Broader Programmes
Canadian Challenge Prizes
29 January 2021
What are the Canadian Challenge Prizes?
Challenge Works has been working in Canada since early 2018. The federal government has been a vocal champion for innovative approaches to drive both public good and economic growth, with a particular focus on outcomes-based funding.
In the private sector, there is an opportunity for Canada to be the go-to destination for start-ups and scale-ups.
Designing and Delivering the Afri-Plastics Challenge
We are currently working with the Canadian Government on the Afri-Plastics Challenge, an element of the $100-million Marine Litter Mitigation Fund announced by Prime Minister Trudeau at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Charlevoix in June 2018.
The Challenge will help communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to prevent plastic waste from entering the marine environment by finding ways to minimise reliance on plastic and new ways of managing plastic waste.
Advisory Support to the Impact and Innovation Unit
Launched in 2017, Impact Canada is a Government of Canada-wide effort to help accelerate the adoption of innovative funding approaches to deliver meaningful results to Canadians. Under this initiative, the Impact and Innovation Unit was established within a central agency – the Privy Council Office – to experiment with innovative programme delivery models to close the gap between policy development and implementation. Challenge-driven mechanisms have been some of the first approaches explored.
Challenge Works worked in partnership with the Impact and Innovation Unit as they co-design challenges with government departments and work to make challenge prizes a part of innovation policy.
Using this model since 2017, Impact Canada has launched over 20 challenges (with more in the pipeline), making up a portfolio of over $700 million in funding.
These challenge prizes have included:
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Drug Checking Technology Challenge
Launched as part of Health Canada’s opioid crisis response, the Drug Checking Technology Challenge aims to improve on drug checking technology that will allow the community of people who use drugs and those who support them to make more informed decisions based on the composition of a drug.
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Housing Supply Challenge
Designed to support innovative solutions to the barriers that limit the creation of new housing, Canada and Mortgage Housing Corporation is launching a series of unique Housing Supply Challenges on different topics over a five year period. The ‘Data Driven’ challenge round is now open and future rounds may include:
- Northern Housing
- Getting Started: Predevelopment Processes
- Construction Technology
- Scaling Solutions
- Public Perception of New Development
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Hull Design Efficiency Challenge
Atlantic Canada is home to nearly 13,000 inshore fishing boats that use diesel fuel to power them to lucrative fishing grounds. In support of both better economic and environmental outcomes, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency launched the Hull Design Efficiency Challenge to boat builders to develop an innovative hull that maximizes energy efficiency, lowers operational costs and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
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Indigenous Homes Innovation Initiative
Run by Indigenous Services Canada, the Indigenous Homes Innovation Initiative aims to find and support First Nation, Inuit and Métis Nation innovators who have housing ideas for rural, urban or remote Indigenous communities. The Initiative supports housing ideas in six focus areas:
- Traditional First Nation, Inuit or Métis Nation building styles and techniques
- Using the home for empowerment, capacity building and support for local businesses
- Support for vulnerable populations
- Culturally-inspired urban spaces for First Nation, Inuit and Métis Nation people
- Safety, security, and accessibility
- Energy independence and efficiency
Co-designing the Homegrown Innovation Challenge
Challenge Workss co-designed the Homegrown Innovation Challenge with the Weston Family Foundation in 2021. The $33-million Homegrown Innovation Challenge, delivered over six years, will identify teams and support the development of tools and technologies that enable Canadian farmers and producers to sustainably and competitively grow berries out of season.
Scoping a Whale Tracking Challenge
Challenge Works researched and designed the Whale Tracking Challenge: a potential CA$1 million prize fund to reward breakthroughs in technologies and approaches that reliably detect, locate and track whales in near real-time in Canadian waters. The solutions developed during the challenge would have the potential to minimise exposure of whales to human-caused threats, a critical part of ocean conservation efforts.
We are keen to speak with interested parties who may wish to support a prize moving forward.
Advisory Support to the Canadian Centre for Regulatory Innovation
As part of the Government’s regulatory modernization agenda, the Centre for Regulatory Innovation (CRI), located within the Treasury Board Secretariat, supports regulatory experimentation that promotes innovation and competitiveness in Canada. The CRI was stood up in late 2019 with a mandate to:
- Support a whole-of-government approach to regulatory experimentation;
- Help regulators to respond to technological advances; and,
- Support industry in bringing applications of new technologies into the Canadian marketplace.
Challenge Works worked with the Centre for Regulatory Innovation to:
- Share learning from our work in regulatory innovation;
- Provide guidance and support to regulators implementing, overseeing and evaluating regulatory experiments;
- Build a regulators’ experimentation toolkit based on learning from CRI’s initial work and international examples.
This work builds on Nesta’s UK-based anticipatory regulation research, related thought leadership and Open Up, Legal Access, Affordable Credit and Innovation in Water challenge prizes.
