The College and Community Innovation Pilot program was one of three pilot programs established as result of commitments stemming from NSERC’s Vision, which was approved by Council in October 2003. The rationale for this pilot program was that, while Canada is a world leader in the provision of public funding for research and development (R&D), Canadian businesses and especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) generally do not invest a significant part of their budget in R&D compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Colleges were deemed to be well positioned to foster SMEs’ R&D investments.