COVID-19 challenges: IDEaS funded solution hits the market

In January 2023, an IDEaS project funded as part of the COVID-19 super sanitize challenge geared up for market. GermStopSQ, a surface disinfectant with staying power, was approved by Health Canada for commercial uses.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IDEaS program launched four challenges, ranging in topic from moral trauma to sanitization to using big data to track the virus, as part of the pan-governmental response to COVID-19. IDEaS selected 48 projects to receive $200K in funding. Of these original 48 projects, 12 projects received an additional $1M in funding to pursue their research.