Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence

Overview: The Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence (ORF-RE) program provides research institutions with funding to support the operational costs of major projects of strategic value to the province. The fund provides up to one third of the total value of the project, with the remaining two thirds coming from a combination of private sector and institutional contributions.

If you plan to request cash or in-kind contributions from OVPR, please contact the office as early as possible at grants.ovprutm@utoronto.ca. 

ORF-RE Round 12 has two application funding streams:

  • Stream 1: Basic and Applied Research
  • Stream 2: Experimental Research
    • This stream: 
      • is open to all research disciplines
      • funds projects that demonstrate strong commercialization potential, where the innovation is at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3 or higher
      • requires collaboration with an Ontario-based company

For both streams, priority will be given to applications focused on:

Value: 

  • Stream 1: Funds $500,000 to $2,000,000 (total project value of $1.5M to $6M+)
  • Stream 2: Funds $300,000 to $2,000,000 (total project value of $900K to $6M+)

Duration: 

  • Stream 1: Maximum of 5 years
  • Stream 2: Maximum of 4 years

Deadlines:

All Documents should be submitted to orf@utoronto.ca

  • Tuesday July 4th - email orf@utoronto.ca with intent to apply
  • Monday August 14th - Submit Budget (Internal Budget), and Security Sections for Internal Review
  • Monday August 21st - Application Text for Editorial Review, Institutional Letter of Support, and IPO Letter of Support (for stream 2 applications)
  • Monday September 18th at 5 PM EST - Final Full Application Package due to RSO, including MRA
  • Wednesday September 27th at 5 PM EST - Final Application Deadline to MCU

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