Halifax advanced materials unicorn Metamaterials Inc., which boasts a C$2.1 billion market cap on the Nasdaq, will dole out a basket of $150,000 research grants, with winners being announced January, 2022.

The grant program, called Ideas for Innovation, will be open to scientists working on advanced materials research. Applications open Oct.1 and the deadline to apply is Dec.15.

A group of subject matter experts, including META’s scientific advisory board, will choose the winners. In a press release, META did not clarify how many grants it will award.

META is developing a roster of new materials for uses including reflecting 5G cell phone signals around corners and allowing solar panels to absorb sunlight from a wider range of angles. When the company began trading on the Nasdaq via a reverse listing in June, it raised just over C$198 million. Just over a month later, it spent almost half of that — $91 million — to buy a company that makes security holograms for bank notes.

“META’s new [Ideas for Innovation] partnership program initiative will allow the global metamaterial research community a first-of-its-kind access to large scale commercial nanofabrication tools and resources to scale ideas out of the lab and into real product applications.” Mark Brongersma, a Stanford University prof and META’s Strategic Scientific Advisor, said in the press release.

META said in the 10 years since its founding, it has collaborated with universities and research institutions on 20 research and development projects.

“As META scales commercial production of high-performance functional materials at high volumes, the [Ideas for Innovation] partnership program will support our mid- to long-term product strategy and expand META’s competitive advantage,” said CEO George Palikaras.

META’s first commercial production facility is slated for completion in the first half of 2022.