Mission from MaRS is an ambitious technology adoption program addressing the climate crisis. Mission from MaRS: Carbon Management is the second installment in a series of initiatives helping ventures overcome the obstacles of scaling the adoption of their technologies.
The CDR Accelerator, part of Mission from MaRS: Carbon Management, seeks to rapidly accelerate the commercialization of Canada’s most effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) innovations. This nationwide initiative aims to recruit six Canadian ventures that are actively capturing and/or utilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide, enabling them to reach kiloton scale of CO2 removal within the next few years and megaton scale within the decade.
How is MaRS involved?
MaRS will support a cohort of six ventures seeking to capture and utilize atmospheric carbon at scale, providing them with hands-on advice, mentorship, market insights and critical connections to capital and customers. It aims to accelerate the growth of Canadian Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and carbon utilization ventures by providing the training, tools and techniques to enable them to commercialize and reach the scale of greenhouse gas removal needed to combat climate change.
Program objectives
Mission from MaRS: Carbon Management will support MaRS Discovery District’s three key objectives for its carbon management mission:
- Increase the supply of high-quality credits in carbon markets by supporting ventures to get credit ready.
- Increase the demand for carbon credits and enable the adoption of carbon reduction and removal technologies.
- Inform and influence government decision-makers as they establish new carbon reduction and removal programs and policies.
Through the Accelerator, we will provide the six venture participants the tools they need to achieve commercial success.
Participant benefits
Selected companies will participate in a one-year program and will be given access to a suite of benefits, including:
- Enhanced public profile and exposure through the Mission from MaRS Climate Champion brand, including press release highlights, case studies, media reports and climate tech industry events.
- A curriculum of workshops designed to prepare participants for commercial success. This was co-developed by experts at MaRS with the goal of helping companies penetrate difficult markets.
- Introductions to domestic and international investors and corporations.
- Access to mentor networks through investor showcases and events with industry experts, customers and partners.
- Access to market intelligence, capital, talent and communications services offered by MaRS.
- Early adopter programming: Participants will have the opportunity to interact with prospective customers to demonstrate the value of their offering, validate their business model and refine product-market fit.
- Opportunities to build relationships with the other selected ventures and industry coalitions through ongoing workshops and capacity-building activities.
Program eligibility criteria
The following criteria will determine if an applicant (also referred to as the Venture or Company) is eligible for the accelerator program, and which applicants would be the best fit.
The venture must:
- have a carbon dioxide removal or carbon dioxide utilization solution;
- own the intellectual property of any technology relevant to the application;
- not be a subsidiary of a larger parent company that would otherwise not be eligible for the Award;
- have the potential to significantly reduce GHG emissions;
- be proprietary and/or patentable;
- have the potential to be scaled globally for major impact;
- be a small- and mid-sized enterprise (SME) as defined by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada; and
- fall within TRL5 and TRL8 on the nine-point Technology Readiness Level spectrum.
In addition, the applicant/company must:
- be a leader (i.e., officer or executive) in the Company that is an incorporated Canadian business engaged in Climate Technology (the “Company”). For the purposes of this Award, “Climate Technology” refers to physical or digital technologies that are explicitly focused on reducing GHG emissions, reducing atmospheric GHG concentrations, utilizing CO2 or other pollutants, and/or addressing the impacts or ongoing contributors to causes of global warming;
- have the Company’s authorization to submit this application on behalf of the Company;
- regularly engage in technological innovation at the Company;
- be comfortable with, and agree to participate in, the public nature of this Accelerator (i.e., speaking with the media, appearing at events, etc.);
- be incorporated, based, and operating in Canada;
- be majority owned by Canadian shareholders;
- have been established for at least one year;
- own the IP of any technology relevant to your application; and
- submit a full application in a manner consistent with the Official Rules.
In partnership with the Grantham Foundation, Peter Gilgan Foundation, RBC Foundation, and HSBC Bank Canada
