Governor General’s Innovation Awards

Eligibility

The awards are given for current or recent innovations that have a positive impact on the quality of life in Canada, whether it is in the private, public or not-for-profit realms. They are not intended for lifetime achievement or innovations that have not yet demonstrated impact.

Nominees can be at any stage in their life or career. Our aim is to have at least one young innovator among the winners who is 30 years of age or younger and who, individually or as leader of a team and/or organization, has been undertaking exceptional, transformative and innovative activities.

Important Considerations:

• Nominees must be living Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Posthumous nominations are not eligible.
• In the case where a nominee is identified as a young innovator, he or she must be 30 years of age or younger as of the nomination deadline (November  15).
• Failure to appropriately address all selection criteria or to provide supporting evidence will weaken the nomination.
• Since the Assessment and Selection committees are multidisciplinary, the nomination material should be written for non-specialists.
• By completing the signature block of the online form, the nominating partner will acknowledge that they have received authorization from the nominees to be recommended for the award.
• Nominees can only be nominated once by one of the nominating partners.
• To respect privacy, nominations are not made public.

Summary

The purpose of the Governor General's Innovation Awards is to inspire Canadians to embrace innovation and to emulate innovative, entrepreneurial risk-takers who have developed new or better ways of creating value, and who are having a meaningful impact on our quality of life.

Up to six award winners will be chosen each year with the aim to have at least one young innovator among the winners who is 30 years of age or younger. The awards will be given to individuals, teams and/or organizations whose innovations are truly exceptional, transformative, and positive in their impact on quality of life in Canada.

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

Please notify Research Services immediately if you intend to nominate a colleague for this award: researchawards@ucalgary.ca

Download a sample of the nomination form (will be updated in September or October 2024): PDF version – Word document

Two-Stage Nomination

These awards have a two-stage nomination process.

• Nominations are first reviewed by nominating partners. Select nominations are forwarded by nominating partners:
  • RSO can facilitate matching nominees with appropriate nominating partners. Please contact us at researchawards@ucalgary.ca if you are interested in nominating through a nominating partner.
  • Nominating partners set their own internal deadlines, typically in September or October.

For submission with Universities Canada as a nominating partner:

If nominating with Universities Canada, note that nominations must be endorsed by and executive head of the institution. For the University of Calgary the the Vice-President (Research) will endorse applications. Nominations will undergo a selection process by a committee of former university presidents before being submitted by Universities Canada to the Rideau Hall Foundation for consideration for the awards.
If selected as one of Universities Canada's nominees, Universities Canada will work with the University and the nominee to prepare the final nomination.

To learn more, view the 2023 Governor General’s Innovation Awards Nomination Criteria (will be updated in September/October 2024)

Universities Canada’s submission portal will launch on Monday, October 7, 2024. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 7, 2024.

SUPPORT Review (Optional):

The SUPPORT: Research Awards committee is now available to review and provide feedback to strengthen nominations for major research prizes and awards and advise on the suitability of award nominations. This committee is comprised of distinguished University of Calgary faculty who have won major national awards and sat on national award selection committees.

The SUPPORT: Research Awards Committee will review nominations for Governer General's Innovation Awards.

If you wish for the SUPPORT: Research Awards committee to review and provide feedback on a nomination package, please a PDF or word document including the following criteria for the GGIA:

• Nomination Summary (max. 500 characters):  Describe the nature, significance, and impact of the nominee’s innovation or innovative activities.
• Description of Selection Criteria (each section - max. 2000 characters) - view the 2023 Governor General’s Innovation Awards Nomination Criteria for details
  • Inspiration
  • Leadership
  • Impact
• Completed SUPPORT Review Form
• Each faculty must submit a short statement describing how equity, diversity and inclusion were considered in the internal Faculty selection process.

SUPPORT Nomination Review Deadline: September 6, 2024

Your Faculty or Associate Dean (Research) must submit the request for review to researchawards@ucalgary.ca.