Ontario Research Fund (Research Excellence)

The Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) provides research institutions with funding to help support the operational costs of large-scale transformative research of strategic value to the province.

Funding amount

ORF-RE provides up to 1/3 of the total value of a project with the remaining 2/3 from a combination of private sector and institutional contributions. Generally, the minimum support provided by the ORF-RE to a project is $1 million and the maximum support provided is $4 million.

The ORF-RE grant can be used for the following direct costs (and limited indirect costs) of conducting research:

  • Salaries and benefits
  • Facilities and equipment
  • Other direct research costs
  • Management and administration