members contributing to the network’s activities (e.g., salaries for associated staff training students for specific activities and researchers participating in the network’s activities, salaries for staff developing the curriculum and salaries associated with technology and knowledge transfer activities).
- Students and HQP: Indicate salaries for students and HQP participating in the network’s proposed training activities. Former students within one year of graduation may also be included in this section.
- Course load reduction for college professors (only for colleges): Include replacement faculty hired to backfill a college faculty member’s involvement in the network’s activities.
- Part-time faculty (only for colleges): Include part-time faculty contributing to the network’s activities.
- Other: If applicable, other salary types, such as consultant costs, etc.
- Material, supplies and operating costs: Provide an overview of the expenses required to operate the network, including administrative, utility, and other typical office-related expenses. Also, describe the type and quantity of materials, supplies and other consumables necessary to conduct the network’s activities.
- Equipment: Provide an overview of expenditures related to the purchase, rental, and use (including maintenance) of equipment. If applicable, provide rental of facility costs here. Rental of facilities owned by the institutions are not an eligible expense.
- Other: If applicable, other operating and equipment expenditure types not listed above should be placed in this category
You may include other expenses attributable to specific projects or activities as follows:
- Travel: Provide an overview of the planned travel of network personnel and explain briefly how it relates to the network’s activities.
- Research and technology transfer support services: Provide details on and explain major items for research and technology transfer support services (meetings with clients, technology support, writing proposals, workshops, etc.).
- Knowledge dissemination and networking: Provide details on outreach activities (communications, networking, workshops, trade shows, etc.) and other major items that support collaboration and knowledge mobilization with the network’s community, including students. Describe expenses related to participant engagement; advertising, hospitality and promotional material.
- EDI-related expenses: Provide details on the costs of specific activities supporting EDI in the network (such as EDI training or workshops, outreach to underrepresented groups, hiring EDI-specific support, support for accessible facilities and equipment, childcare support, etc.).
- Indirect costs: Operating, overhead, and administrative (max. 15% of total costs)
If applicable, add any other expenditures not listed above in this section. You may add headings to indicate the type of expenditure.
Provide a letter from the president of the lead institution (two pages maximum) outlining the institution’s support for the proposed network and the relationship to the institution’s entrepreneurial culture.
Include letters of support (two pages maximum each) from senior representatives of national, regional, provincial, and territorial
Each letter should include the following information:
- the need for entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge mobilization training in the areas served by the members of the network
- the anticipated impacts on the innovation space and the commercialization, social innovation and mobilization of research in Canada
- the role their organization could play in the future network
The applicant must review the application to ensure that it is complete.
In the Finalize and submit section, follow the prompts to submit your application to your Research Grants Office (RGO).
After you accept the Terms and conditions, the status of your submission will change to Received by Administrator. If you want to make any changes at this point, you may request that the RGO return the application to you.
Once the RGO has approved and submitted your application, the status will change to Received by Agency. No changes can be made after that point.
When you receive the application submitted by the applicant at your institution, you will be asked to approve the application and submit it. By submitting it, you are confirming that:
- the participants meet the eligibility requirements
- the proposed activities meet the grant eligibility requirements
- by submitting the application, you, on behalf of your institution, are also certifying that the applicant:
- has been delegated by the institution’s president to create, prepare, and complete the application with all required documentation and to manage the grant
- is affiliated with the institution
- has the necessary time and resources to carry out the activities