Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness (AMIC) 2022 Second Intake

The Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness (AMIC) program provides financial support to advanced manufacturing companies with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Ontario. This program had an earlier intake in 2022, with the second round of funding just recently being announced.

This program has announced its second intake period for 2022, which will open on August 10, and close on September 22.

AMIC provides both grants and interest-free loans to successful applicants, with a maximum amount of $1.5 million in grants for successful applicants, and a maximum of $5 million in no-interest loans. Both the grant and loan funding will cover a maximum of 15% towards a project’s overall costs.

Program Snapshot: Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness (AMIC)

The AMIC program is a recent addition to the Regional Development Program (RDP) that aims to help Ontario SMEs take on new growth projects that they may not have financial capacity for without the help of government funding. The qualifications to be eligible for this program are shown below.

Funding Amount

Successful applicants may receive the following funding contributions:

• Grants: Access up to 15% of eligible project costs to a maximum of $500,000 for small companies and $1.5 million.
• Loans: Access up to 15% of eligible project costs to a maximum of an interest-free $5 million loan (up to four years);
  • Should the company achieve their investment or upskilling targets, a portion of the loan (up to 30%) may be forgiven.

Eligible Applicants

For your advanced manufacturing business to be eligible for funding via AMIC, your organization must be located in Ontario and meet these criteria:

• Applicants are in an advanced manufacturing sector such as:
  • Aerospace;
  • Automotive;
  • Chemical;
  • ICT;
  • Steel; and
  • Life Sciences.
• Applicants must have a minimum of three years of financial statements;
• Applicants must have 10 employees or more;
• Commit to creating or upskilling a minimum of five new or current jobs;
• Be investing a minimum of $500K in the project; and
• Be located in, or plan to be located in, a community in Ontario.

Eligible Activities

Projects that are typically eligible to receive grant or loan funding through the AMIC program often include one or more of the following project types:

• Creating jobs in Ontario and build Ontario’s talent pool;
• Acquiring capital equipment;
• Adopting technology;
• Skills development;
• Drive innovation and cluster development;
• Help Ontario manufacturing companies adopt new technologies to improve outputs and competitiveness on a global scale;
• Attract private sector investments; and
• Stimulate Ontario’s economy and increase sector growth.

Apply for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness (AMIC) Funding

We strongly recommend applying for this program early as it is an extremely popular program for advanced manufacturing businesses to apply for each year. The second round of funding will open on August 10, and close on September 22 in 2022, with AMIC likely to receive future intake periods in the following years. If your business would like assistance in writing AMIC applications, consider speaking with the team of government grant and loan application writers at Mentor Works, a Ryan company to find out if your business is eligible for funding and how we can help take care of the application process on behalf of your business.

To find out more about Canadian federal and provincial government funding programs, please attend a free government funding event to ask questions about these programs and learn about new programs your business may be eligible for.