Canada–Japan Keihanna Global Acceleration Program—Winter 2025

Description

1. Introduction The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), in partnership with Japan's Keihanna Research Complex, is pleased to invite Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to submit an expression of interest to participate in a 5-minute pitch event to seek co-innovation partnerships with world-class Japanese corporations. Selected Canadian SMEs may be invited to meetings in Osaka, Japan, to solidify their partnerships with interested Japanese corporations.

1. Introduction

The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), in partnership with Japan's Keihanna Research Complex, is pleased to invite Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to submit an expression of interest to participate in a 5-minute pitch event to seek co-innovation partnerships with world-class Japanese corporations. Selected Canadian SMEs may be invited to meetings in Osaka, Japan, to solidify their partnerships with interested Japanese corporations.

2. Application deadlines

This competitive call for proposals involves pitch events held twice per year. The next scheduled events are:

• Canadian registration deadline: November 21, 2025
• Canadian expression of interest submission deadline: December 5, 2025
• Expression of interest result notification: December 18, 2025
• Pitch event: January 15, 2026
• Selection notice: January 19, 2026
• Program start (1 week online): January 26, 2026
• Travel to Japan to meet partners: April to June 2026

3. Program objective

This event focuses on establishing industrial co-innovation opportunities between Canadian and Japanese organizations, with the aim of participants joining in collaborative research and development (R&D) projects. In previous years, over 70% of Canadian participants in this program were successfully matched with a Japanese corporate partner.

4. Sectors of focus

This competitive call for proposals is open to projects in all sectors that are civilian in nature.

5. Canadian eligibility requirements

To participate in this initiative, Canadian participants must meet the following requirements:

• be an incorporated, profit-oriented SME in Canada (defined as having 500 or fewer full-time equivalent employees)
• have been in operation for a minimum of 12 months prior to the project proposal deadline specified above
• have a minimum of 5 full-time equivalent employees located in Canada (on your company payroll and issued a T4), excluding contract employees, by the Canadian registration deadline
• pursue growth and profit by developing and commercializing innovative, technology-driven new or improved products, services, or processes in Canada
• have a differentiated and protectable technology with commercial potential in global markets
• have the financial capacity (working capital, sales revenue, investment, etc.) and the operational capacity (personnel, expertise, resources, etc.) to undertake an international multi-year R&D collaboration while maintaining regular operations, and to subsequently commercialize the results
• be committed to significant growth through international market expansion

Preference may be given to SME applicants who meet the criteria below. If one or more criteria are unmet, a strong rationale must be provided in the Expression of Interest (EOI) form for possible consideration:

• have a minimum of 10 full‑time equivalent employees located in Canada (on your company payroll and issued a T4), excluding contract employees
• have commercialized 1 or more products domestically or internationally
• have more than $500,000 CAD in annual revenue
• have experience in the Japanese market

Note: Canadian SME applicants must be eligible for funding as NRC IRAP clients before they can be considered for funding through this call for proposals. For more information on NRC IRAP eligibility and becoming a client, please contact NRC IRAP at 1-877-994-4727.

Note: Canadian SME applicants may apply to more than one NRC IRAP call for proposals simultaneously. However, NRC IRAP may limit the number of funded projects per applicant and/or the total amount of funding per applicant. Canadian SME applicants who are applying to more than 1 opportunity, or who have ongoing NRC IRAP projects should speak to their NRC IRAP representative for more information.

6. Workshop description

The Keihanna Global Acceleration Program (KGAP) is a week-long course in Japan that includes mentoring, networking, and business strategy development to support entry into the Japanese market. The goal is to match Canadian SMEs with Japanese co-innovation partners.

For each pitch event, NRC IRAP will select 5 to 10 companies to present their project ideas online to a Japanese panel. The Japanese panel will invite the successful Canadian participants to join the KGAP+ acceleration program in Osaka, Japan. Previous Japanese multinationals (MNEs) that have been involved in this program include Toray, Kyocera, Murata, Panasonic, among others.

7. Funding

Following successful completion of KGAP, selected Canadian SMEs may be invited to submit a proposal through the IRAP Japan Corporate Co-Innovation Program which allows up to 50% reimbursement of eligible activity costs up to a maximum total NRC IRAP funding amount of $75,000. Further details will be provided to successful candidates.

8. How to apply

Interested Canadian applicants must register using the register button at the end of this page. NRC IRAP will review registrations for this call for proposals and contact applicants if more information is required. Applications deemed eligible will proceed to the next phase and be invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form.

An EOI form will be provided to potentially eligible applicants. The EOI application form will request additional information about the applicant, organization, technology, and co‑innovation opportunities of interest.

As they are received, EOIs will be evaluated by the applicant's Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) and the NRC IRAP International Office. This is a competitive process; only the most qualified Canadian applicants will be invited to participate in a one-week mentoring program and submit the more detailed international collaborative R&D project proposal with their Japanese project partners.