Canadian AI Grant Funding
Grant funding to help your organization learn, adapt, and succeed with AI
Grant Funding Opportunities
There are numerous grant funding opportunities available to Canadian organizations looking to adopt AI solutions. These grants can help offset the costs of implementing AI, creating AI related content, educating and training staff, and developing new AI-powered products and services.
Check Out Available Funding
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)
The SIF supports innovative projects across all sectors of the economy. It includes Networks and Collaborations projects that advance national innovation ecosystems, with funding varying based on project scale. This fund could be used to fund your next AI project.
AI Compute Access Fund
The AI Compute Access Fund offers financial support to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) access the compute power they need to scale and commercialize innovative AI projects.
The AI Compute Access Fund will support successful projects with compute costs ranging from $100,000 to $5 million by covering two-thirds of your eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based AI compute services, or half of your eligible costs for non-Canadian cloud-based AI compute services.
Successful applicants can receive financial support in one of three forms: non-repayable, conditionally repayable, or repayable, which will be determined during the assessment phase.
Scale AI
Industry-led Projects
This fund supports the development, commercialization, and productization of AI-powered products and services applied to advanced supply chains management. It focuses on collaboration between businesses, research institutions, and other partners.
AI Education and Training Funding
This fund provides funding for training in digital intelligence or artificial intelligence with content that has been custom-developed or adapted for companies. It covers costs related to training preparation, delivery, and follow-up, reimbursing up to 50% of training costs.
STEM Youth Awareness Program
This program supports Canadian organizations with initiatives that train pre-university students in artificial intelligence and data science. Programs must engage at least 1,000 participants and can receive up to $150,000 per project.
Acceleration Program
This program supports start-ups and SMEs scale-up by providing access to different programs and supports, actively matching them to commercial partners and investors across Canada or abroad.
Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII)
Canadian Regional Development Agencies
Canada’s regional development agencies (RDAs) are delivering funding through the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII) to help bring new AI technologies to market and accelerate AI adoption across sectors nationwide. Each province has its own application process, including some unique requirements and targeted sectors.
The Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII) provides support through two streams: Firstly, AI productization and commercialization to help AI start-ups and growing firms scale up and address challenges in their advancement. Secondly, the adoption of AI applications across critical sectors aims to address the AI adoption lag and increase the competitiveness of Canadian organizations.
Explore the opportunities through the RAII program at your local RDA’s website:
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor)Northern Ontario
Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor)Southern Ontario
Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)Prairie provinces
Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan)British Columbia
Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan)
Do note that the dates and requirements for application intakes may vary in each regional office.
National Research Council of Canada (NRC)
Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) is Canada’s leading innovation assistance program for small and medium-sized businesses. In some instances, IRAP provides eligible small and medium-sized businesses with funding to cover up to 80% of technical employee salaries and 50% of subcontractor costs for innovation projects.
AI Assist Program (IRAP)
NRC IRAP’s AI Assist program is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses navigate the challenges of developing and adapting generative AI (GenAI) and deep learning (DL) solutions. To help them with awareness, planning, and execution to develop these technologies safely and ethically, the AI Assist supports Canadian SMEs in conducting scientific research, product development, testing, and validation of AI technologies, enabling them to incorporate GenAI and DL into their core products and services.
AI Safety and Research Institutes
INOVAIT: Pilot Fund
This fund supports collaborative research and development projects that apply artificial intelligence, machine learning, or big data to image-guided therapy technologies. It can be used for commercialization-oriented R&D projects.
INOVAIT: Focus Fund
This fund provides funding for two-to-three-year projects that have excellent technical and clinical merit as well as highest probability of commercialization success in image-guided therapy and AI integration. It provides up to $2 million in contributions.
Research Funding Agencies
NSERC-CSE Research Communities Grants
These grants fund Research Communities to conduct unclassified research on cutting-edge technologies in areas of strategic importance. The first focus is on robust, secure, and safe artificial intelligence.
NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR: Canada-France
This collaborative initiative supports multi and interdisciplinary research projects that address generative AI and the security and safety of embedded AI. It provides up to $100,000 per year from Canadian agencies through joint funding with France’s ANR.
SSHRC: Partnership Grants
These grants provide support for new and existing formal partnerships over four to seven years to advance research, research training and/or knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities.
SSHRC: Partnership Engage Grants
These grants support collaboration between researchers and a single partner organization from the not-for-profit, public or private sector for short-term partnered research activities.
CIHR: Project Grant Program
This program supports research projects that advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes.
CIHR: Catalyst Grant: Digital Health
This grant catalyzes discovery in digital health, advances pivotal research, and informs applications or interventions. It supports SMART devices, wearables, machine learning applications, and virtual care.
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