It is very much about looking at innovations in this pre-commercialization phase. Part of the reason that we can keep it in Canada is that it is a research and development program. Within the trade agreements, etc., you have exclusions for R and D. That's part of the reason we can have this program: it ensures that Canadian companies have this opportunity at that level.
The other piece that essentially keeps out the bigger players is that these are relatively small contracts. They're small amounts of money. Although we cannot exclude a large Canadian industry from participating in the program, the small companies are able to produce a product at a price that fits within the boundaries of the program. The value of whatever innovation large companies bring has a lot of overhead attached to it, which ends up costing quite a bit more. These small innovators are much more nimble at providing a new product.
That is the incentive to keep the program. We want to keep the program small. The reason the military component is up to $1 million is the fact that even small innovations for the military tend to cost more to develop. We've found that with $500,000—and we had an opportunity to recommend that the government increase the amount—we have had lots of innovations. They're all in that value range, with some I think as low as in the $40,000 to 50,000 range, and others up at $250,000 to $400,000.
That is how we keep the program small and nimble, and it allows the small and medium enterprises to really participate in the program.