Perfect.
I should point out that Cteau is a type of organization that's called a technology accelerator.
We know about the various sources of government funding. Indeed, there is some funding from the federal government and the provincial government, but these funds are often inadequate.
Technology acceleration centres like Cteau receive support from Quebec's ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie. However, this support is inadequate, even for financial resources.
I mentioned earlier that we experienced 400% growth over the past four years, but the base for administration costs has remained the same. At the outset, there were eight members of our team. There are now approximately 50, and yet the resources available haven't changed. They don't even cover 9% of our research operating expenses.
We need this kind of support for organizations. It's true that there are funds and programs. Cteau receives support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, NSERC, which provides some research funding. As we are a college centre for technology transfer, we have access to research funds under the ARD, the applied research and development grants program, which provides support to companies for certain projects.
If a company consults us to deal with a problem, or because it wishes to further develop its technology, we can suggest that they apply for funds through Cteau. We are entitled to a maximum of $150,000 per year. Given the operating costs, that's not enough to develop the technology.
Not only that, but not all companies are eligible for these grants, whether from the federal government or provincial governments. As I mentioned before, if a company has a brilliant idea, but the owner is the only person in charge of the project, it's not eligible for these funds.
I agree that there are funds, but the problem lies with eligibility.