Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. Innovation Networks: Micro-nets

“National Defence”

$3,000,000.00

Maximum Eligible Amount

Government Grant

Fund Type

Context

As part of Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada's Defence Policy, the Department of National Defence (DND) launched the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. The IDEaS program supports, increases, and sustains the science and technology (S&T) community capacity external to DND to generate new ideas and formulate solutions to Canada's current and future defence and security innovation challenges. These innovative solutions are critical for Canada and its allies to mitigate new threats and stay ahead of potential adversaries, while generating knowledge and economic benefits for Canada. Innovators willing to develop solutions to emerging problems from their own unique perspectives are encouraged to participate in the IDEaS program.

The IDEaS program supports the establishment of new Innovation Networks and, where appropriate, existing networks, to stimulate collaboration and the free flow of ideas critical to innovation. An Innovation Network is a self-organized multidisciplinary group of researchers from academic, governmental, for-profit, and/or not-for-profit institutions and organizations, who work on the advancement of knowledge in a specific domain of common interest. Academics, industry and other partners are encouraged to come together to form collaborative Innovation Networks.

This call for proposal for micro-nets (CFPMN) is an invitation to innovators to submit innovative proposals in support of Canada's defence and security to resolve the S&T challenge related to:

Preparing for a quantum world: Defence applications of quantum technologies

In response to the rapid development and deployment of quantum technologies, the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) are seeking to stimulate the application of advances for quantum technologies in the defence and security domain. Currently, most research and development work within academia and industry focuses on commercial applications. To leverage that work to address DND/CAF needs, the IDEaS program is looking to develop several research micro-nets focusing on defence and security applications, specifically: quantum sensing and sensors (including for positioning, navigation and timing), quantum communications, and quantum computing, simulations and algorithms.

Annex A provides the full S&T challenge statement defining the research areas to be addressed under this CFPMN.

Innovation Networks – Micro-nets

Recognizing that successful sustainable research networks take time to build, Innovation Networks calls for proposals are to support the creation of smaller networks, or Micro-nets, that perform research on one or more aspects of an S&T challenge. A micro-net is a self-organized multidisciplinary team of at least three eligible organizations/institutions who carry out interdisciplinary research on aspects of an S&T challenge of common interest.

It is envisioned that the micro-nets in this challenge (and where appropriate other networks/participants) continue to form larger sustainable national Innovation Networks dedicated to further research on a particular challenge.

Micro-nets foster the development of a critical mass of researchers, highly qualified personnel and expertise within the Canadian innovation community and encourage the progression of innovative solutions along the solution readiness levels maturity scale (SRLs 1 through 6).

See Annex C for descriptions of solution readiness levels.

The objectives of the IDEaS Innovation Networks element are to:

Encourage, enhance, sustain and support interdisciplinary research collaborations between academia, the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, and other levels of government (excluding federal government departments/agencies), to build a critical mass of expertise and knowledge applicable to the defence and security of Canada;
Support basic and applied research, analysis, technology development and knowledge transfer leading to innovative solutions to key S&T challenges for defence and security identified by DND and/or its safety and security partners; and
Enable researchers from varied disciplines and areas of expertise to work together to demonstrate an added value that each researcher, if funded individually, would not have been able to reach alone.