Prototypes and Product Demonstrations

Prototypes and product demonstrations are tools that buyers use to validate whether an innovation or product can meet a stated requirement before they commit to broader adoption. A prototype is an early or pre-commercial version of a solution, developed for testing and evaluation. A product demonstration is a practical presentation or trial of a product's capabilities, often in a simulated or operational environment.

The terms appear most often in innovation procurement, defence experimentation, testing and evaluation, and requirements definition. Related terms include proof of concept, experimentation, pre-commercial innovation, operational environment, and simulated or real-world environment. In Canada, they show up in federal innovation programs, Department of National Defence (DND) challenges, procurement planning guidance and NATO defence contracting.

How Innovative Solutions Canada uses prototypes

Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC), run by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, has a Testing Stream that procures, tests and evaluates late-stage, pre-commercial prototypes for Government of Canada organizations. ISC describes its prototype calls as creating pools of conditionally qualified innovations. Canada can then select from those pools to address government requirements.

The ISC military stream follows the same logic. Canada procures an innovation through a contract for testing in an operational environment. The contract is not treated as an immediate full-scale production purchase.

Prototype demonstrations in DND and Canadian Army challenges

Some defence challenges name the demonstration as a deliverable. Two DND and Canadian Army challenges under the Minerva Initiative accept proposals for Phase 2 prototype development and identify travel for a prototype demonstration. One covers an Arctic uncrewed air system. The other covers an uncrewed air system for cargo and munition drop.

A DND Ideas call for proposals works differently. Its Build component involves prototyping and/or innovator-managed testing in controlled environments, with an optional demonstration to DND.

Prototypes and demonstrations in requirements planning

Buyers also consider prototypes and demonstrations before a requirement is final. The Supply Manual annexes on CanadaBuys ask whether a prototype or product demonstration would help validate accessibility features. In this setting the tool helps shape the requirement. It is not a stage a supplier must pass through.

NATO's use of demonstration and prototyping

NATO Allied Command Transformation describes its Innovation Continuum as using experimentation and demonstration to accelerate innovative solutions for the military community. NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) uses prototyping and operational testing before large-scale procurement or acquisition decisions, as described in a NATO article on DIANA. NATO ACT's contracting opportunities include proof-of-concept demonstrations for modelling and simulation capabilities.

What this means for a supplier

A demonstration is not required in every procurement. Depending on the solicitation, it is a stated deliverable, an optional activity or a planning consideration. Read each solicitation to see what it asks of you. Depending on the call, a supplier may have to:

• develop or provide a prototype;
• demonstrate the proposed product or technology;
• conduct testing in controlled, simulated or operational conditions;
• provide evidence that the solution meets defined performance requirements; and
• attend a demonstration location or support a buyer-led evaluation.

Budget for travel and testing time where a challenge names a demonstration. Where a demonstration is optional, as in the DND Ideas Build component, decide early whether offering one strengthens your proposal.