How federal and provincial AI funding differ, and how Canadian businesses use both together.
dgm is an independent osFoundry integration partner — not affiliated with osFoundry’s maker (OS LLC), and dgm has no completed client integrations yet.
Federal and provincial AI funding work alongside each other in Canada. Knowing the split helps you find everything you qualify for.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Federal | IRAP, SR&ED, Scale AI, BDC LIFT, Mitacs, RAII |
| Provincial | Investissement Québec, Alberta Innovates, Innovate BC, etc. |
| Both | Often combined within stacking rules |
| Find both | Business Benefits Finder covers all levels |
The federal layer
Federal programs — IRAP, SR&ED, Scale AI, BDC LIFT, Mitacs and the Regional AI Initiative — are available across Canada (some delivered regionally). They cover advice, R&D credit, co-investment, financing and talent.
The provincial layer
Provinces add their own: Investissement Québec (ESSOR and more), Alberta Innovates (vouchers; evolving in 2026), Innovate BC (Integrated Marketplace), and Ontario’s mix of federal-in-Ontario plus tax credits. Eligibility usually requires operating in that province.
Using both
The official starting point is Innovation Canada’s free Business Benefits Finder, which returns a tailored list of the 1,500+ federal, provincial and territorial supports you may qualify for and can filter to programs currently accepting applications. Important: these are programs a business applies for directly with the government agency, bank or cluster that runs them. dgm is an independent AI-integration agency — not a registered, approved or official deliverer of any program here. dgm can help assess fit and scope an AI project, but government money does not flow through dgm. Program parameters, amounts and intake windows change frequently — confirm the current details on the official program page before relying on them.
Where dgm fits
dgm is an independent integration partner that helps Canadian businesses adopt osFoundry — scoping a first use case, handling the build, and connecting AI to the systems you already run. dgm can help you scope the AI project that a program would fund — but you apply to the program directly. dgm is independent of osFoundry’s maker (OS LLC) and has no completed client integrations yet, so everything described here is a service offered, not a past result. If you want to scope a practical first project, dgm can help you map it out.