The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) will provide access to public funding for joint projects through the BMWE’s ZIM program (Central Innovation Program for SMEs) in Germany, and through the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) in Canada.
Eligible project participants from Germany and Canada will finance their costs from their respective national funding schemes (in Germany ZIM, in Canada by NRC IRAP) and complementarily from their own resources.
NRC IRAP and AiF Projekt GmbH (Project management agency for the BMWE) will provide all necessary assistance to project partners during project proposal, evaluation and monitoring phase.
Timeline and Deadlines
- Mandatory Canadian registration Deadline (IRAP applicants only): September 9th, 2025
- Mandatory Canadian Expression of Interest Application Form Submission Deadline (for Canadian/IRAP applicants only): September 19th, 2025
- Optional German Project Sketch Deadline (for German/ZIM applicants who wish to receive advance feedback): October 10th, 2025
- International Consortium Joint Project Proposal Submission Deadline: November 28th, 2025
- ZIM/German applicants will file their national proposal in parallel with the joint project proposal
- IRAP/Canadian applicants will be invited to submit national proposals after submission of the joint project proposa
