NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program

NRC IRAP Accelerated Review Program

Supports Canadian applied-innovation teams with faster review and rapid decisions for focused milestones.

The NRC IRAP Accelerated Review Program (ARP) is a fast-track stream within NRC IRAP designed for Canadian SMEs undertaking smaller, focused R&D projects where speed of decision matters. ARP awards are capped at approximately CA$50,000 — significantly below the CA$1 million-plus ceiling of the Standard Contribution — and cover the same categories of eligible costs: technical labour and directly attributable subcontractor fees. Decision timelines are approximately four weeks from the point at which an ITA shapes and submits the project, compared to three to six months under the Standard Contribution. The ARP is particularly well suited to early-stage companies running discrete feasibility studies, targeted prototyping sprints, or short-cycle R&D milestones at TRL 3 to 7.

Eligibility criteria mirror those of the Standard Contribution: incorporated, for-profit Canadian business with up to 500 full-time equivalent employees, a valid CRA business number, and a clearly defined technology-driven R&D project with demonstrable potential for economic benefit to Canada. Universities, research organisations, and not-for-profit entities are not eligible as lead recipients. The programme is sector-agnostic, covering the same breadth of technology areas — AI, biotech, advanced manufacturing, medtech, quantum, climate tech, and others — as the Standard Contribution stream.

The application process for ARP follows the same ITA-mediated pathway as the Standard Contribution. There is no public portal: companies must contact the NRC IRAP bilingual contact centre (1-877-994-4727) to be assigned an ITA, who then scopes the project and determines whether it fits the ARP criteria or warrants referral to the Standard Contribution. Projects whose scope grows beyond the CA$50,000 cap should be redirected to Standard Contribution rather than filing multiple sequential ARP awards. The ARP's four-week review cycle makes it suitable for companies with near-term R&D milestones and time-sensitive commercialisation plans who cannot afford a multi-month review cycle.