First FRQNT grant program in partnership with Axelys

Axelys is pleased to announce its first partnership with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT), in the form of a grant program designed to support student inventors of promising technologies stemming from public research. The launch of the program’s first competition is scheduled for spring 2023.

The main aim of the program will be to promote the results of public research with high potential for economic and societal impact. To this end, grants will be awarded to the institutions at which the projects of graduating master’s, doctoral or postdoctoral students are selected.  These grants will enable these projects to establish a proof of concept, a prototype or any other activities leading to the initiation of a further step towards technological valorization.

Funding will be provided by the FRQNT. It will amount to $150,000 per project, for a duration of twelve (12) to eighteen (18) months maximum. Axelys, as a company specializing in the development and transfer of innovations stemming from public research, will act as the exclusive partner for project commercialization. In order to test the principles and rules of this competition, a pilot project, including a rigorous evaluation process by a committee of independent experts, is currently underway.

The winners of the pilot project will be announced in the next few weeks. The results of the pilot project evaluation will enable FRQNT and Axelys to assess the implementation challenges and success factors of the pilot project, with a view to opening the program to a larger number of projects.

READ THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE (IN FRENCH)