Accelerating Agricultural Innovations 2.0

Overview of the Accelerating Agricultural Innovations 2.0 program:

AAI 2.0 is designed by Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) to support late-stage research, development, and pre-commercial demonstration of agricultural innovations with a high potential to reach market readiness. The program primarily targets solutions that address current industry challenges in Alberta’s agriculture and agri-food sectors, especially those enhancing productivity, environmental sustainability, value-added processing, or economic resilience. Through this funding, RDAR aims to help innovators bridge the critical gap between development and commercialization. The program prioritizes projects that demonstrate industry relevance and potential for adoption, and that actively involve collaboration with end users (e.g., producers, processors). AAI 2.0 encourages projects from private enterprises, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations that have a clear commercialization plan and the technical capability to bring the innovation to market. RDAR also emphasizes strong knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) components in each proposal. Successful applicants may be required to provide progress and financial reporting throughout the project. Eligible expenses include salaries, equipment use, contracted services, materials, and communications related to knowledge transfer. Projects must align with RDAR’s priority research outcomes and demonstrate a high return on investment for Alberta’s agricultural sector. This program builds on the success of the original AAI program and represents RDAR’s commitment to advancing high-impact innovations in agriculture

Benefits of the Accelerating Agricultural Innovations 2.0 program:

• Access to up to $500,000 in non-repayable funding for innovation advancement.
• Supports the transition of technologies from development to commercialization.
• Encourages industry-aligned, solution-driven research.
• Promotes collaboration between innovators and end users (e.g., producers).
• Enables knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) to maximize adoption.
• Supports Albertas agri-food and primary production sectors.
• Offers a streamlined application and evaluation process with clear criteria.
• Promotes environmentally sustainable and economically impactful solutions.

Eligibility criteria of the Accelerating Agricultural Innovations 2.0 program:

• Applicants must be one of the following
• An Industry Organization;
• A Municipal Government or an agency of a Municipal Government;
• A Post-Secondary Institution;
• A Primary Producer;
• A for-profit Legal Entity, including research companies and businesses offering custom services, consulting, or general services to agricultural clients; or
• Not-for-profit Indigenous (First Nation, Metis, Inuit) organization.
• A clear research extension plan to show how research outcomes will reach Albertas producers on-farm, either directly or through ancillary service providers (e.g. veterinarians).