Green auto R&D and its commercialization has been an Ontario government priority for years and manufacturers involved in green innovation can tap into a number of financial incentives.

• Our $250 million Automotive Innovation Fund supports strategic, large-scale R&D projects aimed at building more fuel-efficient vehicles.
  
  
• The $250 million Emerging Technologies Fund matches investments in new technologies by venture capitalists and angel investors dollar-for-dollar.
  
  
• The $50 million Innovation Demonstration Fund supports new technologies at the pilot or demonstration phase.
  
  
• Our R&D tax incentive program is widely recognized as one of the most generous in the world. When tax credits are factored in, $100 in R&D expenditures can be reduced (depending on the size of a company) to approximately $57 for large manufacturers - or $39 for small businesses. A broader range of costs qualify for deductions than in many jurisdictions, and tax credits can be carried back for 3 years or forward for 20 years.

Industry can also access millions of dollars in research money through federal and provincial programs that include: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (SERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario and Canada Research Chairs.

We also have a new Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. It's the first commercial automotive research, development and innovation centre of its kind in the world.

More costs qualify for R&D tax credits in Ontario