Canada's Ocean Supercluster

Funds ocean innovation in Canada through industry-led projects in fisheries, aquaculture, marine renewables, and ocean technology.

Canada's Ocean Supercluster is an industry-led national not-for-profit that co-invests with industry to accelerate ocean solutions across fishery, aquaculture, bioresources, offshore resources, marine renewables, defence, transportation, and ocean technology. It operates under ISED's Global Innovation Clusters program, with federal support of up to CAD 278 million, and its ambition is tied to growing Canada's ocean economy to CAD 220 billion by 2035.

The main routes are the Technology Leadership Project program and the Innovation Ecosystem Projects and Activity program. Core projects run on continuous intake, start at a minimum project value of CAD 1 million, and can match up to 40 percent of eligible costs; ecosystem projects are non-commercial, also run continuously, and can cover up to 75 percent of eligible costs. Call programs sit alongside those core streams when themes are active.

OSC is strongest for consortia that can bring together startups, scaleups, mature firms, academia, regional hubs, Indigenous partners, and investors around a clear ocean use case. Independent experts assess the projects, and the current mandate window runs toward an October 2027 end point, so teams need a defined collaboration plan and a credible path to commercialization or ecosystem impact.