Strategic Response Fund

Strategic Response Fund

Funds industrial innovation projects across Canada through large-scale contributions for AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and resilience.

The Strategic Response Fund (SRF), administered by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), is the successor to the Strategic Innovation Fund and provides large-scale contributions to Canadian industrial innovation projects. The SRF operates as a rolling intake program with no fixed annual deadline, accepting applications on a continuous basis. Its mandate covers two primary categories: Business Innovation and Growth (primarily for-profit applicants pursuing industrial R&D, scale-up, or tariff-response investments) and Collaborations and Networks (not-for-profits and academic institutions building innovation ecosystems). Priority sectors include steel, aluminum, automotive, forest products, aerospace, critical minerals, cleantech, biomanufacturing, life sciences, and AI compute infrastructure.

The minimum ISED contribution is CAD 10 million per project, and the minimum total eligible project cost is CAD 20 million, making this program accessible only to large-scale undertakings. Contributions may be repayable (unconditional or conditional) or non-repayable, depending on the applicant type and due diligence findings. For-profit applicants in the Business Innovation and Growth category are typically subject to repayable contributions and expected to provide significant industry co-investment. Not-for-profit and academic applicants in the Collaborations and Networks category generally receive non-repayable contributions covering most or all project costs. Foreign entities are ineligible; sole proprietors, partnerships, and unincorporated entities are also ineligible.

The application process follows three stages: an initial mandatory pre-application consultation with ISED lasting 30 to 60 minutes, followed by a Statement of Interest if invited to proceed, and then a full application. Cumulative government assistance from all levels — federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal — is factored into funding determinations to avoid over-subsidy. Applicants preparing competitive submissions should document both the strategic national benefit of the project and the degree of Canadian industry co-investment, particularly for projects in AI infrastructure or tariff-affected manufacturing sectors.