Partnerships Social Innovation Fund

As part of Research

NB’s Ideas Pillar, this program is designed to fund bold, innovative ideas that tackle complexorganizational,socialand/or environmental challenges facing New Brunswickers within one of the provincial priority sectors.

We’relooking forprojectsthat push boundaries in social innovation, capacity building, partnershipdevelopmentandco-creation—projects that think differently and act creatively.

New Brunswick might be small, butit’sbursting withbig ideasand collaborative spirit.

We’relooking for applicants who can harness that energy—partnering creatively withorganizationsoutside of the researchinstitutionwho will beengagedinthe project’sresearch design, development,implementation,and evaluation activities.

By the end ofthe award, researchers must demonstratehowthe project’sresearch activities contributedtochanges intheknowledge, skills, attitudes,and relationships of partners as well ashowthese changes contributed, orareexpected to contribute,toimprovementsin the targetedorganizational,social and/or environmental challenge.

Researchersmustalsodemonstrateasustained engagementplan with partnersbeyond theawardperiod (e.g., continued collaboration,additionalprojects,orco-ledknowledge mobilization).

No leverage isrequiredfor this program as it has beendesignateda Seed Fund for fiscal year . Seed Fundsaim to build capacity for long-term research investment in New Brunswick.

Accordingly, projects will berequiredtodemonstratepotential forfuture grant capture via a fundingroadmap and aclear plan forfundingsustainabilitybeyond theawardperiod.

On behalf of Research

NB,
The/La Collaborative will be hosting a webinar on how to build equity-based co-creation i nto your research and how to articula te this in your research proposal. Attendance to this workshop is not mandatory for submission , but an optional resource . To register, please select one of the options below.

The/La Collaborative will also provid e award recipients and their partners training in working together collaboratively to meet project objectives . This is not mandatory or a condition of the award. More information will be provided only to award recipients after the Notice of Decision has gone out .

• Applicants must be researchers at one of the eligible research institutions listed in the Award Guidelines
  .
• Projects must be partnered with at least one non-researchpartner from outside of the research institution.
  
  The partner(s) must be involved inequity-basedco-creationand/or co-implementation.
  
  The partner can be a new or existing partnership.
• Projects whose primary objectiveiscurriculum development, preparation of teaching materials, program evaluation, organization of a conference or workshop, digitization of a collection, or creation of a database are not eligible
  for funding under this program.

April 7, 2026

August 20, 2026

Up to 2 years

Up to $20k

Seed fund – no leverage required

Expenses that contribute to advancing the project are eligible.

Applications for this fund are only accepted through the Research

NB application portal and are evaluated against the evaluation criteria for this fund .

See the Award G
uidelines for an in-depth workflow and explanation of this process.

The award is for a maximum duration of two years, with a Status Report due at year one and a Final Status Report due three months after the award end date. Awardees are required to submit 1- and 3-year Impact Reports following the Final Status Report. These reports are to be completed via the application portal.

In the final status report, the applicant will be required to provide the name and email address of the partner(s) to allow for the distribution of a partner Final Report, and 1- and 3-year Impact Reports.

Research

NB Seed Funds are funding programs that focus on building capacity for future federal, private, or public research investments in New Brunswick and catalyze research. Seed Funds do not have matching funding requirements.

Any partner outside of a research institution. Partners can be government, n on-government organizations, non-profit organizations, community organizations , for-profit businesses, and industry.