CFI Exceptional Opportunities Fund – COVID-19 competition

The CFI has launched an updated call for proposals for the Exceptional Opportunities Fund – COVID-19 (EOF-COVID-19) competition with a submission deadline of July 06 2020. Much of the eligibility criteria for this competition remains the same. Here is the updated competition guidelines.

Summary of competition guidelines https://www.innovation.ca/awards/exceptional-opportunities-fund-covid-19:

• The infrastructure component must be an indispensable element of an ongoing research project related to COVID-19.
• The infrastructure component must be acquired at the latest by March 31 2021.
• Up to 5 researchers (Project lead plus 4 co-applicants) may be listed on the proposal to either work collaboratively using the same requested infrastructure, or to work independently while sharing the requested infrastructure. The researchers must be currently engaged in research or technology development activities related to COVID-19.
• Proposals requesting between $200,000 and $1.5 million are eligible.
• Construction costs are not eligible expenses for this competition. Costs of minor renovations are eligible if the renovations can be completed by March 31 2021.

Please take note that one of the key changes the CFI made to this competition is that there is now an institutional envelope. This means that UBC has a limit on the total requests (in dollars) that can be submitted to the CFI. It is mandatory that all applicants submit an internal Expression of Interest for the UBC internal review committee to select which applications will go forward. Below are the internal deadlines.

If there are any questions or concerns about this, please feel free to reach out to Leonard Foster foster@msl.ubc.ca, Sharon Wu sharon.wu@ubc.ca or Meisan Brown-Lum meisan.brownlum@ubc.ca. Also, Andy Lam andy.Lam@ubc.ca for anything related to finances.