Is there still a digital transformation grant in Canada? Not a national one. The Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) — the $15,000 Boost Your Business Technology grant and the BDC zero-interest loan that came with it — stopped accepting applications in 2024, and no federal replacement has been announced. What exists instead is a set of smaller programs you apply to separately. Ontario's OCI DMAP pays up to $15,000 toward a digital modernization plan and is open on rolling intake. Quebec's ESSOR Volet 1 covers 50% of a diagnostic or an implementation, to $20,000–$50,000. SR&ED returns up to 35% of custom software development costs with no intake window at all. NRC IRAP funds building rather than buying, at a median award of $75,000.
- CDAP is closed and has no successor. The Boost Your Business Technology grant and the BDC loan attached to it stopped taking applications in 2024. Our catalogue of Canadian funding programs carries no CDAP record because the program is no longer running. Source: ISED.
- Ontario's OCI Digitalization Competence Centre is the closest thing to a direct replacement — but it is smaller than most articles claim. DMAP pays up to $15,000 (50% reimbursement) for a digital modernization plan and RMPG pays retailers up to $5,000; both are open first-come while funds last. TDP, the $50,000 implementation stage, closed its intake on August 10, 2026. Source: Ontario Centre of Innovation, verified 2026-08-12.
- SR&ED is the only digital funding with no competition and no window. A CCPC can claim up to a 35% refundable investment tax credit on qualifying software development, on the first $6 million of expenditure (raised from $3 million by Budget 2025), to a maximum enhanced credit of $2.1 million a year. Form T661 must be filed within 18 months of fiscal year-end. Source: Canada Revenue Agency.
- NRC IRAP's median award is $75,000, not the six-figure sums often quoted. Typical awards run $75,000–$1,000,000, with a $10 million ceiling reserved for major capital projects. First contact to approval usually takes 3–6 months. Source: National Research Council Canada.
- For AI adoption specifically, NRC IRAP AI Assist needs no consortium. Disclosed agreements cluster at a $75,000 median, most between $45,000 and $120,000. There is no fixed deadline; intake starts with a conversation with an Industrial Technology Advisor. Source: NRC.
- Quebec's ESSOR runs on a framework that ends March 31, 2027. Volet 1 pays a maximum 50% aid rate: up to $50,000 for a feasibility study (1A), up to $20,000 for a digital diagnostic (1B) and up to $50,000 for implementation (1C). All documentation must be submitted in French, and Investissement Québec reserves the right to suspend intake without notice. Source: Investissement Québec, verified 2026-08-02.
- Alberta's Manufacturing Productivity Grant closes October 31, 2026 — or earlier. It pays $1,000–$30,000 on a 50% match, first-come first-served against a $4 million budget expected to fund roughly 130 recipients. Funded projects must be complete by December 31, 2026. Source: Government of Alberta / CME.
- The Canada-Ontario Job Grant is now simply the Ontario Job Grant. It was renamed and redesigned effective May 1, 2026, is accepting applications year-round, and pays up to $10,000 per trainee — rising to $15,000 when an employer with fewer than 100 staff trains a previously unemployed new hire. Source: Government of Ontario, verified 2026-08-05.
In This Guide
- 1. What Replaced CDAP, and What Is Simply Gone
- 2. Which Program Fits What You Are Funding
- 3. The Programs Open Right Now
- 4. Digital Funding Province by Province
- 5. The Post-CDAP Playbook
- 6. The Digital Investment Stack
- 7. Which Path Fits Your Business
- 8. Eligibility Quick-Check
- 9. Mistakes That Disqualify Applications
- 10. If You Do Not Qualify
- 11. Every Program Compared
- 12. Frequently Asked Questions
- 13. How to Fund a Digital Transformation
- 14. Sources and References
What Replaced CDAP, and What Is Simply Gone
The honest 2026 picture: one closed federal program, three closed provincial ones, and a shorter list of live money than most guides admit.
Here is what you need to know about the post-CDAP situation: no single program replaced it, and the replacement stack is not simply bigger. CDAP paid $15,000 through Boost Your Business Technology for a digital adoption plan, and paired it with a BDC zero-interest loan for the technology itself. What survives is one plan grant of comparable size in Ontario, a smaller equivalent in Quebec, and a set of tax credits that only pay out if your project involves building software rather than buying it.
The practical consequence: a business that would have qualified for CDAP by buying an off-the-shelf system now has fewer options, while a business that writes its own code has more. If your digital transformation is a purchase, your realistic funding is a provincial plan grant plus training money. If it is a build, SR&ED and IRAP are worth multiples of what CDAP ever offered.
| Closed program | What it paid | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| CDAP — Boost Your Business Technology | $15,000 for a digital adoption plan | OCI DMAP (ON, $15,000) |
| CDAP — BDC zero-interest loan | Financing for the technology purchase | FedDev BSP (ON, repayable) |
| Digital Main Street | $2,500 flat, ended March 31, 2024 | OCI RMPG (ON, $5,000) |
CDAP Is Closed. So Is Digital Main Street.
The Canada Digital Adoption Program stopped accepting applications in 2024. Both halves are unavailable: the $15,000 Boost Your Business Technology grant and the BDC zero-interest loan. Digital Main Street's parallel $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant ended March 31, 2024 and the Province of Ontario did not renew it. Neither program appears in our live catalogue, because neither is running.
What is actually live: OCI DMAP and RMPG in Ontario, ESSOR Volet 1 in Quebec, the Manufacturing Productivity Grant in Alberta, SR&ED and NRC IRAP federally, and the AI and supercluster programs covered below. Everything on this page was checked against our catalogue record and the official program page before publication.
The best first move for an Ontario business that is buying rather than building is OCI DMAP, because $15,000 buys the modernization plan that the larger implementation stage later requires you to have already completed — and DMAP is open on rolling intake while TDP is between cycles.
Which Program Fits What You Are Funding
Four kinds of digital project, four different sets of programs. Pick the one that describes your spend.
A website or online store
You are building a first website, adding e-commerce, or replacing a point-of-sale and inventory system.
Ontario: OCI RMPG, $5,000. PEI: Web Presence Assistance, up to $2,500. NWT: ADAPT, $5,000–$15,100.
Internal systems: ERP, CRM, automation
You are buying and configuring commercial software to run production, finance, scheduling or customer records.
Ontario: OCI DMAP, $15,000 for the plan. Quebec: ESSOR 1B then 1C. Alberta manufacturers: AMPG, up to $30,000.
Adopting AI
You are putting machine learning or generative AI into a product or an operating process.
NRC IRAP AI Assist, $45,000–$120,000 typical. Prairies: RAII, $250,000–$5M. Consortium projects: Scale AI, $1M–$5M.
Training staff on new tools
The software is bought; now your people have to use it. This is the most reliably funded part of any digital project.
Ontario Job Grant, up to $10,000 per trainee. BC Employer Training Grant, up to $10,000 per employee. Alberta: Canada-Alberta Productivity Grant.
| Program | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OCI RMPG (ON) | Up to $5,000, matched | Open, first-come |
| Web Presence Assistance (PE) | $1,000 basic site; $2,500 with e-commerce | Open |
| ADAPT Fund (NT) | $5,000 alone; $12,700–$15,100 stacked | Open, first-come |
| Program | What it funds | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| OCI DMAP (ON) | The modernization plan, not the technology | Up to $15,000 at 50% |
| ESSOR Volet 1B / 1C (QC) | Digital diagnostic, then implementation | Up to $20,000; up to $50,000 |
| AMPG (AB) | Productivity technology for manufacturers | $1,000–$30,000, 50% match |
| Program | Amount | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| NRC IRAP AI Assist | $45,000–$120,000 typical, $75,000 median | An advisor relationship. No consortium. |
| RAII (AB / SK / MB) | $250,000–$5,000,000 | Interest-free repayable, not a grant |
| Scale AI | $1,000,000–$5,000,000 per project | Two or more companies, one an SME |
| Program | Amount | Cost share |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario Job Grant | Up to $10,000 per trainee; $15,000 for a previously unemployed new hire | Employer contributes a share |
| BC Employer Training Grant | $1,000–$10,000 per employee, $300,000 a year per employer | Covers up to 80% |
| Canada-Alberta Productivity Grant | $2,500–$5,000 per employee; up to $10,000 for an unemployed trainee | Cost-shared |
Are you building software, or buying it?
- Building — your team writes code that solves a problem standard practice cannot.
- Claim SR&ED retroactively: up to 35% refundable for a CCPC, no application, no competition.
- Add your provincial R&D credit on top: OITC in Ontario, CRIC in Quebec, IEG in Alberta, BC SR&ED.
- Then talk to NRC IRAP before you start the work — it cannot fund anything retroactively.
- If the product is a game, e-learning or interactive media, add OIDMTC (ON, 40% of labour), BC IDMTC (25%) or MIDMTC (MB, 35–40%).
- Buying — you are licensing, configuring or implementing something that already exists.
- SR&ED and IRAP do not apply. Configuration is not technological uncertainty, however hard it is.
- Start with your province's plan grant: DMAP in Ontario, ESSOR 1B in Quebec, the CME assessment in Alberta.
- Fund the human half separately through a training grant — that money is available in every province and is the least competitive on this page.
- Both — most real transformations are.
- Split the budget into build lines and buy lines before you apply to anything.
- Claim each program against its own cost category. The same dollar cannot appear twice.
The Programs Open Right Now
Nine programs, each with its live status, the amount our catalogue records, and the thing that most often goes wrong.
Here is what you need to know before reading any program page: "available" and "open" are different words. A program can be permanently in existence and still be shut this month, and most Canadian digital funding runs on finite annual budgets allocated in order of arrival rather than in order of merit. Ontario's TDP is a live program with a closed intake. British Columbia's Employer Training Grant is open until its fiscal-year budget is spent, which has happened before March in past years.
The practical rule is that timing beats optimization. An application submitted in April to a first-come program is worth more than a better application submitted in November, which is why every status on this page carries the date it was checked.
OCI Digitalization Competence Centre (DCC)
Ontario's main digital adoption program runs as three separate streams. DMAP reimburses 50% of the cost of working with a Digital Adoption Consultant on a Digital Modernization and Adoption Plan, up to $15,000 — it funds the plan, not the technology. RMPG gives retailers with a real storefront up to $5,000 toward a new point-of-sale, inventory or CRM system. TDP reimburses up to $50,000 to implement what the DMAP recommended; its intake ran to August 10, 2026 and is now closed, and new cycles are announced on the OCI website. You may apply to DMAP or RMPG, not both. Source: Ontario Centre of Innovation, verified 2026-08-12.
| Stream | Maximum | Intake |
|---|---|---|
| DMAP — the plan | $15,000 | Rolling, first-come, while funds last |
| RMPG — retail systems | $5,000 | Rolling, first-come, while funds last |
| TDP — implementation | $50,000 | Closed August 10, 2026; requires a completed DMAP |
SR&ED Tax Credit for Software Development
SR&ED applies to software work that involves genuine technological uncertainty — uncertainty a competent developer could not resolve by applying standard practice. That covers novel algorithms, machine learning models, new system architectures and integrations that have not been done before. A Canadian-controlled private corporation earns up to a 35% refundable investment tax credit on the first $6 million of qualifying expenditure, a limit Budget 2025 raised directly from $3 million; the maximum enhanced credit is $2.1 million a year. Other corporations claim a 15% non-refundable credit. Source: Canada Revenue Agency, verified 2026-08-05.
- The work is configuring, installing or customizing existing commercial software — there is no technological uncertainty in a hard configuration job
- The development follows well-established patterns documented in publicly available resources
- The project is routine engineering, data collection or quality control with known solutions
- You cannot articulate a specific technological hypothesis that was tested during the work
The best digital transformation funding in Canada is not a grant at all. It is SR&ED, because it has no intake window, no competition and no limit on how many companies claim in the same year — every other program on this page is a race against a finite budget. The catch is narrow eligibility: it pays only for building, never for buying.
NRC IRAP, and IRAP AI Assist
The Industrial Research Assistance Program funds technology innovation at incorporated Canadian SMEs under 500 employees, through a relationship with an Industrial Technology Advisor rather than a portal. Awards typically run $75,000–$1,000,000 with a median actual award of $75,000; the $10 million ceiling is reserved for major capital projects. IRAP AI Assist is the same machine pointed at artificial intelligence: disclosed agreements cluster at a $75,000 median, most between $45,000 and $120,000, for companies building generative AI or deep learning into a core product. Source: National Research Council Canada, verified 2026-08-01.
| Program | Typical value | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| SR&ED | 35% of qualifying spend, refundable for CCPCs | Claimed after the fact, within 18 months |
| NRC IRAP | $75,000 median; $75K–$1M typical | Approval before the work starts, 3–6 months |
| IRAP AI Assist | $45K–$120K typical, $75,000 median | No fixed deadline; starts with an advisor |
For a company under 500 employees adding AI to something it already sells, the best option is NRC IRAP AI Assist, because it asks for no consortium and no partner — disclosed agreements cluster at $75,000 and the only real gate is getting an Industrial Technology Advisor to take the project seriously. Scale AI pays more, but only to companies that can assemble two or more partners first.
ESSOR Volet 1 (Investissement Québec)
ESSOR's first volet pays non-repayable contributions at a maximum aid rate of 50% of eligible expenses, across three components: 1A covers a feasibility study up to $50,000 per project and carries no revenue minimum; 1B covers a digital diagnostic up to $20,000 for the duration of the program; 1C covers implementation up to $50,000 for the duration of the program. The program's normative framework ends March 31, 2027. Every volet page carries the same warning: Investissement Québec and the ministère de l'Économie may suspend the filing and analysis of applications without notice. All documentation must be submitted in French. Source: Investissement Québec, verified 2026-08-02.
Scale AI Supercluster
Scale AI co-invests in industry-led applied AI projects in healthcare, energy, agriculture, manufacturing and supply chains. A project needs a consortium of two or more companies, at least one of them an SME. In December 2025 the cluster announced $128.5 million across 44 projects, and renewed federal funding runs through 2028. A separate Acceleration Program puts up to $50,000 of accelerator services behind an AI startup through eleven certified partners in Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec — the money is paid to the accelerator, not to you. The Customized AI Training program is currently paused. Source: Scale AI, verified 2026-08-02.
Alberta Manufacturing Productivity Grant
Alberta's pilot helps manufacturers adopt productivity technology — automation, IoT, digital monitoring, ERP. A viability assessment by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters comes first, then matching funding. Applications are accepted until October 31, 2026 or until the $4 million budget is depleted, whichever comes first, on a first-come first-served basis; the budget is expected to fund roughly 130 recipients. Funded projects must be complete by December 31, 2026, with final reports due January 15, 2027. Source: Government of Alberta and CME, verified 2026-07-04.
Ontario Job Grant (formerly the Canada-Ontario Job Grant)
The program many guides still call COJG was renamed the Ontario Job Grant under redesigned guidelines effective May 1, 2026, and it is open. It covers technology training — software certification, cybersecurity, ERP and digital skills — at up to $10,000 per trainee, rising to $15,000 when an employer with fewer than 100 staff trains a previously unemployed new hire. Applications are assessed on an ongoing basis, currently from individual employers training 25 or fewer participants. Source: Government of Ontario, page updated June 26, 2026; verified 2026-08-05.
- Training has already started or finished before your approval — this is an automatic disqualification
- The training provider is ineligible: self-delivery, a vendor training staff on its own software, or an unlicensed private trainer
- The training type is ineligible: mandatory legal training, conferences, consulting, or MBA and CFA preparation
- The employee is concurrently receiving other government-funded training
B.C. Employer Training Grant
British Columbia covers 80% of eligible training costs at $1,000–$10,000 per employee, capped at $300,000 a year per employer — the most generous digital-skills money in the country by cost share. Applications are accepted year-round while budget remains, but the program runs on the BC fiscal year and the budget was fully allocated before year-end in 2024/25. Source: WorkBC, verified 2026-08-05.
ADAPT Fund (Northwest Territories)
Accelerate Digital Adoption Projects for Tomorrow funds NWT businesses adopting digital tools — websites, e-commerce, online payments, digital marketing. The base contribution is $5,000; stacking with CanNor's NWT Digital Adoption Initiative takes the total to $12,700–$15,100. Contributions across the program run from $2,600. First-come, first-served until the annual budget is exhausted. Source: Prosper NWT, verified 2026-06-25.
Digital Funding Province by Province
Digital transformation funding in Canada is provincial. Here is what is live where you are.
Here is what you need to know about the geography: there is no province where a business has nothing, and no province where the money is large. Ontario and Quebec have purpose-built digital adoption grants. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba route digital spending through productivity and innovation programs rather than digital ones. British Columbia funds the training half generously and the technology half barely. Atlantic Canada and the territories run small, fast, low-friction programs that are usually first-come and frequently between intakes.
Ontario
The deepest set of options in the country. OCI DCC covers planning and retail systems; the Ontario Job Grant covers the training; OIDMTC pays 40% of Ontario labour on interactive digital media with no overall cap; OITC adds an 8% refundable credit on qualifying R&D. For technology adoption in mining, advanced manufacturing, agri-food and construction, OCI Critical Industrial Technologies runs several streams with different intakes — Future Ready reimburses up to $10,000 of staff training on AI, robotics, cybersecurity, quantum, blockchain or 5G on a rolling basis, while the larger development and adoption streams open and close as timed calls. For projects above $1 million, FedDev Ontario's BSP is the only instrument at that scale in southern Ontario. More: Ontario technology grants.
| Program | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OCI DMAP / RMPG | $15,000 / $5,000 | Open, rolling |
| Ontario Job Grant | Up to $10,000 per trainee | Open, year-round |
| OIDMTC | 40% of Ontario labour, no overall cap | Ongoing, claimed on the return |
| FedDev BSP | $125,000–$10,000,000, repayable | Accepting applications |
Quebec
ESSOR Volet 1 is the province's digital adoption instrument, at a 50% aid rate and up to $50,000 per component, running until March 31, 2027. On the build side, the CRIC research, innovation and commercialization credit pays 20–30% of Quebec R&D wages on top of federal SR&ED, which makes Quebec the most generous jurisdiction in Canada for software R&D. Retailers in Québec City have a further option: Capitale-Commerce covers 30% of eligible expenses to a maximum of $35,000 per establishment, in eleven named commercial districts and Wendake, once every five years. Everything is submitted in French. More: Quebec grants.
| Program | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ESSOR Volet 1A / 1B / 1C | $50,000 / $20,000 / $50,000 | Rolling to March 31, 2027 |
| CRIC R&D credit | 20–30% of Quebec R&D wages | Ongoing |
| Capitale-Commerce | Up to $35,000, 30% of expenses | Open, continuous intake |
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
The Prairies fund digital work through productivity and innovation envelopes rather than digital-branded grants. Alberta manufacturers have the Manufacturing Productivity Grant until October 31, 2026, and every Alberta company doing incremental R&D can claim the Innovation Employment Grant at 20% above a two-year average. Saskatchewan agri-businesses adopting automation use SLIM, and Saskatchewan tech startups raise against the 45% investor credit under STSI. Manitoba SMEs commercializing a technology use the Innovation Growth Program at $25,000–$100,000 on a 50/50 share. All three provinces share RAII for AI, at $250,000–$5,000,000 — interest-free but repayable, with continuous intake to December 31, 2028. Province-specific detail: Alberta digital grants.
| Program | Amount | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Productivity Grant | $1,000–$30,000, matched | Alberta, to October 31, 2026 |
| RAII | $250,000–$5,000,000, repayable | AB, SK, MB — to December 2028 |
| Innovation Growth Program | $25,000–$100,000 | Manitoba |
British Columbia
BC funds people better than it funds software. The Employer Training Grant covers 80% of digital-skills training to $10,000 per employee and $300,000 a year per employer. For product development, the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit pays 25% of eligible BC salaries and became permanent on September 1, 2025, with a $100,000 minimum eligible wage bill; BC's own SR&ED credit adds a 10% refundable credit up to a $6 million expenditure limit. Larger co-investment runs through the Digital Technology Supercluster, up to $5 million, on continuous intake across technology leadership, AI skills and adoption, quantum commercialization and housing innovation streams. More: British Columbia grants.
| Program | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Training Grant | $1,000–$10,000 per employee, 80% | Open while budget lasts |
| Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit | 25% of eligible BC salaries | Permanent since September 2025 |
| Digital Technology Supercluster | Up to $5,000,000 | Continuous intake, streams vary |
Atlantic Canada and the territories
The smallest programs and the fastest decisions. Prince Edward Island runs two: Web Presence Assistance pays half the cost of a first website, to $1,000, or $2,500 with e-commerce, and the Small Business Investment Grant covers 15% of eligible capital costs to $3,750 on an April–March cycle running to March 31, 2027. Nova Scotia's Digital Media Tax Credit pays 25–50% on qualifying digital media costs with a 10% bonus outside Halifax. In the North, the NWT's ADAPT Fund is the standout; Yukon's TYDA micro-grant is between intakes with a waitlist, and the Atlantic aerospace and defence sector's Force Multiplier digital adoption stream closed its 2026 intake on August 14, 2026 with no further round announced. More: Nova Scotia grants · Territories grants.
| Program | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Web Presence Assistance (PE) | $1,000 basic; $2,500 e-commerce | Open |
| ADAPT Fund (NT) | $5,000–$15,100 | Open, first-come |
| TYDA (YT) | Up to $2,500 | Between intakes — waitlist |
| AFMF Digital Adoption (Atlantic) | 65% of consulting, to $16,250 | Between intakes — closed Aug 14, 2026 |
For a storefront retailer, the best money available is the one that pays for the tool rather than a study of the tool: OCI RMPG at $5,000 in Ontario, or Web Presence Assistance at $2,500 in Prince Edward Island. Both are small, both are open, and both are decided in weeks rather than months.
The Post-CDAP Playbook
Every cost category CDAP used to cover, mapped to what covers it now in the four largest provinces.
CDAP covered three things: a digital adoption plan, the technology purchase itself, and the advisor who guided both. Each now lives in a different place, and in two of the four provinces below the technology purchase has no direct equivalent at all — which is the single most important thing to know before budgeting a project.
Scroll right to see all columns →| CDAP cost category | Ontario | Quebec | Alberta | British Columbia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The digital plan ($15K) | OCI DMAP — $15,000 at 50% | ESSOR 1B — $20,000 at 50% | AMPG Phase 1 — CME assessment | No direct equivalent |
| The technology purchase | OCI TDP — $50,000, intake closed | ESSOR 1C — $50,000 at 50% | AMPG — $30,000, matched | No direct equivalent |
| Retail systems and e-commerce | OCI RMPG — $5,000 | Capitale-Commerce (Québec City) — $35,000 at 30% | No direct equivalent | No direct equivalent |
| Training people on the tools | Ontario Job Grant — $10,000 per trainee | Provincial workforce training programs | Canada-Alberta Productivity Grant | BC Employer Training Grant — $10,000, 80% |
| Building custom software | SR&ED + IRAP + OITC | SR&ED + IRAP + CRIC | SR&ED + IRAP + IEG | SR&ED + IRAP + BC SR&ED |
| Key insight: provincial grants replaced the CDAP plan, not the CDAP purchase. SR&ED and IRAP replaced nothing — they were always there, and they only pay if you build. | ||||
Here is what you need to know about whether the replacement stack is better or worse: it depends entirely on whether your project writes code. A business buying an ERP in Ontario can now recover roughly $15,000 for the plan and $10,000 per trainee for the training, with the implementation itself uncovered while TDP is between cycles. The same business, if it were also building a proprietary analytics layer, could add 35% of those development wages through SR&ED with no application and no competition.
That is the real post-CDAP shift. The money moved from purchase subsidies toward research incentives, and businesses that only buy have less available than they did in 2023.
The Digital Investment Stack
Three worked examples using only programs that are open, at the amounts our catalogue records. Every figure is an estimate you should re-check against your own eligible costs.
Scenario 1: Ontario manufacturer, ERP plus a custom analytics layer
A 45-person manufacturer in Mississauga budgets $200,000: $120,000 to implement an ERP, $80,000 in developer wages to build a production analytics layer on top of it, and staff training on both.
Recovery rate: 31% of the project. The ERP implementation itself is currently unfunded, because OCI TDP — the stream that would reimburse 50% of it to a $50,000 cap — closed its intake on August 10, 2026. A business that completes DMAP now is eligible to submit on day one of the next TDP cycle, which would take recovery to roughly $112,000, or 56%.
Scenario 2: Quebec professional services firm building an AI classifier
A 20-person accounting firm in Montreal spends $85,000 building an AI document-classification system: $60,000 in developer wages, $25,000 in data infrastructure.
Recovery rate: 65–72% of the project. Quebec is the most generous jurisdiction in Canada for software R&D because CRIC stacks on top of federal SR&ED. ESSOR pays a maximum 50% aid rate and applies to separate cost lines from the R&D credits, so nothing here is double-counted. Every ESSOR document must be filed in French.
Scenario 3: Alberta manufacturer digitizing a production line
A 60-person food manufacturer in Edmonton spends $150,000: $50,000 on IoT sensors, $60,000 on monitoring software, and $40,000 in wages building a custom quality-prediction dashboard.
Recovery rate: 37% of the project. Two things pull it down. The $60,000 of monitoring software is a purchase, and Alberta has no purchase-subsidy equivalent to Ontario's TDP. And the IRAP contribution reduces the SR&ED-eligible base — the $7,000 above is calculated on what is left after IRAP, not on the full $40,000. The IRAP figure is illustrative; the actual amount is negotiated with an Industrial Technology Advisor.
Which Path Fits Your Business
Five situations, and what each one should actually do first.
If You're a Main Street Retailer Going Online
A three-person home goods store in Barrie, Ontario. Revenue around $350,000. You want an e-commerce site, integrated inventory, and online orders. Budget: $25,000.
You are in a good position, because the two programs that fit you are the two easiest to get. OCI RMPG gives retailers with a real storefront up to $5,000 toward exactly this: a new point-of-sale, inventory or CRM system. It is matched and first-come. Alternatively — not additionally, since you may apply to one or the other — DMAP pays up to $15,000 for a consultant to build you a modernization plan, which is worth more money but buys advice rather than software.
Then fund the human side. The Ontario Job Grant covers up to $10,000 per person for training on the new systems, and it is non-competitive with year-round intake. Realistic recovery: $5,000 from RMPG plus training funding on top. SR&ED does not apply to you, because installing a commercial e-commerce platform is not experimental development, however painful the migration feels.
If You're a Manufacturer Replacing Paper With Software
A 45-person plant. You are buying an ERP, adding sensors, and training the floor. Nothing you are doing involves writing new code.
Your funding lives under the word "productivity", not the word "digital". In Alberta, the Manufacturing Productivity Grant matches 50% to $30,000, but the application window closes October 31, 2026 and funded projects must be finished by December 31, 2026 — so a long vendor lead time disqualifies you in practice. In Ontario, start with DMAP for the plan and watch for the next TDP cycle for the implementation. In Saskatchewan, agri-businesses adopting automation use SLIM.
Wherever you are, the training grant is the most reliable line in your budget: it is the least competitive money on this page and it is available in every province. Do not skip it because it feels small — on a 45-person floor it is frequently the largest single recovery.
If You're a Software Company Building Something New
A 12-person B2B SaaS company in Vancouver. Revenue $1.8M. Four developers spend 70% of their time building a new machine-learning module — $420,000 in annual wages, $294,000 of it on the qualifying work.
Start with SR&ED, because it is money you have already earned. As a CCPC you claim up to a 35% refundable credit on qualifying expenditure — roughly $102,900 federally on $294,000 of eligible wages — and BC's own SR&ED credit adds 10% refundable, about $29,400 more. That is around $132,300 without a single application deadline. File Form T661 within 18 months of fiscal year-end.
Then open the IRAP conversation for the next phase of work, before you start it. The median IRAP award is $75,000 and nothing can be funded retroactively. One correction worth making: BC's Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit pays 25% of eligible BC salaries, but it is for games, e-learning and interactive media — a B2B analytics module does not qualify, and guides that stack it onto ordinary SaaS development are wrong.
If You're Adding AI to a Business That Isn't a Tech Company
A logistics, clinic, farm or manufacturing business putting machine learning into an operating process. You have no ML team and no consortium.
Go to NRC IRAP AI Assist first, because it is the only substantial AI program that asks nothing of you except a conversation. No consortium, no matching partner, no fixed deadline. Disclosed agreements cluster at a $75,000 median, most between $45,000 and $120,000. The gate is convincing an Industrial Technology Advisor that the work is genuinely novel for your business.
If you are in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba and the project is larger, RAII runs $250,000 to $5,000,000 on continuous intake until December 31, 2028 — but read the structure carefully, because it is an interest-free repayable contribution and belongs in a debt comparison, not a grant comparison. Scale AI pays $1M–$5M but requires two or more companies on the application, so treat it as a second-year option once you have a technology partner. More: AI grants in Canada.
If You're Outside Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia
Atlantic Canada, the Prairies outside Alberta, or the territories — where most national guides simply stop.
The federal programs are the same everywhere, and they are the larger half of what you can get. SR&ED, NRC IRAP and IRAP AI Assist have no provincial restriction. Every province also has its own R&D credit that stacks on federal SR&ED, and several have digital media credits — Nova Scotia's pays 25–50% with a 10% bonus outside Halifax, Manitoba's pays 35–40%.
The small provincial programs are worth chasing precisely because they are small: PEI's Web Presence Assistance pays half of a first website to $1,000, or $2,500 with e-commerce; PEI's Small Business Investment Grant covers 15% of eligible capital to $3,750; the NWT's ADAPT Fund reaches $15,100 when stacked with CanNor top-ups. Two Atlantic and Yukon digital adoption programs are currently between intakes rather than open, so confirm status before you plan around them.
Eligibility Quick-Check
The gates that actually decide these five applications.
Are you incorporated?
- No, you are a sole proprietor or partnership.
- NRC IRAP and IRAP AI Assist are closed to you. Both explicitly exclude sole proprietorships and partnerships.
- SR&ED is still open, but the 35% refundable rate is reserved for Canadian-controlled private corporations. Unincorporated claimants get the lower non-refundable rate.
- Ontario's RMPG also requires incorporation, plus at least a year of operating history.
- Still available: Ontario's DMAP, the NWT ADAPT Fund, PEI's Small Business Investment Grant, and provincial training grants.
- Yes, and you have fewer than 500 employees.
- Every federal program on this page is open to you: SR&ED, NRC IRAP, IRAP AI Assist, Mitacs, Scale AI.
- Next question is provincial. Ontario and Quebec have purpose-built digital adoption grants; the Prairies route through productivity and innovation programs; BC funds training and product development but not purchases.
- Yes, and you have 500 or more employees.
- IRAP and IRAP AI Assist are out. The 500-employee ceiling is a hard gate.
- SR&ED still applies at the 15% non-refundable rate rather than the 35% enhanced rate.
- Scale AI remains possible if your consortium includes an SME, and FedDev's BSP has no SME ceiling.
OCI Digitalization Competence Centre (Ontario)
- DMAP: Ontario-based for-profit SME with 1–499 employees, seeking to plan digital adoption
- DMAP funds the plan itself, not the technology it recommends
- RMPG: incorporated Ontario retailer, 1–50 staff, at least $100,000 revenue, incorporated and operating for at least a year
- RMPG requires a physical commercial location open to the public — home-based businesses are excluded
- You apply to DMAP or RMPG, not both. TDP requires a completed DMAP first, and its intake is currently closed
SR&ED for Software Development (Federal)
- Canadian corporation performing eligible work in Canada
- The work involves genuine technological uncertainty, not routine programming
- The 35% refundable rate is for CCPCs, on the first $6 million of qualifying expenditure
- Form T661 filed within 18 months of fiscal year-end — an absolute deadline
- Contemporaneous technical records created during the work, not written afterwards
ESSOR Volet 1 (Quebec)
- Quebec-registered for-profit business with active Quebec operations
- Component 1A carries no revenue minimum and is aimed at earlier-stage businesses
- Maximum aid rate of 50% of eligible expenses across Volet 1
- All documentation submitted in French, via clicSÉQUR Entreprises
- The program framework ends March 31, 2027, and intake can be suspended without notice
NRC IRAP and IRAP AI Assist (Federal)
- Incorporated Canadian SME with fewer than 500 employees
- The project involves genuine technical uncertainty and a commercial objective
- Approval received before the funded work begins — nothing is retroactive
- Ability to fund the gap; IRAP covers a portion, never the whole project
- An Industrial Technology Advisor relationship, which takes 3–6 months to convert to funding
Alberta Manufacturing Productivity Grant
- Alberta-based manufacturer
- The project adopts productivity-enhancing technology
- A CME viability assessment completed first — Phase 1 is mandatory
- Ability to cover the 50% matching contribution
- Project complete by December 31, 2026, with final reports due January 15, 2027
Mistakes That Disqualify Applications
Eight failures that end an application before anyone reads the project description.
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1
Planning around CDAP, Boost Your Business Technology, or Digital Main Street
All three are closed. CDAP stopped accepting applications in 2024; Digital Main Street's $2,500 grant ended March 31, 2024. A business plan built on any of them has a hole in it, and citing them in an application to a live program reads as out-of-date research.
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2
Claiming SR&ED on an off-the-shelf software implementation
Installing and configuring Salesforce, SAP or Shopify does not qualify, however complex the configuration. SR&ED requires technological uncertainty — building something that could not be built by following existing documentation. The CRA flags this pattern aggressively.
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3
Starting IRAP-funded work before approval
IRAP cannot fund retroactively. Work performed before written approval is categorically ineligible, and since the advisor relationship typically takes 3–6 months to convert into funding, this is the mistake that costs the most money.
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4
Assuming OCI TDP is available because a guide says it is
TDP's intake ran to August 10, 2026 and is closed. It also requires a completed DMAP as a prerequisite, so there is no way to enter at the implementation stage. The correct move while it is shut is to complete DMAP and be ready when the next cycle is announced.
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5
Not tracking costs separately for each program
Stacking is legal and encouraged, but only where different programs cover different cost categories. Claiming the same expense twice triggers clawback. Set up separate accounting codes on day one, before the first invoice arrives.
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6
Missing the SR&ED 18-month deadline
Form T661 must be filed within 18 months of fiscal year-end, and the deadline is absolute with no appeal. Filing with the T2 return also matters practically: the CRA's 45-day processing target applies only to timely, non-reviewed refundable claims.
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7
Submitting ESSOR documentation in English
Every ESSOR document must be filed in French. This is a firm requirement, not a preference, and it applies regardless of project quality. The consulting work itself can be done in English with a bilingual consultant; the submission cannot.
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8
Booking training before the training grant is approved
Both the Ontario Job Grant and the BC Employer Training Grant disqualify training that has already started. You need written approval before the first day. Both also run against finite annual budgets, so early in the fiscal year is materially better than late.
If You Do Not Qualify
Four common dead ends, and the route around each one.
Your first choice said no. What now?
- The intake is closed, not the program.
- Do the prerequisite now. OCI TDP requires a completed DMAP, so finishing a plan while TDP is shut is what makes you eligible on day one of the next cycle.
- Ask to be told when it reopens rather than checking manually; several of these programs announce a cycle and fill it inside weeks.
- You failed an eligibility gate.
- Revenue or employee floors: look at the plan-stage grants instead, which usually have none. DMAP has no revenue minimum; ESSOR 1A explicitly has none.
- Incorporation: the small provincial and territorial programs are the ones open to you.
- Sector: if you are a manufacturer, agri-business or retailer, there is usually a sector-specific program paying more than the general one.
- The project is the wrong shape for the money.
- If the project is entirely a purchase and your province has no purchase subsidy, fund the plan and the training instead, and stop looking for a grant that covers the licence.
- If any part of it is genuinely novel development, split that part out. It is worth more under SR&ED than the whole project is worth under most grants.
Your project is a purchase, and your province has no purchase subsidy. This is the most common situation in Canada in 2026. Fund the two halves that are still funded: the planning work, through a provincial plan grant where one exists, and the training, through your province's employer training grant. Then check whether any part of the implementation involves building rather than configuring — a custom integration with genuine technical unknowns can qualify for SR&ED even when the surrounding project does not.
The project is too small for most programs. Under $10,000, the lowest-barrier options are the NWT's ADAPT Fund at $5,000 with no matching requirement, PEI's Web Presence Assistance at up to $2,500, PEI's Small Business Investment Grant at up to $3,750, and Ontario's OCI RMPG at $5,000. See also e-commerce grants.
You want AI money but cannot form a consortium. IRAP AI Assist requires none. Scale AI's Acceleration Program puts up to $50,000 of accelerator services behind a startup through eleven certified partners, paid to the accelerator rather than to you. Mitacs Accelerate connects you to a graduate researcher at $15,000 per internship unit, or $20,000 for a postdoctoral fellow.
The project is bigger than every grant on this page. Above roughly $1 million, you are in repayable territory, not grant territory. FedDev Ontario's BSP offers $125,000 to $10,000,000 as an interest-free repayable contribution covering up to 35% of project costs in southern Ontario; RAII does the same for AI in the Prairies. The Digital Technology Supercluster co-invests to $5 million in BC, and NGen co-invests in manufacturing — though NGen's core Supercluster project stream is paused, and its Industrial AI Readiness Program at up to $15,000 is the currently open door.
For a digital project over $1 million in southern Ontario, the best instrument is FedDev's BSP, because nothing else in the country operates at that scale for a single company. But it is an interest-free repayable contribution covering up to 35% of costs, so compare it against your bank's terms rather than against DMAP.
Every Program Compared
Every digital transformation funding program named on this page, with the status our catalogue recorded at its last verification. Two closed programs are listed last, because people still search for them.
Scroll right to see all columns →| Program | Type | Amount | Where | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OCI DMAP | Grant | Up to $15,000 at 50% | Ontario | Open, rolling |
| OCI RMPG | Grant | Up to $5,000, matched | Ontario | Open, rolling |
| OCI TDP | Grant | Up to $50,000 at 50% | Ontario | Intake closed Aug 10, 2026 |
| SR&ED | Tax credit | Up to 35% refundable; max $2.1M/yr | Canada | Always available |
| NRC IRAP | Grant | $75K–$1M typical; $75K median | Canada | Open year-round |
| NRC IRAP AI Assist | Grant | $45K–$120K typical | Canada | Open, no fixed deadline |
| ESSOR Volet 1 | Grant | Up to $50,000 per component, 50% | Quebec | Rolling to Mar 31, 2027 |
| Manufacturing Productivity Grant | Grant | $1,000–$30,000, matched | Alberta | Closes Oct 31, 2026 |
| Ontario Job Grant | Grant | Up to $10,000 per trainee | Ontario | Open, year-round |
| BC Employer Training Grant | Grant | $1,000–$10,000 per employee | British Columbia | Open while budget lasts |
| Canada-Alberta Productivity Grant | Grant | Up to $5,000 per year | Alberta | Open |
| ADAPT Fund | Grant | $5,000–$15,100 | Northwest Territories | Open, first-come |
| Web Presence Assistance | Grant | $1,000–$2,500 at 50% | Prince Edward Island | Open |
| PEI Small Business Investment Grant | Grant | Up to $3,750 (15% of capital) | Prince Edward Island | Open to Mar 31, 2027 |
| Capitale-Commerce | Grant | Up to $35,000 (30%) | Québec City | Open, continuous |
| OCI CIT Future Ready | Grant | Up to $10,000, 1:1 match | Ontario | Open, rolling |
| Innovation Growth Program | Grant | $25,000–$100,000, 50/50 | Manitoba | Open |
| SLIM | Grant | Up to $750,000 | Saskatchewan | Open |
| Mitacs Accelerate | Grant | $15,000 per unit; $20,000 postdoc | Canada | Ongoing |
| OIDMTC | Tax credit | 40% of Ontario labour, no overall cap | Ontario | Ongoing |
| BC Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit | Tax credit | 25% of eligible BC salaries | British Columbia | Permanent |
| MIDMTC | Tax credit | 35–40% of labour | Manitoba | Ongoing |
| Nova Scotia Digital Media Tax Credit | Tax credit | 25–50%, +10% outside Halifax | Nova Scotia | Ongoing |
| Ontario Innovation Tax Credit | Tax credit | 8% refundable on qualifying R&D | Ontario | Ongoing |
| Quebec CRIC | Tax credit | 20–30% of Quebec R&D wages | Quebec | Ongoing |
| Alberta Innovation Employment Grant | Tax credit | 8% base / 20% incremental, to $4M | Alberta | Ongoing |
| BC SR&ED credit | Tax credit | 10% refundable to a $6M limit | British Columbia | Ongoing |
| Saskatchewan STSI | Tax credit | 45% investor credit; up to $2M raised | Saskatchewan | Open, $7M annual cap |
| Scale AI | Co-investment | $1M–$5M per project | Canada | Continuous intake |
| Scale AI Acceleration | Services | Up to $50,000 via partner accelerators | AB, NB, NS, ON, QC | Ongoing |
| Digital Technology Supercluster | Co-investment | Up to $5,000,000 | British Columbia | Continuous; streams vary |
| NGen | Co-investment | Industrial AI Readiness up to $15,000 | Canada | Core project stream paused |
| RAII | Repayable | $250,000–$5,000,000, interest-free | AB, SK, MB | Continuous to Dec 31, 2028 |
| FedDev Ontario BSP | Repayable | $125,000–$10,000,000, up to 35% | Southern Ontario | Accepting applications |
| CDAP / Boost Your Business Technology | Grant + loan | $15,000 grant; BDC loan | Canada | Closed 2024, no successor |
| Digital Main Street | Grant | $2,500 flat | Ontario | Discontinued Mar 31, 2024 |
| If you are buying: DMAP in Ontario, ESSOR 1B/1C in Quebec, AMPG in Alberta, plus a training grant anywhere. If you are building: SR&ED first, then IRAP, then your provincial R&D credit. | ||||
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions people actually ask about digital transformation funding after CDAP.
How to Fund a Digital Transformation
Five steps, in the order that actually works.
Here is what you need to know about sequencing: two of these programs are ruined by doing them in the wrong order, and both failures are permanent. NRC IRAP cannot fund work that has already begun, so the advisor conversation has to happen before the first line of code. Training grants disqualify training that has already started, so approval has to land before the first session. Neither is appealable.
Everything else is recoverable. SR&ED is claimed after the fact and can be filed up to 18 months after your fiscal year-end. Provincial plan grants reimburse rather than advance, so the cash-flow question is when you are repaid, not whether you were early.
Find Which Digital Programs Match Your Business
Answer a few questions about your company, your province and your project. You get a ranked shortlist of the programs you actually qualify for, plus a funding roadmap with amounts and the order to apply in.
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Sources and References
Every program status and amount on this page was checked against the GrantCompass catalogue record and its official program page. Last reviewed August 2026.
- Digitalization Competence Centre — Ontario Centre of Innovation (DMAP, RMPG, TDP)
- Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Incentive Program — Canada Revenue Agency
- SR&ED Eligibility of Work Policy — CRA
- Industrial Research Assistance Program — National Research Council Canada
- NRC IRAP support for SMEs innovating in artificial intelligence (AI Assist) — NRC
- Programme ESSOR — Investissement Québec
- Scale AI — Canada's AI Global Innovation Cluster
- Scale AI Acceleration Program
- DIGITAL — Canada's Digital Technology Cluster
- Alberta Manufacturing Productivity Grant — Government of Alberta
- Innovation Employment Grant — Government of Alberta
- Ontario Job Grant — Government of Ontario
- Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit — Ontario Creates
- Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit — Government of British Columbia
- B.C. Employer Training Grant — WorkBC
- Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative — PrairiesCan
- Business Scale-up and Productivity — FedDev Ontario
- ADAPT Fund — Prosper NWT
- Web Presence Assistance — Innovation PEI
- Small Business Investment Grant — Government of Prince Edward Island
- Mitacs Accelerate — Mitacs
- Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen)
- Saskatchewan Technology Startup Incentive — Innovation Saskatchewan
- Canada Digital Adoption Program (closed) — Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
- Digital Main Street Ontario (Digital Transformation Grant ended March 31, 2024)
- Innovation Canada — Program Finder