A federal investment of $33 million a year would expand a colleges-affiliated program providing applied R&D and commercialization support to businesses, creating a permanent national commercialization capability for SMEs, says Tech-Access Canada.

Demand from SMEs now significantly exceeds the available funding for Tech-Access Canada’s existing program, the Ottawa-based not-for-profit organization said in its “Canadian Innovation Pipeline Initiative” proposal.

“The overarching benefit would be giving these innovative small Canadian companies rapid access to laboratories, engineering teams, pilot facilities, specialized equipment – the stuff they don't have in-house, so they can validate technology, improve a product, get some investment and get to production,” Ken Doyle (photo at right), executive director at Tech-Access Canada, said in an interview with Research Money.

The Canadian Innovation Pipeline also would open up eligibility for Tech-Access Canada’s program beyond only companies recommended by industrial technology advisors at the National Research Council’s Industrial Assistance Research (NRC-IRAP) program, Doyle said.

The initiative also would implement a year-round continuous intake for the expanded program, “to make sure that no industrial sectors are inadvertently left on the sidelines of the innovation game,” he said.

“The Initiative is not intended to create another stand-alone innovation program,” Tech-Access Canada’s proposal says.

“It is designed to become Canada’s permanent commercialization pathway by providing SMEs with structured access to applied R&D support while strengthening the effectiveness of the broader innovation ecosystem.”

Tech-Access Canada submitted its proposal as its pre-budget submission for this fall’s 2026 federal budget.

The national Tech-Access Canada network includes about 70 Technology Access Centres (TACs) affiliated with colleges located across every region of Canada.

Collectively, the network represents one of the country’s largest applied research infrastructures, comprising more than 2,100 applied research professionals, approximately $550 million in specialized research equipment, and nearly four million square feet of applied research facilities.

Each year, TACs support more than 6,000 companies and organizations, complete approximately 2,000 applied research projects, and engage more than 4,000 students in hands-on research and innovation activities. Over 80 percent of business clients are SMEs.

However, demand for the program has grown steadily over the past decade, while available funding has remained constrained by annual federal funding allocations and limited intake periods.

“As a result, the program now reaches only a fraction of firms seeking applied research support, despite demonstrated business demand and proven outcomes,” says Tech-Access Canada’s proposal.

Tech-Access Canada’s program funding was fully allocated in 90 days in 2023–24, 104 days in 2024–25, 65 days in 2025–26, and just 26 days in 2026–27.

“Demand for the program isn’t an issue,” Doyle said. “But our capacity is being constrained.”

“We’re just sort of stuck in a holding pattern. There has been no net growth in the TACs network since 2019,” he added.

The current funding cycle may disproportionately affect firms in sectors whose primary  innovation windows occur later in the year, such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, construction, and resource industries, Tech-Access Canada noted.

Sufficient funding to provide a continuous intake approach year-round would better align public policy with business realities. Rather than requiring firms to synchronize innovation activities with government funding cycles, support would be available when technical challenges arise, market conditions change, or new opportunities emerge.

Universities, government laboratories and private providers remain essential partners, but none was designed to operate as a nationally distributed, continuous, staged and SME-facing applied R&D pipeline.

TACs were established specifically for practical industry challenges, can work together to solve these challenges, and can draw other providers into projects when needed.

Rather than creating a series of disconnected funding programs addressing individual technologies or sectors, the Canadian Innovation Pipeline Initiative would provide a continuous, sector-agnostic mechanism through which Canadian firms can access progressively deeper applied research support as their innovation needs evolve.

“Canada has already invested in the infrastructure required to deliver this model: the TAC network exists, administrative systems are in place, demand is clear, and the evidence base is strong,” Tech-Access Canada said.

“The Initiative would scale what already works and create a permanent national commercialization capability for Canadian SMEs. The goal is to help more Canadian firms commercialize, grow, create wealth, and scale in Canada rather than seeking commercialization opportunities elsewhere.”

Businesses report several positive impacts from TACs network

Canada’s persistent challenge is converting ideas, talent and research capacity into commercial outcomes, productivity gains and companies that scale in Canada.

This challenge is especially acute for SMEs. Many Canadian firms have promising products, processes or technologies, but lack the in-house applied R&D capacity, specialized equipment, technical expertise or commercialization support needed to move from concept to market. “Without practical support at the right moment, projects are delayed, underdeveloped or abandoned,” Tech-Access Canada said.

Recent consultations by Tech-Access Canada found that participating firms consistently identified access to applied research expertise, commercialization support, technology adoption assistance, and simpler, more accessible innovation programs as priorities for strengthening Canada’s innovation ecosystem.

Many also emphasized the importance of predictable, continuous access to support that reflects business realities rather than fixed government funding cycles.

Tech-Access Canada has received more than 120 letters of support from companies across the country for ithe Canadian Innovation Pipeline Initiative and how it would benefit SMEs.

A letter from David Dexter, principal at Toronto-based DXTR International Inc., which is building AI and immersive simulation platforms, said a federal investment to expand Tech-Access Canada’s program would secure “long-term applied research relationships with Canadian colleges, highly qualified personnel inside Canadian companies, and small firms entering competitive fields at a fraction of the risk they would otherwise carry.”

Tech-Access Canada has administered its programs for more than a decade across a network reaching every province, including the Centres d'accès à la technologie in Quebec, Dexter wrote. The governance, reporting, intake systems and technical staff are in place, and the network routes companies to the right centre rather than the nearest one.

“That a full year's [funding] allocation now goes within weeks of April 1 is a demand signal, but it is also a delivery signal,” Dexter noted. “An organization that cannot move money to companies does not run out of it in April.”

Over the past decade, Tech-Access Canada has administered its Interactive Visits program for companies in partnership with the NRC-IRAP program.

Tech-Access Canada’s program is designed to help SMEs advance specific products, processes and technologies by reducing technical uncertainty, validating performance and moving promising innovations toward pilot-scale demonstration, market entry and scale.

More than 3,500 firms have participated in the TACs network, receiving short, focused applied R&D support from TACs to assess technical challenges, validate opportunities, and identify commercialization pathways.

Doyle said Tech-Access Canada currently has a backlog of 300 companies waiting to participate in the network, “just ready to go ‘green’ at the drop of hat.” With the expanded program, “we could turn it on literally tomorrow.”

Tech-Access Canada’s survey of participating companies found that 76 percent reported an positive impacts on their firms, including:

• 64 percent bringing new products or services to market.
• 62 percent increasing R&D expenditures.
• 36 percent reducing costs through new processes or technologies.
• 32 percent exporting products or services.
• 32 percent purchasing new equipment or technology.
• 29 percent hiring employees.
• 26 percent increasing revenue.
• 21 percent securing equity financing.
• 59 percent subsequently returned to a TAC, and 75 percent of returning firms undertook a longer applied R&D project.

A federal government investment of $33 million a year to expand the program operating at steady state would support 3,000 SME engagements each year, Tech-Access Canada said.

The Initiative would include three progressive stages:

1. Interactive Visits: approximately 20 hours of support to clarify challenges, assess opportunities, and de-risk early decisions.
2. Strategic Interactions: approximately 55 hours of deeper applied R&D support, often involving two TACs, to validate technologies, refine solutions, and prepare firms for more substantial projects.
3. TRLascend Projects: approximately 250 hours of later-stage support to advance technologies toward commercialization readiness, including validation, integration, demonstration, and deployment preparation.

For Strategic Interactions and TRLascend Projects, Tech-Access Canada could also produce a concise Innovation Readiness Summary at project closeout.

Expanded program could help the federal government achieve its national priorities

Expanding Tech-Access Canada’s existing program would also help the federal government achieve its national priorities, including Major Projects, new infrastructure, and new projects under the Defence Industrial Strategy, Doyle said.

“The execution of those is going to be done by a supply chain of small companies, and they need their innovation support to be commercialized products, be more productive, adopt technology,” he said.

“That's what we at Tech-Access Canada do day in, day out, 6,000 companies a year,” he added.

Doyle said Canada has seen “a ton of demand” during the last six months for initiatives in domestic supply chains, reshoring, manufacturing and other alternatives in response to U.S. tariffs.

“We'd love to be able to help, but we can't. We don't have that capacity right now for that sort of ready-to-go [capacity] in case of an emergency,” Doyle said.

The Canadian Innovation Pipeline initiative would provide that proactive, year-round response mechanism to boost commercial capacity when and where needed, which might be the missing piece within Canada’s whole innovation ecosystem, he said. “If we've got to shore up our domestic ability to innovate, commercialize, be productive, be competitive, this is a way to do that.”

Tech-Access Canada pointed to Brazil’s EMBRAPII model, which organizes accredited applied R&D units around continuous company access, shared project costs, direct project development, agile contracting and commercialization-oriented performance.

In 2024, Canada received approximately US$8.1 billion in charges for the use of Canadian intellectual property while paying approximately US$17.1 billion abroad, implying a deficit of roughly US$9 billion.

“This deficit is not due to a lack of research activity; rather, it reflects the difficulty of converting Canadian knowledge into commercially valuable assets, technologies and firms that can scale domestically,” Tech-Access Canada said.

In addition to helping SMEs, based on current Technology Access Centre operating models, the initiative is expected to engage at least 1,000 college and university students annually through paid research assistantships, research associate positions, internships, capstone projects and other forms of work-integrated learning.

Students work directly alongside industry partners and TAC applied research professionals as part of project teams, gaining practical experience in technology development, commercialization, project management, product validation, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, clean technologies, and other emerging fields.

“These experiences not only improve the labour market outcomes of the students who participate, but they also strengthen Canada’s innovation talent pipeline while providing SMEs with access to highly qualified personnel,” Tech-Access Canada said.

Major outcomes expected from the Canadian Innovation Pipeline Initiative

Tech-Access Canada said its Canadian Innovation Pipeline Initiative is expected to produce six major outcomes:

• Supporting more Canadian SMEs:

Expanded eligibility would allow more SMEs to access applied R&D at the point when it can materially alter a product, process, investment or commercialization decision.

• Accelerating commercialization:

By helping firms overcome technical and commercialization barriers earlier, the initiative seeks to increase the likelihood that Canadian companies scale domestically rather than relocating research, production or commercialization activities to jurisdictions with stronger commercialization ecosystems.

The staged design of the initiative recognizes this reality by providing progressively deeper applied R&D support as the innovation advances and technical uncertainty declines. As technical risk declines, companies increase their investment and become better positioned to pursue larger federal, provincial, and private-sector funding opportunities.

“The initiative, therefore, complements existing innovation programs by increasing the number of commercialization-ready firms entering the broader innovation system.”

• Strengthening productivity and technology adoption:

Technology Access Centres provide objective, industry-focused expertise that helps SMEs evaluate technologies before making significant investments.

By reducing technical uncertainty and improving investment decisions, the initiative is expected to contribute to higher rates of technology adoption, increased productivity and stronger

business competitiveness.

• Strengthening Canada’s innovation ecosystem:

Beyond individual projects, the initiative strengthens Canada’s innovation ecosystem by

increasing collaboration among SMEs, Technology Access Centres, colleges, cégeps, students, and complementary innovation organizations.

• Creating a flexible national innovation capability:

Rather than creating new programs in response to individual priorities such as artificial intelligence, supply chain resilience, defence procurement, housing productivity, clean growth, advanced manufacturing, or future technologies that cannot yet be anticipated, the initiative would provide Canada with an existing delivery mechanism capable of mobilizing applied R&D expertise whenever and wherever it is needed.

• Building Canada’s future innovation workforce:

In addition to supporting Canadian firms, the initiative would provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities for the next generation of Canada’s innovation workforce.

See also: The “best-kept-secret” in Canada’s innovation ecosystem is seeing increasing demand for its services

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