Challenges
We're backing risk takers to solve challenges. Are you ready?
The Government of Canada is looking for innovators to solve challenges. As the single largest purchaser of Canadian goods and services, the Government of Canada has a unique opportunity to support the growth of Canadian innovators and entrepreneurs.
We need you, Canadian small businesses and innovators, to develop novel solutions to these challenges. Through the Innovative Solutions Canada program, we're partnering with eligible Canadian small businesses and facilitating the early development, testing and validation of prototypes, as well as preparing a pathway to commercialization.
- If your idea is selected, you could receive up to $150,000 in support to develop a proof of concept.
- If your proof of concept is approved, you could receive up to $1 million in support to develop a prototype.
- If the developed innovation solves the Government of Canada's challenge, we could be your first buyer.
Proposed solutions
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New challenges – Accepting proposals soon
Audio Quality Enhancements for Remote Interpretation Services
Sponsoring department: Public Service and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
This challenge is seeking innovative solutions to provide superior sound quality for remote interpretation (RI) as current devices do not provide sufficient voice frequency (VF) range for interpretation and can cause workplace injuries and interruptions of service. The Bureau is seeking a solution that meets ISO standards.
Improving the Internet Connectivity of Users in Remote Locations
Sponsoring department: Shared Services Canada (SSC)
Shared Services Canada is seeking solutions that would enable low-cost high-speed Internet access to Government of Canada employees and Canadian citizens who work or live in remote areas around the world.
Enhancing Pedestrian and Cyclist Road Safety
Sponsoring department: Transport Canada (TC)
Save lives — and reduce injuries — by accelerating the adoption of effective, low-cost technologies that improve pedestrian and bicyclists' safety around commercial vehicles.
Kinetic Energy Harvesting on Marine Vessels
Sponsoring department: Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard
Coast Guard seeks solutions for harnessing kinetic energy from the roll, pitch and yaw of marine vessels with the goal of reducing energy consumption and reliance on externally-sourced and stored energy.
Detection System for Wireless Communication
Sponsoring department: Correctional Services Canada
Correctional Services Canada (CSC) is seeking a technological solution to manage/prevent unauthorized use of wireless communication devices thereby preventing inmates from conducting illegal activities using such devices.
Preventing contraband delivery via Air and Ground
Sponsoring department: Correctional Services Canada
Correctional Services Canada (CSC) is seeking an innovative and cost-effective technology solution to detect, track and prevent contraband items from entering the perimeter via Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as drones, and fence throw-over.
Life Sign Monitoring System (LSMS)
Sponsoring department: Correctional Services Canada
Correctional Services Canada (CSC) is seeking a solution to monitor the life signs of inmates and identify critical conditions that would typically lead to death in custody and provide prompt notification of such situation thereby reducing the time for staff to respond to the situation.
Scaling down precision agriculture
Sponsoring department: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Precision agriculture technology is tailored to farms above 500 acres in size, so with farms below that acreage, or with an annual income below $75,000, the rate of adoption of these technologies declines significantly.
Efficient soil sampling techniques
Sponsoring department: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) is seeking a solution that allows for greater homogeneity of soil samples through their efficient and consistent collection, leading to greater reliability and accuracy of test results.
Plastics Challenge - Construction Waste
Sponsoring department: Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
Innovative solutions are needed to increase the recovery, reuse and recycle of plastic wastes generated from construction activities.
Plastics Challenge - Separation of Mixed Plastics
Sponsoring department: Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
Effective solutions are needed to improve the separation, sorting, and processing of mixed plastics to produce high-quality recycled feedstocks and create opportunities for new markets.
Plastics Challenge - Recycling of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastic
Sponsoring department: Transport Canada (TC)
This challenge seeks novel, economically viable, and ecologically sustainable solutions for recycling or reusing glass fiber-reinforced plastic in a manner that is energy efficient and recovers as much material as possible (diverting from landfill).
Plastics Challenge - Remove and Manage Ghost Fishing Gear and Marine Debris
Sponsoring department: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
Seeking a viable and economically feasible solution to remove plastic ghost fishing gear and other marine litter from aquatic environments through a technological innovation that can be deployed on existing vessels and infrastructure.
Plastics Challenge - Food Packaging
Sponsoring department: Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
Improve the design of film food packaging to reduce the generation and disposal of plastic waste.
Plastics Challenge - Sustainable Fishing and Aquaculture Gear
Sponsoring department: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
This challenge seeks economically and technically viable innovations in fishing and aquaculture gear or gear-related technologies to reduce or eliminate ghost fishing and aquatic plastic pollution caused by Canadian fisheries and aquaculture industries.
Plastics Challenge - Improved compostibility of bioplastics
Sponsoring department: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
There is a need for greater compatibility of bioplastics (i.e. plastics derived from agricultural OR wood-based biomass) with home and municipal composting.
Open challenges
There are no open challenges at this moment
Closed challenges
Earth observation images processing and management system
Sponsoring department: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is seeking an automated system outside of PHAC infrastructure that would enable the pre-processing of large sets of Earth Observation (EO) data and the storage and overlaying of user defined ground truth data (GT) on pre-processed EO images to help address a wide range of public health needs.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Innovative platform to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making
Sponsoring department: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is seeking an innovative platform/platforms that will provide Canadians with immediate access to relevant, trustworthy, public health information adapted to their specific questions and needs, based on core content from PHAC in areas such as but not limited to immunization and travel health.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Haptic System
Sponsoring department: National Research Council of Canada (NRC)
This challenge is seeking an affordable, robust and good resolution bimanual haptic feedback stylus system that interacts, via Wi-Fi/Bluetooth mode, with mobile platforms.
Electroencephalography (EEG) and Vital signs integrated existing virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets
Sponsoring department: National Research Council of Canada (NRC)
This challenge seeks the development of a user-friendly and robust device for monitoring electroencephalography (EEG) and multiple vital signs integrated into existing extended reality headsets.
Measurement of Cold Spray
Sponsoring department: National Research Council of Canada (NRC)
This challenge seeks to measure in-flight metal particle temperature in a coldspray process.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Platform Corrosion Detection and Prevention
Sponsoring department: Department of National Defence (DND)
The Department of National Defence (DND) requires new methods/processes to identify/detect corrosion and the development of proactive corrosion control measures.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
High Energy Lasers
Sponsoring department: Department of National Defence (DND)
The Department of National Defence (DND) requires the capability to detect and defeat non-cooperative objects by means of compact, efficient and robust laser sources.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Night Vision Ergonomics Enhancement
Sponsoring department: Department of National Defence (DND)
The Department of National Defence (DND) is seeking an innovative solution for enabling enhancement of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operators' vision such as night vision goggles (NVGs) and counterbalance.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Additive Manufacturing for High Performance Systems
Sponsoring department: Department of National Defence (DND)
The Department of National Defence (DND) is seeking new solutions to advance the field of additive manufacturing technologies for the fields of defense and security.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Connected Vehicle and Engineered Surfaces Challenge
Sponsoring department: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
This challenge seeks novel solutions that incorporate Frequency Selected Engineered Surfaces (FSES) technology into connected vehicle designs as a means to move towards wireless connectivity within vehicles, and as a tool to manage interference emanating from vehicles into other vehicles, and into the overall urban environment.
3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing: Metal Powder Bed Density Test Equipment
Sponsoring department: National Research Council of Canada
Seeks new solutions to enable the testing of metal powder bed density in additive manufacturing processes.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Engineered Surfaces Challenge
Sponsoring department: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
This challenge seeks novel solutions that incorporate the use of Frequency Selective Engineered Surfaces (FSES) in the research and development of new building materials, construction products and design tools using FSES tuned to operate in the below 6GHz (potentially addressing the WiFi interference issue) and above 24GHz range (potentially addressing the issues of radio frequency propagation).
Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics for Advanced Autonomous Space Systems
Sponsoring department: Canadian Space Agency
The challenge is to apply artificial intelligence and big data analytics to bring tangible advancements in the operation and utilization of space assets in support of government operations, public safety, public health and discovery.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Advanced Coatings and Materials for Personal Protective Ensembles
Sponsoring department: Department of National Defence
To identify and develop innovative solutions and technologies for materials and coatings to enhance Individual Protective Ensembles to counter Chemical/Biological/Radiological threats.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
Robust "Beyond Line of Sight" (BLOS) Communications in Satellite-Denied Environments
Sponsoring department: Department of National Defence
To provide robust approaches to over-the-horizon/BLOS communications in satellite-denied environments.
Please refer to the tender notice for this challenge on Buy and Sell.
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