Letter of Intent to Apply for a College and Community Innovation Program – Build Innovation Enhancement Grant

Instructions for Completing an Application – Form 186

Contents

• Before you begin
• Completing Form 186
• Attachments
• How to submit your Form 186
• Checklist for a Letter of Intent (LOI)

Before you begin

Note: You should use the following instructions to complete the form. The description of the proposed initiative, the budget justification, the letter from the President of the college and the two letters of support from local firms are "free form" and can be attached to the Form 186 submitted electronically. Complete the application using the presentation standards listed under the Attachment section of these instructions, then print.

Read the following documents before you start completing Form 186:

1. The Frequently Asked Questions on how to use the On-line System;
2. The General Instructions on how to complete Form 186. These instructions are found below;
3. The program description;
4. The relevant college eligibility sections.

Program information questions

• Send an email to colleges@nserc-crsng.gc.ca or call 613-944-5802.

Help with NSERC's on-line system

• Check the Frequently Asked Questions on how to use the NSERC On-line System;
• Review the instructions available in the application;
• Contact the On-line Services Helpdesk by sending an email to: webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca or calling 613-995-4273 (indicate your email address and telephone number).

Collection and use of personal information

All personal information provided to the College and Community Innovation Program (CCI) that relates to identifiable researchers, company officials, college employees, community members, students and others will be used to review applications and to administer and monitor awards. NSERC and the other participating federal agencies, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will share this information among themselves, as required to administer the program. They will manage it in a secure manner. All three agencies are subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, which strictly limit the use and disclosure of personal and other sensitive information. For more detailed information on the use and disclosure of this information, see the document entitled Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to the College and Community Innovation Program. For more details on protection, access rights, and the operation of these laws within each agency, please consult their respective Web sites as follows: NSERC;  SSHRC and  CIHR and  CFI.

Under the Privacy Act, federal institutions must collect personal information directly from the individual to whom it relates. For the CCI Program, the collection of personal information will be done indirectly because the college will be soliciting or providing personal information in support of its proposal. The colleges will therefore have to ensure that individuals from whom they solicit support letters, or whose information they provide in a Letter of Intent (LOI) or in an application have been fully informed of the various use and disclosure of this information by the CCI Program. One way for colleges to accomplish this is to provide the document entitled Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to the College and Community Innovation Program to these participants and sponsors and ask them to confirm their understanding and acceptance of it. The submission of an LOI or proposal by the college will constitute an attestation that the various participants have been so informed and have authorized the college to provide this information to NSERC.

The use and disclosure of personal information provided to the joint initiative is described in the program description.

Completing Form 186

An LOI must be submitted prior to sending a full application. It will be evaluated against the Innovation Enhancement (IE) selection criteria and used for screening purposes to determine which colleges will be invited to submit applications. Following the evaluation of Form 186, only successful applicants will be invited to submit IE applications.

For the CCI Program - Build IE Grants, one person (also referred to as “applicant”) from a college must be designated to complete Form 186, using NSERC’s On-line System, on behalf of the college. The “applicant” refers to the "authorized representative"— an individual delegated by the college president to prepare the application and manage the Build IE Grant if successful. IE Grants are institutional grants; as such, it is expected that the “applicant” will be a senior manager in the administration of the college.

Build IE Grant Applications that are submitted without first submitting a Form 186 will not be considered.

Note: an LOI is not required for an Entry-Level or Extend IE Grant.

Form Profile

Some of this information was transferred from the “New Application” screen. You may update the fields as needed.

Person Profile

This information was transferred from the “New User Registration” information screen. You may update the fields as needed and complete the missing information.

Name

If you have changed your name since you last applied for support from NSERC, enter your previous family name.

Personal Identification Number (PIN)

All NSERC applicants have been, or will be, given a PIN. Once you have your PIN, use it each time you apply for a grant and in all correspondence with NSERC. If you have not yet been issued a PIN, or if you don't know your PIN, leave this space blank.

Area(s) of research

Research subject codes

Consult the NSERC Code Tables. If the applied research focus of the proposal is in the natural sciences or engineering, you are required to select a primary area of research subject code from the list of Area of Research subject codes. You can also select a secondary area of research subject code. Otherwise, leave the fields blank.

Area of application codes

Consult the NSERC Code Tables. If the applied research focus of the proposal is in the natural sciences or engineering, you are required to select a primary area of application code from the list of Area of Application Codes. You can also select a secondary Area of Application code. Otherwise, leave the fields blank.

Key words

Provide a maximum of 10 key words that describe the proposal. Key words aid in the identification of potential reviewers with the correct expertise to review the proposal. Selecting appropriate key words for the subject of the proposal will aid in ensuring the best possible peer review for the subject area is obtained.

Proposed Expenditures

Before completing this section, read the CCI Program - IE Grants description and the College and Community Innovation Program Financial Administration Guide for information about the eligibility of expenditures and the policies and requirements governing the use of grant funds.

Indicate the range (within a few tens of thousands of dollars) of the annual funding required for the next five years. This information will be used for the advance planning of the competition. Include partner contributions if known. While these cannot be listed separately, they do indicate additional contributions to the total budget amount, and can be explained in the budget justification.

Summary of Proposal

In the space provided, briefly describe the nature of the proposal, the context in which it is made, its objectives, the planned activities, the anticipated results, and the benefits to local or regional innovation in plain language that the public can understand. Your summary must not exceed 21 lines on the printed copy. To ensure that your text will fit in the limited space, save your information, select Preview, and then adjust accordingly.

If you wish, you may also provide a summary in the second official language in the text box identified for that purpose.

Attachments

The following documents are considered attachments:

1. Budget justification;
2. Description of the proposed initiative;
3. Letter from the President of the college; and
4. Two letters of support from local firms (one page each) and, if applicable, a one page description for each previously awarded five year IE Grant describing the novelty of the new targeted applied research area.

Presentation standards

Attachments are "free form." They should be attached electronically.

• Pages must be 8 1/2 x 11 inches (216 mm x 279 mm), portrait format, with a single column, unless specified otherwise.
• All text must be in 12 pt Times New Roman font.
• Margins must be set at a minimum of ¾" (1.87 cm).
• Your name and PIN must appear outside the set margins of the page, at the top right corner of every page.

Attachments which do not respect these presentation standards may be rejected.

Budget Justification

In an attached document (up to one page), provide a brief explanation and justification for each line item of your proposed expenditures according to the instructions specific to the program. Please refer to the program description for use of funds. You should show and describe any expected support from other organizations in the budget and budget justification.

If you will be requesting CFI and IE funding, include the projected amount requested from the CFI in the budget justification section.

Note: During the tenure of the IE Grant, reallocation of more than 20% of any annual budget line item to other items is only permitted upon NSERC’s approval of a revised budget and justification for the changes. Should budget line items be reallocated beyond 20% per line item, NSERC may choose to remove the funds in question from a future instalment, or to request repayment.

Proposal

The description should not be more than five pages in length, not including literature references. You may also use one additional page for literature references. Refer to the selection criteria in the CCI Program - IE Grants description for guidance in preparing your proposal. Please provide the Details of the proposed initiative under the following headings:

• Describe the proposed plan for increasing the applied research capacity of the college in the area of the proposal and for facilitating its transfer to local companies.
• Describe the applied research to be carried out.
• Describe the gaps in applied research capacity that need to be filled, the expected outcomes and benefits to local companies.
• Explain the involvement of local companies, faculty, students and, if any, other relevant organizations and partners.
• Explain the fit of the proposal to the needs of local companies and the college’s strategic plan.
• Include short descriptions (two or three sentences) of the role of key personnel involved in the project. An organizational chart is recommended, but not mandatory.
• If you will be requesting CFI and IE funding, include a brief description of the applied research and technology development infrastructure that will be requested (e.g. equipment, renovations, etc.). The IE LOI form must be submitted directly to NSERC.

Letter from the President of the college

Include a letter from the President of the college outlining the support of the college for the proposed initiative and the relationship to the college’s strategic plan (one page maximum).

Letters of Support from Local Firms

Include two letters (one page maximum for each letter) from local companies and/or businesses describing the need for applied research in the area of the proposal and the anticipated benefits. Letters should come from a senior executive and also indicate current or past associations with the college.

If you have many supporting firms or organizations, consider providing a letter from a typical organization, or from a partner that summarizes the input from other partners. Contributions and interactions from the partners for whom letters are not provided can be described within the Proposed Initiative section.

Note: For uploading purposes, all the letters must be saved into a single PDF document.

Previously Awarded Build IE Grants

Colleges with previously awarded Build IE Grant(s) (or its predecessor the Five-Year IE Grants) may include one additional page per prior five year IE grant demonstrating that the proposed Build IE Grant’s targeted applied research area is distinct from the previously awarded IE Grant(s). Describe how the proposed Build IE grant will create significant value to the region’s innovation capacity in that it will draw on different applied research disciplines, will require different technical expertise and facilities, and will support a different and significant industry sector from the previously funded IE(s). This page (or pages) will need to be appended to the letters of support, and must be saved as a single PDF document to be uploaded.

How to Submit your Form 186

Note: Once submitted electronically to NSERC, your letter of intent (Form 186) will no longer be available for revision.

Checklist for a Complete Letter of Intent to Apply for a CCI-IE Grant

Form 186 Budget justification (attachment, one page only) Description of the proposed initiative (attachment, up to five pages not including literature references) plus one additional page for literature references Letter from the President of the college (attachment, one page) Two letters of support from local firms; if applicable, append to the letters of support, a one page description of the novelty of the targeted applied research area for each previously awarded five year IE Grant (as a single PDF attachment).