WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:05.918 --> 00:00:06.578 Hey folks. 00:00:06.608 --> 00:00:13.358 And welcome to this week's episode of the small tech podcast by Ephemere Creative. 00:00:13.718 --> 00:00:14.798 I'm your host Raph. 00:00:15.338 --> 00:00:19.838 And today we're going to be talking about funding sources in Canada. 00:00:20.338 --> 00:00:23.608 If you enjoy the work we do, we would really, really appreciate it. 00:00:23.698 --> 00:00:28.828 If on YouTube, you hit that like and subscribe button and in your favorite 00:00:28.828 --> 00:00:35.488 podcast apps, if you can give us a review and a rating and subscribe. 00:00:35.988 --> 00:00:40.848 We are a tiny team and every little bit of support that we can get helps. 00:00:41.348 --> 00:00:44.948 So let's start talking about funding in Canada. 00:00:45.448 --> 00:00:48.988 There is a lot of funding available in Canada. 00:00:49.318 --> 00:00:54.298 There's so much from grants, from foundations and from different 00:00:54.298 --> 00:00:59.758 levels of government and all kinds of other stuff available out there. 00:00:59.808 --> 00:01:05.158 But we are going to be talking today about, a few different grants and tax 00:01:05.158 --> 00:01:09.688 credits that we have interacted with on some level, maybe it's because we worked 00:01:09.688 --> 00:01:12.778 with a client who received that grant. 00:01:13.018 --> 00:01:13.948 Or tax credit. 00:01:14.298 --> 00:01:16.188 Or because we used it ourselves. 00:01:16.678 --> 00:01:21.028 They are programs that we have at least some understanding of. 00:01:21.528 --> 00:01:24.648 Specifically also, we'll be talking about the types of funding that you 00:01:24.648 --> 00:01:27.558 can get when working on a tech product. 00:01:28.058 --> 00:01:32.858 First, let's talk about the two big ones SR&ED and IRAP. 00:01:33.668 --> 00:01:38.888 People call shred shred, because it sounds kind of cool, I guess. 00:01:39.278 --> 00:01:44.338 And it's easier than scientific research and experimental development. 00:01:45.178 --> 00:01:47.398 So people just shorten SRED to shred. 00:01:47.898 --> 00:01:54.798 The program is a federal tax incentive managed by the Canada revenue agency. 00:01:55.298 --> 00:02:00.128 And basically the goal of it is to incentivize Canadian businesses, to 00:02:00.158 --> 00:02:03.848 participate in scientific research and experimental development. 00:02:03.878 --> 00:02:07.748 They want Canadian businesses to do innovative things. 00:02:08.248 --> 00:02:13.348 And basically the program just offers a tax refund for any sort of eligible 00:02:13.568 --> 00:02:16.928 research and development costs that you might incur as a business. 00:02:17.168 --> 00:02:20.888 So let's say you build something and you did something really 00:02:20.888 --> 00:02:22.538 interesting and innovative. 00:02:22.868 --> 00:02:27.128 You basically would submit a write-up to the government explaining why 00:02:27.158 --> 00:02:31.428 that was different and innovative And why it should qualify for a refund. 00:02:31.428 --> 00:02:37.248 There are a bunch of different rules about what sort of expenses actually qualify. 00:02:37.618 --> 00:02:43.528 So you can't do standard off the shelf dev work and submit that for a refund. 00:02:43.768 --> 00:02:48.268 But if you did something interesting where, for example, you took two off 00:02:48.268 --> 00:02:52.288 the shelf systems and you needed some sort of integration and you created a 00:02:52.288 --> 00:02:56.788 new system to make these two different tools, talk to each other and it's not 00:02:56.788 --> 00:03:02.108 just off the shelf work but something that is actually legitimately technically 00:03:02.558 --> 00:03:08.448 complex and has some uncertainty to it, then that is the type of thing 00:03:08.478 --> 00:03:10.938 that you might be able to get refunded. 00:03:11.438 --> 00:03:14.998 There are all kinds of other things that qualify as well, but the 00:03:14.998 --> 00:03:19.828 things that we've worked on that were eligible for SR&ED were those types 00:03:19.828 --> 00:03:24.418 of projects, basically connecting different systems in a way that 00:03:24.418 --> 00:03:27.358 off the shelf tools just couldn't. 00:03:27.928 --> 00:03:33.098 And building something that wasn't obvious where you really had to think 00:03:33.098 --> 00:03:37.058 of a bunch of different approaches and kind of experiment and see 00:03:37.058 --> 00:03:41.218 what worked best and why and then work through your implementation. 00:03:41.718 --> 00:03:43.238 The next one is IRAP. 00:03:43.778 --> 00:03:48.368 IRAP is managed by the national research council of Canada. 00:03:48.868 --> 00:03:53.248 It provides funding for a small to medium size enterprises. 00:03:53.748 --> 00:03:56.808 And the program focuses on the development and commercialization 00:03:56.838 --> 00:03:58.578 of innovative technologies. 00:03:59.078 --> 00:04:04.538 It offers financial support, technical services, and business 00:04:04.538 --> 00:04:07.058 advice to eligible businesses. 00:04:07.558 --> 00:04:14.898 Our experience with IRAP is very much that you have to have a technology product. 00:04:15.348 --> 00:04:20.088 That is either making money or can make you money and fits into an 00:04:20.088 --> 00:04:22.068 existing business that is making money. 00:04:22.248 --> 00:04:22.548 Really. 00:04:22.548 --> 00:04:24.258 There's a lot of emphasis on money. 00:04:24.288 --> 00:04:28.248 Like, is this a thing that will either make money as a product or 00:04:28.488 --> 00:04:30.588 increase your revenues as a business? 00:04:30.948 --> 00:04:31.938 With shred. 00:04:31.968 --> 00:04:37.278 It's a little bit more open-ended you can spend money on something interesting and 00:04:37.278 --> 00:04:43.368 innovative, but it doesn't necessarily have to be proven to make money for you. 00:04:43.668 --> 00:04:49.818 Uh, or as a product or as a part of your, your business, as long as you've 00:04:49.818 --> 00:04:54.558 spent money on building something that is innovative and interesting, and 00:04:54.558 --> 00:04:58.578 that sort of fits all of the ticks, all the boxes, then you're good to go. 00:04:58.668 --> 00:05:02.898 With IRAP they're really looking for products that can, that can make money. 00:05:03.398 --> 00:05:05.918 And with that said, they'll do a lot of different things. 00:05:05.918 --> 00:05:08.858 They will hook you up with different programs where they will 00:05:08.858 --> 00:05:14.868 pay, for example, for you to, go through like a security course. 00:05:15.318 --> 00:05:20.718 And they will help you pay for audits on your security and maybe architectural 00:05:20.998 --> 00:05:25.308 aid if you're building a complex system, they'll do all that kind of stuff. 00:05:25.608 --> 00:05:29.448 But you really have to prove that you have a thing that is going to make money 00:05:29.778 --> 00:05:32.208 or you can sell or something like that. 00:05:32.708 --> 00:05:36.758 Okay, next, we are going to talk about student funding because 00:05:37.358 --> 00:05:38.618 it's, there's a lot of it. 00:05:38.648 --> 00:05:41.558 There's a lot of those types of programs. 00:05:41.828 --> 00:05:47.888 Uh, I think basically Canada puts a lot of energy into attracting students to Canada 00:05:48.128 --> 00:05:53.078 and then wants to build an ecosystem here with the talent that we have developed. 00:05:53.488 --> 00:06:01.528 So first let's talk about, MITACS, and that's M I T A C S not M Y T A X. 00:06:02.078 --> 00:06:05.538 MITACS provides funding for programs that really target. 00:06:05.598 --> 00:06:09.468 Uh, university students I think you can, you can work with 00:06:09.468 --> 00:06:11.898 undergrads and graduate students. 00:06:12.348 --> 00:06:17.828 The emphasis that I've seen in the past was on, oh, you can get a bunch 00:06:17.828 --> 00:06:22.808 of funding to hire a master's or a doctoral student, which is kind of great. 00:06:22.868 --> 00:06:27.638 You get access to them and you work with their professors to build out 00:06:27.638 --> 00:06:29.108 really interesting technologies. 00:06:29.608 --> 00:06:34.168 They are really aimed at fostering this sort of relationship 00:06:34.288 --> 00:06:36.628 between academia and industry. 00:06:36.898 --> 00:06:42.148 So MITACS really wants to build strong relationships between companies and 00:06:42.148 --> 00:06:45.898 universities and get them working together and fostering like a 00:06:45.898 --> 00:06:47.488 really strong bond between them. 00:06:47.738 --> 00:06:51.218 Next, I'm going to talk about a program that we've used a couple of times. 00:06:51.248 --> 00:06:52.448 That was pretty great. 00:06:52.538 --> 00:06:56.538 Uh, it's a work integrated learning from ICTC. 00:06:57.028 --> 00:07:03.108 Which is the information and communications technology council. 00:07:03.608 --> 00:07:09.728 And basically what they do is they provide this, this funding called work, 00:07:09.728 --> 00:07:14.678 integrated learning, which is you hire a, current student for something like 00:07:14.678 --> 00:07:16.928 a co-op or internship style program. 00:07:17.288 --> 00:07:22.908 And for, that student for their term, they will, they will provide you up 00:07:22.908 --> 00:07:31.948 to 50% of that student salary up to $5,000 or up to 70%, up to $7,000 if 00:07:31.948 --> 00:07:33.418 they're an underrepresented group. 00:07:33.748 --> 00:07:37.288 So if you're hiring someone who is underrepresented in technology, you can 00:07:37.288 --> 00:07:40.228 get up to $7,000, which is pretty great. 00:07:40.728 --> 00:07:45.078 The next one is one that we have applied for a couple of different 00:07:45.108 --> 00:07:48.558 times, but never actually landed because it is so competitive. 00:07:48.978 --> 00:07:52.788 There are so many people applying for this program because it's kind of awesome. 00:07:53.058 --> 00:07:56.958 And it is called the digital skills for youth program. 00:07:57.458 --> 00:08:04.198 DS4Y, as it's referred to allows you to hire unemployed or underemployed youth 00:08:04.468 --> 00:08:10.698 meaning someone between 15 and 30 years old, at small to medium sized businesses. 00:08:10.698 --> 00:08:13.578 I think the cutoff is 500 employees. 00:08:13.608 --> 00:08:18.108 So if you're a company under 500 employees, you can make use of this grant. 00:08:18.608 --> 00:08:20.138 As long as the. 00:08:20.638 --> 00:08:25.398 Youth you are hiring is learning something about, digital skills 00:08:25.398 --> 00:08:30.528 or working in the digital context field, whatever technology. 00:08:31.028 --> 00:08:36.278 So that might mean doing things like software development or cybersecurity 00:08:36.308 --> 00:08:38.528 or machine learning or whatever. 00:08:38.628 --> 00:08:42.588 Anything that you can think of really related to building a tech 00:08:42.588 --> 00:08:44.688 product, probably makes sense. 00:08:45.188 --> 00:08:50.468 And the great thing about this program is it offers up to $30,000 per intern. 00:08:50.768 --> 00:08:55.388 That includes wage subsidies, benefits, training, and other costs. 00:08:55.888 --> 00:08:59.998 Beyond that there are a wide variety of more specialized 00:09:00.268 --> 00:09:01.678 grants that are available. 00:09:01.928 --> 00:09:07.568 There are a variety of funding programs that you can use to, to help train 00:09:07.938 --> 00:09:14.918 employees, there is funding available from eco.ca for wage subsidies for people 00:09:14.918 --> 00:09:17.678 working in the environmental sector. 00:09:18.178 --> 00:09:20.578 And there are a ton of others. 00:09:20.608 --> 00:09:24.928 If you search for wage subsidies, Canada, you will find giant 00:09:24.928 --> 00:09:27.568 lists of programs available. 00:09:27.818 --> 00:09:33.278 They each have sort of different eligibilities that are occasionally 00:09:33.278 --> 00:09:36.658 hard to navigate, so you'll need to be careful as you're digging through 00:09:36.658 --> 00:09:38.938 all of the details, but check it out. 00:09:38.998 --> 00:09:40.288 There's a lot of stuff out there. 00:09:40.788 --> 00:09:41.208 Alrighty. 00:09:41.238 --> 00:09:42.588 Well, thanks for listening. 00:09:43.088 --> 00:09:46.588 If you enjoy this stuff, please like, and subscribe on YouTube. 00:09:47.088 --> 00:09:51.228 And if you listen to podcast, app rate and review in there as well, 00:09:51.228 --> 00:09:55.248 and make sure to subscribe so you catch all the new episodes. 00:09:55.548 --> 00:09:56.958 We would love to hear what you think. 00:09:56.988 --> 00:09:59.778 And we would also love to have you on the podcast. 00:09:59.808 --> 00:10:03.498 So reach out to us if you are interested in talking about this stuff. 00:10:04.098 --> 00:10:08.838 You can email me at Raphael at Ephemere Creative dot CA. 00:10:08.868 --> 00:10:12.198 I will put that email address in the show notes or hello 00:10:12.198 --> 00:10:13.908 at Ephemere Creative dot CA. 00:10:14.368 --> 00:10:16.228 We will get your emails there. 00:10:16.728 --> 00:10:20.158 And make sure to sign up for our newsletter where we'll be sending 00:10:20.158 --> 00:10:24.118 you tons of great info about building small tech products. 00:10:24.618 --> 00:10:28.848 It's going to be videos, blog posts, any podcast episodes you may have 00:10:28.848 --> 00:10:31.188 missed and a bunch of other good stuff. 00:10:31.688 --> 00:10:37.628 So go to smalltechpodcast.com and click on the newsletter button at the top and 00:10:37.628 --> 00:10:40.298 you can head over there to subscribe. 00:10:40.798 --> 00:10:45.088 So that's it for this week's episode and we all want to do good in the world. 00:10:45.118 --> 00:10:47.758 So go out there and build something. 00:10:47.758 --> 00:10:48.868 Good folks. 00:10:49.018 --> 00:10:49.588 See ya.