Program Details

The Premier’s Medal for Innovation is offered to an individual who has demonstrated excellence in their field of expertise and has created significant economic activity through their research and development activities. This Innovator must demonstrate excellence in their field, nationally or internationally, and has made significant contributions to the field of bioscience (including agriculture and fisheries), aerospace, information technology, or renewable energy.

This fund represents a commitment made by the Province to increase investment and improve support for the transformation of ideas into commercially successful products, services, or processes.

Eligible Proponents

The recipient of the Premier’s Medal for Innovation will:

• Be nationally/internationally recognized expert in their field.
• Be from the private sector, public sector, or academia.
• Be living and working in Prince Edward Island and be a majority stakeholder in an active Prince Edward Island based organization.
• Be a highly motivated individual whose accomplishments have made a major impact in their fields.
• Have a program that focuses on bio-science, aerospace, information technology, or renewable energy.
• Develop new products or services for growing markets that have strong commercialization potential.
• Be actively involved in conducting world-class research in PEI.

Eligible Expenditures

• Expenses such as salaries for research and development staff, travel to conferences, publications, and consumables/materials.
• Purchase or rental of research equipment or supplies, operation and maintenance of research equipment or facilities.
• Expenses such as salaries for knowledge/technology transfer staff, entrepreneurial training, and marketing of an innovation.
• Prototype development and intellectual property protection (including any activity related to the development of a patent, trademark or copyright, but excluding all dispute/litigation and legal costs associated with intellectual property).
• 25% of total project costs must be leveraged from a source outside of the Provincial Government.

Other Considerations for Eligibility:

• If a project is deemed as being dependent on the results of an existing project that has not been completed, the applicant must ensure that all activities are to be completed before the assigned start date of your project or no later than August 31, 2011.
• Proponents who have received previous provincial government funding are eligible, however, you may be requested to provide additional documentation segmenting the project activities and funding of the ongoing projects.
• Contribution guidelines from other agencies involved in the project should also be considered. The applicant should ensure compliance with all other funding sources when establishing the budgetary requirements for this project.
• Applicants in arrears with any Government Department or Crown Corporation will be disqualified from the competition.
• Applicants are only allowed to submit one application per corporation or individual for each round of funding.
• An applicant cannot attain the Premier’s Medal for Innovation and an Industry Research Chair, or vice versa.
• Applications will not be accepted from Provincial Government employees.

Funding Support

The recipient of the Premier’s Medal for Innovation will receive $400,000 over two years to support operating funding for their innovation-based program. Eligible expenditures are listed above, these lists are not exhaustive. The Premier’s Medal contribution will cover a maximum of 75% of the total eligible project costs. The remaining 25% is required to be leveraged from a source outside of Provincial Government.

Proposal Assessment

Applicants for the Premier’s Medal for Innovation will be evaluated against a clear set of program criteria using information contained in the proponents’ application package. Proposals will be evaluated by a peer review committee and funding will be awarded in the fall of 2011.

Performance Monitoring

A letter of offer stating the terms and conditions of approval will be forwarded to the recipient’s company or research organization. When accepted, the letter of offer shall constitute a contract between government and the organization. Should the proponent fail to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract or be discontinued, government may at its sole discretion:

• declare the proponent to be in non-performance (default) of the contract;
• request the proponent to repay in full the incentive received; and
• take necessary legal action to collect the incentive amount in full with interest.

For More Information:

Full applications for the Premier’s Medal for Innovation will be accepted through to August 26, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.

Applications and instructions are available online at www.islandprosperity.com

For specific questions or inquiries regarding the program, please contact:

Cody Clinton
Project Assistant, IPS Programs
Innovation PEI
(902) 620-3441
ceclinton@gov.pe.ca