What are Industry & Community-Based Projects?
Industry and Community-Based Projects (ICPs) are small-scale, one or two academic term projects conducted as part of a class in which the students are earning academic credit required for graduation. When ICPs include a client or industry partner, the partner costs should be minimal and largely restricted to material and consumable costs. Longer duration projects (i.e., 1 year or more), projects that are not directly tied to course requirements, or projects with external funding requirements (NSERC, SSHRC) are not considered ICPs and should be conducted through the Applied Research Office.
Given the transition and the change in definitions of Applied Projects (formerly In-Class Projects, now Industry and Community-Based Projects), we have created a comparison table here to help you determine where your project lands. Use this to identify if your project is an industry or community-based project or an applied research project:
Parameters |
Industry & Community-Based Project |
Applied Research Project |
|---|---|---|
|
Terminology |
Applied project, Experiential Learning |
Industry research, funded research |
|
Duration |
One or two semesters (4-8 months) |
6 months – 3 years |
|
Type of Problem |
Small scale |
Mid to large scale |
|
Need for a Proposal |
No |
Yes |
|
Need for College Approvals |
Minimal |
Yes |
|
Costs to Partner |
Minimal, perhaps only materials |
Significant |
|
Funding Application |
No |
Normally, yes, to public funding bodies such as NSERC |
|
Resources |
Teams of students or students supervised by faculty |
Primary investigator, other faculty, research assistants, project manager |
|
Relation to Curriculum |
Completed as part of the course requirements to graduate |
Independent of course requirements |