CRIN Digital Oil and Gas Technology Competition
The Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) Digital Oil and Gas Technology Competition sought breakthrough digital technology solutions that address environmental and economic challenges in Canada’s oil and gas industry. The competition was open to solutions aligned with one or more of the following focus areas: environmental monitoring, operational excellence and efficiency, capital project execution, and health and safety.
The competition is now closed. Click here to learn more about the winners!
Competition description
The Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) Digital Oil and Gas Technology Competition sought breakthrough digital technology solutions that address environmental and economic challenges in Canada’s oil and gas industry. The competition was open to solutions aligned with one or more of the following focus areas: environmental monitoring, operational excellence and efficiency, capital project execution, and health and safety.
Who should participate?
- Technology developers
- Researchers/academics
- Ventures, Accelerators and Incubators
- Small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- Multinational enterprises (MNEs)
- Oil and gas producers
- All sectors that can provide digital solutions for focus areas
Note: All project applications must represent a team consisting of at least one small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) and at least one oil and gas producer.
Opportunity
The total funding available for projects in this Competition was up to $5 million Canadian Dollars (CAD), subject to the discretion of CRIN and the availability of funds. The maximum funding request to CRIN for any one project was $1 million CAD. There was no minimum funding request for any one project. Learn more in the Competition Guide.
What’s happening now?
- The competition is now closed.
- CRIN and MaRS would like to thank everyone who participated!
- Click here to learn more about the winners!
Background
CRIN’s focus is on ensuring Canada’s hydrocarbon resources can be sustainably developed and integrated into global energy systems. Canada’s oil and gas industry plays an important role in today’s economy and is faced with the urgent need to reduce its environmental impacts including greenhouse gas footprint. Innovation and technology play a critical role in achieving these outcomes.
The total funding available for projects in this Competition was up to $5 million Canadian Dollars (CAD), subject to the discretion of CRIN and the availability of funds. The maximum funding request to CRIN for any one project was $1 million CAD. There was no minimum funding request for any one project.
The objective of this competition was to identify breakthrough digital technology solutions that address environmental and economic challenges in Canada’s oil and gas industry in one or more of the following focus areas: environmental monitoring, operational excellence and efficiency, capital project execution, and health and safety.
Digital solutions can unlock the potential of data to transform Canada’s oil and gas industry. The solutions should be directly aligned with the focus areas described above and the intended outcomes and opportunities of the competition, or be a catalyst to achieve the outcomes. Examples of digital solutions include but are not limited to incorporation of advanced analytics, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), cloud and edge computing, digital twins, drones and sensors, internet of things (IoT), and real-time decision support systems
The focus of this Competition was limited to breakthrough solutions that result in significant environmental, economic and public benefits to Canada, and which are between pilot phase and commercial implementation stage.
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Email crincompetition@marsdd.com with any questions.
About CRIN
The Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) is a pan-Canadian network focused on ensuring Canada’s energy resources can be sustainably developed and integrated into the global energy systems. CRIN, as a ‘network of networks’, connects a vast array of skills, knowledge and experience from oil and gas and other industries to technology developers, researchers, government, investors, academia, entrepreneurs, youth and many other sectors. By identifying industry challenges, CRIN creates a market pull to accelerate commercialization and widespread clean technology adoption with environmental, economic and public benefits for Canada.
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Competition structure
The CRIN Digital Oil and Gas Technology Competition sought breakthrough digital technology solutions that address environmental and economic challenges in Canada’s oil and gas industry with clear pathways to commercialization and wide-spread adoption in oil and gas and other industries across Canada and internationally;
More specifically, it asked for:
1. Projects that address at least one of the following focus areas:
- Environmental monitoring
- Operational excellence and efficiency
- Capital project execution
- Health and safety
Read the Primer for more information on these focus areas
2. Projects that have a technology readiness level (TRL) of 6 to 9 at the time of submission.
3. Applicant project teams consist of at least one SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) and at least one oil and gas producer all being incorporated in Canada or of a Canadian Province or Territory and all being members of CRIN.
4. All submissions must be completed by an authorized representative designated by the lead applicant organization that will serve as the primary contact point with MaRS and CRIN throughout the application process.
5. A minimum of 25 percent of project funding must come from industry collaborators. The remaining 75 percent can come from a mix of sources, including up to 50 percent from CRIN, and up to 25 percent from other government sources or other private sources. Maximum 75 percent of eligible funding from all Canadian government (federal, provincial, territorial, municipal) sources. The CRIN contribution to a single project will be no more than 50 percent of the total project eligible costs.
6. Technology solutions can originate from anywhere globally, but must be piloted, demonstrated, or implemented in Canada. Projects that involve demonstration, deployment, or implementation of a technology at multiple Canadian sites are eligible for funding under this Competition.
7. This Competition is designed to support Canadian projects and drive economic activity in Canada. At least 90 percent of total eligible costs must be incurred in Canada. Costs occurring outside of Canada shall not exceed 10 percent of the total eligible costs for each funded project.
Learn more in the Competition Guide.
How to apply
Applicants must complete and submit the following:
2. Create a profile on challenges.marsdd.com
3. Click “Accept Competition” on the Competition webpage
4. Ensure you meet the eligibility requirements as outlined in the Competition Guide
5. Complete and include the following in the submission:
- Submission form (Required)
- Project overview document (Required)
- Letters of support/commitment (Required)
- Video Demonstration (Optional)
6. Click “Submit Application” on the Competition webpage and upload your saved Submission Form and all supporting documents
7. Ensure you submit by Friday July 30, 2021 5:00 p.m. PT
IMPORTANT: You must be a member of CRIN to apply for this competition.
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Judging and Awards
The total funding available for projects in this Competition was up to $5 million Canadian Dollars (CAD), subject to the discretion of CRIN and the availability of funds. The maximum funding request to CRIN for any one project was $1 million CAD. There was no minimum funding request for any one project. Winners will be announced January 2022.
Please continue to visit the challenge website for more specific dates.
All submissions are assessed based on the following merit evaluation criteria:
INNOVATION OPPORTUNITY
- Technology and innovation
- Growth of domestic market, end-user potential and global export (by development of new processes/products)
- Commercialization pathway and knowledge transfer
IMPACT
- Environmental benefits (air (GHG emissions), land, water)
- Economic benefits (increased competitiveness, and revenue/cost impact)
- Public and social benefits (job and business creation)
IMPLEMENTATION
- Work plan and budget
- Financing plan (including risk management strategy)
- Project team and required skills/resources
Applicants will be required to demonstrate that the project is responding to a need articulated by industry collaborators to solve a high-priority problem, and that if the technology is successful, there will be a strong market pull from industry.
For more information on funding and evaluation, see the Competition Guide.
Timeline
Competition opens (18/05/2021)
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The competition officially opened at 11:30a.m. PT
Virtual launch event (18/05/2021)
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11:30a.m. to 1:00p.m. PT
Information session (09/06/2021)
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9:00a.m. to 10:00a.m. PT
Submission deadline (30/07/2021)
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Submit your solution by 5:00p.m. PT
Winners announcement (26/01/2022)
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Congratulations to the winners!
Required for submission
Additional resources
FAQ
The time between competition close and award is for judging and contracting. CRIN team will do their best to minimize the contracting time, however, has provided the maximum duration it may take to distribute the award.
In addition to the number of employees as a criteria as an SME, all entities party to a project must be incorporated in Canada, or of a Canadian province / territory. For further clarity Crown-corporations, federally/provincially funded agencies (e.g., SRC, Innotech, etc.) are NOT considered as an SME in CRIN Competitions. CRIN highly encourages these organizations to connect with and partner up with SMEs (technology developers, innovators, etc.) and Oil and Gas Producers.
All entities party to a project that has been selected for funding will enter into an Ultimate Recipient Agreement with CRIN. Once an Ultimate Recipient agreement has been executed, the project will be governed as per the terms outlined in the agreement, including changes in project plan, budget, etc as well as acts of default. The specific situation will be managed as per the terms of the agreement and evaluated on a case by case basis. Due diligence by all parties in project party selection and sincere and total commitment of all parties to a project are an expectation of all project submissions.
CRIN will have one multi-party agreement per project. All members of the successful project team will be party to the Ultimate Recipient Agreement.
In-kind contributions are not eligible for CRIN matching funding or reimbursement; however, they are an important resource that will contribute to the overall project value. In-kind contributions are non-monetary resources that partners provide to support the project; a non-cash contribution of a good or a service instead of money (cash) or not measured in monetary terms. Those are either offered free or at less than usual charge. For example, volunteer labour, donated goods, donated services, free use of equipment.
In-kind costs are not eligible for CRIN contribution (See Appendix of the Competition Guide). They should not be reported in project costs section of the project overview document – this asks for eligible costs only.
In-kind contributions are not considered eligible, therefore they should not be reported in the project funding section of the project overview document.
Matching requests should be requested as soon as possible to allow for applicants to find a match required to be eligible to apply for the competition.
Yes, more than one application can include the same lead SME if the projects are not associated with one another, and the oil and gas producer partner is different.
A service company is not an oil and gas producer partner. See Section 3 of the Competition Guide for definition of oil and gas producer. An SME is also defined in Section 3 as a small or medium-sized enterprise with less than 500 full-time employees. For this Competition, a SME can be a technology innovator/developer, a service company, and/or an oil and gas producer.
All organizations participating on the Project Team including oil and gas collaborator must be incorporated in Canada or a Canadian Province or Territory. They are not required to have operations in any particular Canadian Province or Territory.
The oil and gas collaborator can be headquartered anywhere globally. However, the organization and/or its subsidiary must be incorporated in Canada.
Yes, there are no restrictions on the source of private/industry funding for this competition.
Video recordings of the webinar(s) will be made available online on the competition webpage 1 weeks after the date of the webinar. The presentation materials will not be posted online.
Find more FAQs here.
Competition sponsor
Funded in part by/Financé en partie par:
