Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) will provide $145 million in research funding over five years to support significant, collaborative R&D activities that will benefit the entire Canadian automotive industry.

This initiative is a partnership between five federal research and granting agencies under the Industry Canada umbrella, which has identified collaborative, industry-driven automotive research as a priority.

APC's mission is to support R&D that will help drive the Canadian automotive sector to a greater level of innovation. APC's emphasis will be on transformative, integrated projects or programs that will give Canadian industry and academia the resources required to further their automotive research and development ambitions. Smaller projects are also eligible for support through APC. However, the urgent requirement to boost automotive research will require big ideas and wide-ranging resources.

Industry Task Force

A key guiding principle of APC is that all projects (or programs of research) to be funded within this initiative must be driven by industry needs and must have active industrial participation and collaboration.

To ensure the industrial orientation of this initiative, NSERC, on behalf of the partnering agencies, established an Industry Task Force (ITF) to provide input and guidance on the form of APC and how APC's allocated resources should be invested. This included defining APC's research priority areas, the approach to be taken with regard to funding and the roles and responsibilities of the APC Project Office.

The ITF's composition was broadly representative of the diversity of the Canadian automotive sector, and also included three academic members who have significant experience conducting research relevant to the automotive industry. The ITF was Co-chaired by Howard Alper, Chair of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (ITF) and Distinguished University Professor, University of Ottawa, and Rob Wildeboer, member of STIC and Executive Chairman of Martinrea International, one of Canada's leading and largest automotive parts suppliers. A full listing of the ITF membership can be found here.