As a pillar of the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN), the AV R&D Partnership Fund supports projects related to the development and demonstration of technologies in the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (C/AV) sector in the following Priority Areas: 

• Mass light vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks and vans)
• Heavy duty vehicles (including commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, recreational vehicles (RVs), and others used for goods movement) 
• Transportation infrastructure 
• Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) 
• Transit-supportive systems and vehicles 

Best suited for:

Applicant 

• Either an SME or a publicly funded post-secondary academic institution  
• Required to have operations in Ontario
• Companies who have received over $500,000 of OCI funding in their lifetime (excluding TalentEdge) are required to obtain OCI approval before a new application for funding is initiated. Your Business Development Manager can guide you through the process. 

Partners: 

• For-profit small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) 
• For-profit National and Multi-National Enterprises (NEs and MNEs) 
• Municipalities 
• Indigenous Communities 
• Not-For-Profit Organizations 
• Required to have operations in Ontario 

Project: 

• Eligible projects require a minimum of two organizations:  Generally, an SME – the Applicant – works with a Primary Partner.  Additional partners - Secondary Partners – can be any eligible organization and part of the team for strategic and commercial reasons. 
• Minimum 2:1 cash match by Applicants and/or Partners 
• Project activities are carried out in Ontario 
• Projects should be at Technology Readiness Level 3-7  
• Typical project activities include: technology development, demonstration, product/service validation, testing, and proof of concept 

Reference documents:

• OCI Funding Agreement
• Eligible Expenditures Guide
• Sample Proposal Questions (Note: this sample application template is for information purposes only. Applications are only accepted through OCI’s online system where full application requirements are listed).
• Letter of Support Template
• AVIN Data and Information Sharing Protocol (DISP)