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Canadian Biotechnology Innovation and Commercialization

July 7, 2025 by

Canadian Biotechnology Innovation and Commercialization (CBIC)

Biotechnology leverages biological processes, organisms, or systems to develop products and technologies for a wide range of sectors, including medicine, agriculture, and environmental science, with the potential to address global challenges and enhance quality of life. The field has been significantly revolutionized by genomics, which provides a deeper understanding of the genetic basis of life. This has enabled precise manipulation and understanding of biological systems at a molecular level, driving innovation across multiple sectors.

Genome Canada has announced a strategic investment in commercialization and adoption of genomics and genomics-driven biotechnology solutions, through the Canadian Biotechnology Innovation and Commercialization (CBIC) initiative. CBIC funds public-private research and development projects that amplify the value of public investment in innovation and accelerate the commercialization of Canadian genomics inventions and innovations by addressing real-world needs and opportunities identified by industry.

This first investment in support of the Canadian Genomics Strategy aims to accelerate commercialization and adoption to address urgent health and industry challenges in Canada.

eDNA Surveillance Initiative

May 14, 2025 by

eDNA Surveillance can tell us nature’s secrets

As humans, we don’t live in a bubble. We’re connected to all living things around us, so it only makes sense to better understand the impact humans, animals and the environment have on each other. That’s where Environmental DNA (eDNA) comes in!

This advanced surveillance technique is emerging as a non-invasive method to better understand how our changing climate is impacting all living things, especially human health. Ontario Genomics is funding two new projects through Genome Canada’s eDNA Surveillance Initiative that gives regional support to better develop more sensitive and accurate detection methods.

One project will help two First Nations communities develop and implement new eDNA/eRNA tools for wastewater and ecological monitoring, while the other will track and correlate environmental and clinical antimicrobial resistance. An ethical and inclusive governance policy framework will be co-created with First Nations communities to ensure privacy protection, confidentiality and data integrity while respecting Indigenous sovereignty.

CPHI Pillar 1: Generating Population-Level Genomic Data

March 5, 2025 by

This investment will generate a coordinated, large-scale, diverse genomic data asset that reflects Canada’s population.

Through the Canadian Precision Health Initiative (CPHI), genomic data from 100,000+ people across Canada will be gathered, shared and made accessible to help transform our health-care approach into a modern, precision health system that can have enormous impacts for all Canadians.

The initiative comprises four integrated, connected pillars of activity.

Pillar 1 – Generating population-level genomic data, will focus on the creation of national data assets that are accessible and reflect the diversity of Canada’s population. This data will be used to modernize the country’s healthcare system, making it more agile, preventative-focused and effective for Canadians.

Within Pillar 1, Ontario Genomics is the lead Centre for 4 awarded projects and the co-lead Centre for 2 awarded projects.

Pillar 1 (CPHI)

Climate Action Genomics Initiative Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems

August 13, 2023 by

Ontario Genomics is pleased to announce that Genome Canada has launched the Climate Action Genomics Initiative.
Climate change poses a significant risk to our agricultural systems, impacting the availability of food and other vital resources, from fuels to the raw materials used to develop everyday products. In response to this major challenge, Genome Canada’s latest large-scale genomics initiative supports climate change mitigation, and adaptation that leads to mitigation, through strategic investments in climate-smart agriculture and food systems.

The new opportunity, called the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems initiative, is investing $30 million in cutting-edge genomics research and innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of Canada’s food production systems—building their resiliency, environmental sustainability and economic viability.

A distinguishing feature of the Initiative is that it will fund a portfolio of interdisciplinary projects and helps coordinate and connect their efforts with cross-cutting programs for knowledge mobilization, data coordination and implementation across Canada. This portfolio approach allows benefits from one solution to translate into other food production systems or supply chains and cascade impact throughout the broader food system.

The Initiative will deploy a number of funding opportunities that will make up the portfolio.

At the outset, these will include:

Funding for Interdisciplinary Challenge Teams – Funding Opportunity available now.
Funding for a Data Coordination Centre, coming in Summer 2022.
Funding for a Knowledge Mobilization and Implementation Coordination Centre, coming in Summer 2022.

Interdisciplinary Challenge Teams 2023 (ICT) Funding Opportunity

August 12, 2023 by

Ontario Genomics is pleased to announce Genome Canada’s new Climate Action Genomics Initiative – Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems funding opportunity, launched in May 2022. Interdisciplinary Challenge Teams (ICTs) represent the largest, key component of the initiative. ICTs are integrated teams of researchers from different disciplines and users who work together to address specific questions, achieve relevant deliverables and, ultimately, reduce the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions of Canada’s agriculture and food systems. As part of the Initiative portfolio, the teams will work toward broader national impacts that manifest value beyond each individual project. The ICTs will provide genomic solutions to help implement agriculture and food production systems that are climate-resilient, socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sustainable, and that contribute to the mitigation of climate change impacts.

Objectives

The ICT funding opportunity aims to support teams that use genomic approaches to achieve the overall objective of the Initiative, which is to develop and apply genomic tools and technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the carbon footprint of Canada’s food systems to ensure they are resilient, economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

The scope of this funding opportunity will include areas where genomic technologies are used to help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of Canada’s agriculture and food production system. Projects should seek solutions that will increase the value created by production systems without increasing greenhouse gas emissions or amplifying negative impacts on the natural environment. Furthermore, projects should demonstrate how their outputs could be translated into reduced emissions by taking into account the various dimensions of the food system value chain, including production, processing, distribution and consumption.

Applicants must demonstrate how their proposal has significant potential to achieve concrete deliverables by the end of the funding period. Proposals that make a strong case that their deliverables will translate into significant social and/or economic benefits that align with the Initiative’s overall intended impact (i.e., the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to lessen the carbon footprint of Canada’s agriculture and food production systems) within the shortest time frame possible after the end of the project are particularly encouraged. Consideration will be given to what is reasonable for different research areas.

See example projects here.

To ensure that the objectives of the funding opportunity are met, all applications must address the evaluation criteria established for the competition (see Appendix 1 of funding opportunity).

Available funding and term

There is approximately $24 million available for the ICTs from Genome Canada.
Genome Canada’s maximum contribution to an approved project will be $3 million.
There must be a minimum contribution of $1 million from Genome Canada to each approved project.
A project’s eligible costs must be co-funded from eligible sources such that the co-funding is at least equal to the Genome Canada contribution. See the Genome Canada Guidelines for Funding for more details.
Successful teams will be awarded funding for a term of up to four years.

It is anticipated that eight to ten ICTs will be funded as part of this Initiative portfolio. The portfolio will also include a Data Coordinating Centre (DCC) as well as a Knowledge Mobilization and Implementation Coordinating Centre (KMICC).

Eligibility

Genome Canada funds can only be awarded to individuals affiliated with one or more of the following types of organizations:

Canadian universities, colleges and affiliated institutions including research hospitals and research institutes
Not-for-profit organizations (including community or charitable organizations) with an explicit research mandate
Canadian non-federal government departments or agencies

See ICT Funding Opportunity and Guidelines for Funding Research Projects for complete eligibility requirements.