Synthetic Biology grants in Canada

Awards University of Toronto-affiliated early-stage founders up to $15,000 CAD for a three-minute pitch, as part of an annual competition with over $100,000 in total prizes.

Awards University of Toronto-affiliated later-stage founders up to $40,000 CAD for a three-minute pitch, as part of an annual competition with over $100,000 in total prizes.

Open

Funds private investment in British Columbia small businesses through tax-supported incentives and provincial partnership support.

Open

Funds loan participation for Black Canadian entrepreneurs through mission-aligned lenders to expand growth-capable businesses.

Open

Runs Y Combinator Accelerator for early-stage startups with a three-month batch, investment, and mentoring support.

Pays Canadian employers up to about $10,000 per employee toward eligible training costs when they upskill their team.

Covers up to 50% of eligible export development costs for Canadian SMEs, up to a maximum of $50,000 per project.

Gives Kingston post-secondary students phased seed funding and a part-time venture-building program for projects that improve city life or municipal services.

Awards Canadian student founders up to $10,000 in a national bracket-style pitch competition.

Between cycles

Funds Canadian companies through federal innovation tax deductions for qualifying innovation experimentation costs.

Between cycles

Offers Canadian provinces extra incentives that top up federal measures for qualifying innovation activity.

Pays Canadian youth aged 14 to 18 cash awards for innovation projects that address community, national or global challenges.

Discontinued

Funds exceptional early-career North American STEM researchers through prestigious academic fellowships.

Open

Funds researchers combining computational and experimental approaches to test repositioned drugs for Alzheimer's disease treatment through NIH R01 grants.

Open

Funds global vaccine and biologic countermeasure developers to build responses for epidemic pathogens.

Between cycles

Funds developing and validating gene-editing tools in animal and other model systems used to study the human brain.

Between cycles

Funds high-impact collaborative Huntington disease teams tackling complex mechanisms and novel therapeutic strategies with advanced team science.

Pays $100,000, and up to $10 million if patentable, for solving the origin of genetic code.

Between cycles

Funds early-stage life science ventures with seed and Series A equity across therapeutics and medical device innovation.

Closed

Funds organizations conducting clinical trials of vaccine candidates against CEPI priority pathogens and viral families through CEPI's Innovations Call for Proposals.

Awards 15,000 Euro plus exhibition space and mentoring to the winning early-stage company at the ACHEMA Start-up Award 2027, for new ventures in chemistry, process engineering or biotechnology.

Closed

Supports biosecurity research, policy work, and prevention planning for pandemic preparedness.

Closed

Funds organizations designing and early-stage testing of new vaccine candidates against CEPI priority pathogens and Disease X viral families, with awards up to $1M over 18 months.

Closed

Funds organizations conducting preclinical vaccine development for CEPI priority pathogens and Disease X exemplars through CEPI's Innovations call.