Evaluation and Decision Process for Living Labs
Evaluation and Decision Process
A total of five applications were received by the December 1, 2025 deadline. Volt-Age staff completed an administrative review by December 2 to check for errors such as ineligible teams or missing sections. Applicants had until December 5 to submit corrected documents.
Each proposal then underwent a two-step evaluation process involving two independent groups: master reviewers and the adjudication jury.
Master Reviewers
Master reviewers were selected for their experience and expertise including past roles as chairs of NSERC or SSHRC evaluation committees, technical knowledge in electrification fields such as batteries, energy storage, smart buildings and grids, transportation and renewable energy systems as well as expertise in social innovation, entrepreneurship, community partnerships, Indigenous research engagement, Living Labs and environmental impact and resource management.
Reviewers were required to declare conflicts of interest with the Volt-Age program and with individual proposals. They were not assigned to evaluate projects where a conflict was declared.
Each application was reviewed by three independent master reviewers: a technical expert with relevant subject knowledge, a social sciences or social innovation researcher and a Living Labs specialist. All three reviewed the proposals in full and completed the same evaluation forms.
Evaluation Report and Final Adjudication
Results of the master reviewer evaluations were compiled by the Volt-Age team into a synthesized report. The report included a summary table of evaluations and an overview of the review process, scoring and comments. This report, along with the full proposal dossiers, was sent to the VPRII of Concordia University.
Proposals with Indigenous partnerships were scored on two additional criteria assessing the strength of those partnerships, allowing up to 10 extra points and a total score of 150 rather than 140. Scores were converted into percentages to ensure comparability. Weighting was applied to give 50 per cent to technical excellence and 25 per cent each to social and Living Labs perspectives.
The VPRII of Concordia University, chair of the Executive Committee, which serves as the final funding decision body and Adjudication Jury, sent a summary of the call, evaluation process, scoring and funding recommendations to the Executive Committee by email on February 5, 2025, for approval.
