Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) announced its 20th round of funding which will be open until October 19, 2011. SDTC is a non-profit corporation created the Canadian Government to fund late stage development and pre-commercial demonstration of clean technologies.
These SDTC supported clean technologies address the challenges of climate change, clean air, soil and water. The SDTC has identified the following as priority areas:
- Natural Resources: Technologies that reduce the environmental impact of mining, the impact of fossil fuels and forestry.
- Clean Energy: Clean energy production and improved energy efficiency of transportation, buildings and industrial processes.
- Soil and Water: Improve the efficiency of large consumers of water and help mitigate the impacts of water or soil contamination.
- Agriculture: Increase yield and improve temperature and drought resistance of agricultural crops and mitigate land use changes and biodiversity loss
- Northern and Remote Communities: Innovative solutions for self sufficiency in smaller communities.
The SDTC can be a good source of funding for those companies who need help commercializing their technology. The funding awarded can be substantial but along with that comes a high level of due diligence.
The first step would be to file a Statement of Interest (SOI). This is a fairly complex document that the SDTC will use to decide if your application makes it to the next round of evaluation. It’s important to set aside enough time and resources to do a good job on the SOI. It’s not something that you are going to throw together in an afternoon. If you lack technical writing skills you may want to hire a consultant that has been through the process before.
There is a SOI template on SDTC’s website. I recommend that you have a look at the template and give SDTC a call to discuss your potential SOI application. The SDTC isn’t a good fit for every company but for those that are developing clean technologies, it can be an invaluable source of capital.