Home/Funding Calls/2023 Open Call: Automation, Digital Technologies, and Demonstration in Agri-Food Production

2023 Open Call: Automation, Digital Technologies, and Demonstration in Agri-Food Production

This Competition is Closed

Introduction

The 2023 Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) 2023 Open Call has been developed to foster technological advances in agri-food production, and environmental sustainability. This program will support research and innovation designed to generate solutions leading to enhanced production efficiency including the adoption of automation such as implementation of robotics and automation, data-based decision making, and validation of new technologies through smart farms. The competition is categorized into the following broad topic areas:

  1. Agricultural production and efficiency, food safety, and quality
  2. Technology that utilizes data to measure and increase carbon capture
  3. Technology that reduces GHG emissions
  4. Technology that impacts land, soil health, water, and air quality

Specific projects may include but are not limited to research and/or innovations in:

  • Environmental sustainability (ESG, GHG emissions, carbon capture and storage, and measurement) related to agriculture and agri-food production
  • Production efficiency, traceability, transportation, animal health and welfare
  • Food safety and quality
  • Primary processing of agri-food
  • Cybersecurity related to agriculture and agri-food production

Crop type and species eligible for this competition include cereal and grain crops, forage crops, fruit crops, oil seed crops (excluding hemp) and vegetable crops. Animal species eligible for this competition include bovine (beef and dairy cattle, bison), porcine, poultry, ovine, caprine, bees and alternate livestock species (elk, deer, moose), and production of their primary products.

Secondary food products, packaging, sensory science, genomics, and traditional breeding methods, CRISPR, and aquaculture are not eligible project topics for this competition.

With support from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED), CAAIN is dedicating $5 Million to projects in this Open Call.

Completed and signed Expression of Interest (EOI) Forms and Financial Workbooks must be submitted to info@caain.ca by 11:59 AM MT on June 05, 2023.

For tips on how to submit an effective EOI and Financial Workbook, watch the EOI webinar video by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/xUEiUoqwFqo

Deadlines and Timelines

CAAIN will not accept partial, incomplete, or late submissions. Applicants are encouraged to complete their submissions well in advance of the deadline.

CAAIN Program Managers are available to assist by answering applicant questions and can be reached by email at info@caain.ca .

The following timeline applies to this competition. Note that CAAIN, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to alter this schedule.

This competition is now closed.

Program opens April 25, 2023
EOI submission Closed
Invitation to submit Full Project Proposal (FPP) June 26, 2023
FPP submission August 08, 2023
Notice of decision September 2023

To Apply

To submit an application, download and fill out the EOI Form and Financial Workbook. Complete details are available in the Program Guide.