When partnering with federal organizations, Impact Canada challenges can either be run through a “program stream”, where a portfolio of challenges is managed as a stand-alone program, or as “individual projects”, where funds are carved out of an existing program.
View our challenge guideProgram streams are authorities given to a federal partner organization to manage a portfolio of challenges over a longer period in their policy area. This approach helps build internal capacity, dedicates specific human resources, and provides flexibilities for federal partners to adapt along the way.
Natural Resources Canada launched the $75M clean technology stream to address persistent barriers in cleantech development and adoption, setting ambitious but achievable goals in order to identify and develop breakthrough solutions.
In Canada and around the world, food waste continues to increase, resulting in an overuse of our natural resources such as water, soil and land, while contributing excess greenhouse gas emissions to our atmosphere. Meanwhile, a growing number of Canadians are facing food insecurity. In response, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), under the Food Policy for Canada, is launching the $20M Food Waste Reduction Challenge which includes four complementary innovation streams.
The Housing Supply Challenge invites citizens, stakeholders, and experts to propose solutions to the barriers to new housing supply. The challenge, delivered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, will distribute $300 million in funding over 5 years. There will be 6 rounds in the challenge. Each round awards proposals that address housing supply barriers such as building timelines, construction productivity, and improving data on land availability.
Individual projects are used when a federal partner wants to explore the use of a challenge as a program instrument in a more limited fashion, using funds carved out of an existing transfer payment program, where staff have existing priorities and responsibilities, aside from planning and implementing challenges.
An individual project is a good approach to tackle a specific objective, take advantage of a new opportunity not envisaged at the outset of a program’s design, or as a gateway to test the challenge approach prior to undertaking a program stream.
Do you have a Challenge idea that you want to collaborate on? Submit an Expression of Interest. Your Expression of Interest Form will allow us to gain a preliminary understanding of what your initiative is trying to achieve and how we might work together under our Impact Canada mandate.
Submit an Expression of Interest
