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National Cybersecurity Consortium – Cyber Security Innovation Network (CSIN) – 2025 Call for Proposals

Sponsor/agency: National Cybersecurity Consortium (NCC, funded by Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED))

Program: Cyber Security Innovation Network (CSIN) Program

*Please notify Grants Officer Ewa Stewart know as soon as possible if you are interested in applying.

Description:

The National Cybersecurity Consortium (NCC) is a catalyst to build a future where Canadian organizations are global leaders in cybersecurity, so Canadians benefit from the prosperity, growth, and safety that comes from advancing and creating innovative cybersecurity products and services. The NCC is committed to building partnerships among the academic, not-for-profit, and private sectors to further cybersecurity initiatives across Canada.

With funding from the Government of Canada through the Cyber Security Innovation Network (CSIN) program, the NCC is mobilizing funds through the 2025 Call for Proposals to support initiatives that: 

  • Support research and development (R&D) projects with Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)1-6 to design and implement innovative cybersecurity technologies, advance state-of-the-art products, and conduct research;
  • Support commercialization of new technology with TRL 7-9: products and services that address cybersecurity challenges in critical infrastructure protection, human-centric cybersecurity, network security, software security, and privacy protection; and
  • Provide opportunities for training, upskilling, and reskilling of students and professionals from various disciplines.

The NCC funds projects under three major streams: 

  1. Research and Development (R&D);
  2. Commercialization; and 
  3. Training.

Deadlines:

Stage 1: ORS LOI Deadline – Tuesday, March 18, 2025 (RGA form required)

  • NCC LOI Deadline – Monday, March 24, 2025

Stage 2: ORS Full Application Deadline – TBD

  • Proposal Submission Deadline (by invitation only) – Monday May 9, 2025

Stage 3: ORS Due Diligence Deadline - TBD

  • Due Diligence Submission Deadline – Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Value:

R&D Standard – up to $2 million (50% matching contribution required

R&D Spearhead – up to $500,000 (matching not required)

Indirect Costs:

Applicants must include indirect costs/overhead worth 15% of total NCC request.

Note: Ontario Tech will deduct the NCC’s incremental membership fee (worth 3.5% of annual installment – see “NCC Membership Fee” section below) from the awarded indirect costs prior to distributing any remaining awarded funds for indirect costs according to the Indirect Costs of Research Policy. 

Duration:

1 to 3 years, projects must be completed, including all spending, by March 31, 2029.

How to Apply:

  1. Notify Ewa Stewart of your intent to apply as soon as possible.
  2. Review the 2025 Call for Proposals, Funding Program Guide: Pre-Award, and FAQs.
  3. Register in NCC’s Adsigno Portal to access the LOI application.
  4. Create and complete an LOI application in the portal.
  5. Add Laura Rendl – rendl@ontariotechu.ca as the “Authorized Signatory” to the application.
  6. Submit a draft of the full LOI and a Research Grants Authorization (RGA) Form signed by your Dean to Ewa Stewart by March 18, 2025.
  7. Make any required revisions and submit LOI in the application portal by 9 am on Monday, March 24 (Please note that authorized signatory must approve your LOI in the portal after you submit, so the 9 am deadline is mandatory.)
  8. If the LOI is accepted, the NCC will invite the applicant to submit a full proposal due on May 9, 2025 (internal deadlines will be set once LOI results are announced.)

Program Information:

More information can be found here.        

Recording and slide deck of the February 19 Information Session 

Q&A Session – Tuesday, March 11, 2025 (details TBD; sign up for NCC newsletter for details.)

Eligibility:

Subject Matter

Under the Research and Development (R&D) stream, the NCC will support (TRL 1-6) that are focused on the design and implementation of innovative cybersecurity technologies, working to advance the state-of-the-art, or looking to conduct studies within the Canadian cybersecurity ecosystem relating to:

  • Critical Infrastructure Protection to develop solutions that enable proactive monitoring and real-time detection and mitigation to restore critical infrastructure from damage and interruptions inflicted by cyberattacks.
  • Network Security to develop tools, techniques, and procedures to safeguard computer networks and hosts from both internal and external exploits.
  • Software Security to develop tools, methods, and practices to reveal and cure vulnerabilities before software is released to end-users.
  • Human-Centric Cybersecurity to understand how human factors influence and impact security and privacy requirements to develop new humancentric cybersecurity solutions.
  • Privacy Protection to develop protective technologies across many different environments that safeguard individuals and data from privacy violations.

Research and Development proposals are not limited to technical or scientific projects but could address non-technical issues of concern to cybersecurity/privacy. These may not sit within a particular TRL but will be considered on their own merit and assessed based on the potential impact of their goals.  Research and Development proposals can additionally fall into one of two classes: Spearhead or Standard (for more detail on these classes of projects, see the Terminology List. 

A note on Spearhead Projects: Spearhead projects are research and development projects that originate from postsecondary educational institutions (PSE) and/or not-for-profit (NFP) organizations but do not have matching contributions identified. Matching contribution recommendations are under the heading ‘Grant Amounts and Matching Contributions’. Spearhead projects should be novel in nature and explore riskier early-stage ideas. However, they are NOT curiosity-driven projects. A spearhead project should have defined goals and milestones but should be sufficiently flexible to adapt as new insights emerge. Thus, the approaches to the goals may change but the goals should not. Changes to goals and milestones will need to be reported in advance of such alterations as specified in the reporting requirements of the Post Award Program Guide. Note: Although no matching contributions are required for a spearhead project, a plan must be provided to describe how a broader set of collaborators will be engaged over the lifespan of the project. These must be measurable (e.g., a private sector partner will be onboarded by Y2/Q3 to provide expertise and/or funding; or three not-for-profit organizations will be approached to work on an initiative to expand to areas beyond the applicant’s local jurisdiction). The purpose is to expand the project's participants and broaden its potential impact beyond the lab. In addition, it is anticipated that this could allow for a subsequent application to the NCC in the Standard category to continue to move the idea forward.

The NCC will also fund Commercialization Projects (Technology, Product or Service) and Training projects (Skills and Talent Development). See the full 2025 Call for proposals for details.

Projects submitted to the NCC for funding may not be submitted for consideration for other funding opportunities. Refer to the NCC’s Pre-award Guide to review eligible organizations, sources for matching contributions and project expenses. 

Applicant

Lead Organization will be required to be a member, in good standing, of the NCC. For additional information, please refer the website.

The Project Lead identified on a project must have a fulltime/tenure-track appointment with the Lead Organization they are affiliated with. The Project Lead will be submitting the application components and will be the point of contact for the project regarding reporting. A Co-Lead may be named for the project.

Additional Information:

NCC Membership Fees

As the NCC is a member-driven organization, the potential Ultimate Recipient (Lead Organization) will need to be a member in good standing of the NCC to receive funds from the NCC.  It is expected that the base membership will be paid in full by the close of the Stage 2: Project Proposal period.  If the project is successful in receiving an NCC grant, the Ultimate Recipient will be required to pay an additional 3.5% incremental membership fee based on the amount of awarded grant funds. Note: membership fees are not an eligible expense of the NCC or CSIN project funding. For Project Proposals that proceed beyond Stage 3, any Partner Organizations identified are encouraged to become members in good standing of the NCC.  For additional information on NCC membership, including detail on membership benefits, visit our website.


Resources:

Contact:

NCC Program Officer: projects@ncc-cnc.ca

ORS Grants Officer: ewa.stewart@ontariotechu.ca