# What We Fund · CFIR

> CFIR funds three things for Canadian entrepreneurs - education, seed grants and applied research. Everything we fund, on one page.

Source: https://research.ca/what-we-fund/
Language: en-CA

CFIR · What we fund

What we fund

CFIR funds the scholarships that make business education free, the seed grants that help new ventures grow, and the applied research we share openly with Canada’s entrepreneurial community.

CFIR · Education

Education

The knowledge an entrepreneur gets before the capital — practical entrepreneurship education, funded by CFIR and delivered through YEDI, our designated institution.

These are the scholarships we fund — each covers its programme in full. Everything about applying lives with the institution that runs the programmes.

Diploma

The Entrepreneurship Scholarship

For entrepreneurs, small-business owners and their teams — covers the Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management diploma in full: the modern tools and skills to build and run a business.

Approved Vocational Program under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005

Details ↗

Certificate

The Incubator Scholarship

For startup founders — covers the Incubator certificate in full: from a raw idea to a business plan and an investor pitch, ending at the Venture Fair.

Selective · cohort-based · any sector

The Not-for-Profit Scholarship

For executive directors and founders of not-for-profits — covers the Not-for-Profit certificate in full: how an organisation runs, funds and grows, and how it pitches to funders.

Cohort of organisations · pitch at the Venture Fair

The entrepreneurs we’ve backed

Three scholarships, three kinds of entrepreneur

CFIR · Seed grants

Seed grants

Graduates of the Incubator certificate — and them alone — can apply for a seed grant after they finish, capital to build what they planned. The Venture Fair is where the cohort presents; the application goes to YEDI’s venture fund afterwards, and those who meet YEDI’s criteria receive a grant, in varying amounts, on YEDI’s decision — and the company stays the entrepreneur’s.

How a seed grant happens

From the Incubator to the grant

Apply

To the Incubator programme↗ at YEDI.

Study

On a full scholarship.

Pitch

At the Venture Fair, where the cohort presents.

Graduate

With the Incubator certificate.

Grow

Graduates apply to YEDI; those who meet YEDI’s criteria receive a seed grant, and the company stays theirs.

CFIR · Research

Applied research

Funded by CFIR and published open-access for the Canadian entrepreneurial community.

CFIR funds applied research into entrepreneurship and publishes it open-access — free for anyone to read.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Implementation on the Commercial Success of Startups

Virtual Economics

2026

A survey of 68 Canadian startups building on artificial intelligence, alongside national research-spending data from 2010 to 2024.

Marat Ressin

About this research

Crafting Educational Programs in Modern Business Schools: A Transformative Shift in Values and Culture

Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education

May 2026

A study of 140 graduates of U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities, examining which factors track how their companies go on to perform.

The role of venture capital funds in dissemination and development of innovation in Canada

Journal of Innovation & Entrepreneurship

August 2025

How the concentration of venture capital across the provinces co-moves with firm survival and patent activity.

What we do

What We Fund

Research

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The companies built out of the programmes

Companies from the programmes

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