Manitoba Digital & Technology Grants 2026: 73 Programs, 47 Active
Every digital and technology funding program a Manitoba business can apply to, drawn from the GrantCompass catalogue. Each one classified honestly: grant, loan, tax credit, program or award, with its real status today.
Which digital and tech funding programs can a Manitoba business actually apply to?
Here is what you need to know: this page lists every program in the GrantCompass catalogue tagged with a digital purpose (digital transformation, digital adoption, or R&D software and digital) and open to Manitoba businesses, either Canada-wide or through a Manitoba or Prairie-province scope. That filter yields 73 programs: 47 active, 15 between intakes (not accepting applications right now), 9 closed, 1 paused and 1 upcoming.
The most important habit this page can teach you: read the status before the amount. A closed program's headline figure, like the IDEaS Defence Innovation Secure Hubs envelope of up to $50M over 2 years, is history, not an opportunity: that call closed April 2, 2026. The filterable roster below keeps the status attached to every number.
The 73 programs by status and by level
GrantCompass catalogue, September 2026 (counts: active 47, between-intakes 15, closed 9, paused 1, upcoming 1; by level: federal 54, private 12, provincial 6, municipal 1).Which of the 73 programs fits your situation?
Filter the full roster by status, funding type and scope. Every card shows current status, the amount as the record states it, and the intake reality, with a link to the full program page.
Showing 73 of 73 programs
No programs match those filters.
Try clearing the search text or setting a filter group back to All. If a combination genuinely returns nothing (for example, Manitoba-only tax credits that are closed), that is the honest answer, not a bug.
What are the 10 programs tagged for Manitoba, and which are open?
Six are open only to Manitoba businesses; four more are Prairie-province programs that include Manitoba. These are the records most "Manitoba grants" lists never get right.
Manitoba Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (MIDMTC)
ActiveThe strongest Manitoba-only program in this list for digital businesses. A taxable Canadian corporation with a permanent establishment in Manitoba earns a refundable credit on interactive digital media products: video games, educational software, and interactive content. The 40% rate requires paying at least 25% of total salaries and wages to Manitoba residents; below that threshold, 35% applies only if the company incurs at least $1 million in qualifying Manitoba labour annually. Operating systems, interpersonal-communication products, promotional products, adults-only rated games, and products developed for internal use or for a non-arm's-length purchaser are ineligible.
Applications are accepted year-round with no intake windows, and the program has been extended to December 31, 2030, which makes it the rare funding line with multi-year certainty.
Full MIDMTC profile →Manitoba Research and Development Tax Credit
ActiveManitoba's provincial R&D credit rides on the federal SR&ED framework: expenditures must qualify as SR&ED, the T661 form is the gateway, and R&D must be carried on in Manitoba. Contracting with a qualifying Manitoba educational institution or research institute gets fully refundable treatment; in-house R&D qualifies for 50% refundable treatment.
The deadlines are the trap: the credit is claimed with your T2 return, expenditures must be identified within 12 months of the return due date, and unused non-refundable portions carry forward 20 years or back 3. Missing the claim window forfeits the credit entirely.
Full profile →Manitoba Innovation Proof-of-Concept Grant
Between IntakesResearch Manitoba runs this two-stage competition (Expression of Interest, then full proposal by invitation) twice a year for projects between TRL 3 and TRL 7. Three streams cover academic-industry consortia, post-secondary researchers commercializing discoveries, and private-sector companies with R&D, production, or manufacturing operations in Manitoba. Research results must be used to commercialize the IP within five years of project completion.
The Spring 2026 intake closed July 7, 2026, with award decisions due December 2026. Fall 2026 EOIs open in September 2026, and this intake is not submitted through the grant management system: download the program guide and forms from the program page.
Full profile →West End BIZ Business Development Grant
ActiveSmall but genuinely accessible: a current West End BIZ member claims 50% reimbursement on professional services, marketing, renovations, staff training, or IT improvements within the BIZ service area. Intake is year-round, but the annual budget is fixed and the record's own guidance is to apply in January or February before allocation is exhausted. The practical deadline is whenever the budget runs out.
Full profile →Manitoba Trade Growth Investment Financing Program (TGIF)
ActiveA Manitoba government loan, not a grant, for Canadian-controlled private corporations and co-operatives registered and permanently established in Manitoba. Projects must show measurable economic benefit to the province (trade growth, jobs, wages, or workforce development); the borrower contributes at least 25% equity; and applications must precede the project, since retroactive funding is not available. Three years of financial statements and T2 returns are required, though start-ups with compelling business plans may be considered.
Full profile →Manitoba Food Safety & Traceability Program (SCAP)
ClosedAn annual program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership for Manitoba agri-food processors, warehouses, distributors, wholesalers, and Indigenous agricultural initiatives. The 2026 intake is closed; projects began on or after April 1, 2026 and all activities and reporting must complete by February 1, 2027. Because the program is annual, future intakes are expected; watch the Manitoba Agriculture page rather than budgeting around this year's dates.
Full profile →The four Prairie-province programs open to Manitoba
These records carry a Manitoba tag because Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba businesses all qualify. All four are administered by PrairiesCan or its parent department, all four start with an Expression of Interest, and two of the four are loans, which is the distinction most listings blur.
| Program | Status | Type | Amount | The rule most people miss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII), for-profit stream | Active | Loan | $250K–$5M | Interest-free repayable contributions up to 50% of costs; TRL 7+ only; EOI before applying; applications accepted until December 31, 2028 or until the $33.8M Prairie envelope is committed |
| RAII Non-Profit Non-Repayable Stream | Active | Grant | $250K–$5M | Up to 90% of costs, non-repayable, for NFPs supporting AI adoption, literacy, talent, or SME productivity in the Prairies; projects must complete by March 31, 2029 |
| PrairiesCan Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) | Active | Loan | $200K–$5M | All other funding, government and non-government, must be confirmed before the EOI is submitted, and SR&ED credit receivables do not count as confirmed funding |
| PrairiesCan Community Economic Development and Diversification (CEDD) | Active | Grant | $75K–$1.5M | Not for for-profits: NFPs, co-ops, Indigenous organizations, municipalities, and post-secondary institutions only; budget resets April 1, so EOIs submitted April to July hit fresh allocations |
Where should you apply first?
Work down this ladder until you hit your situation. Each rung names the program and the one rule that disqualifies most applicants.
If you are an incorporated Canadian for-profit SME doing genuine R&D…Start with IRAP
IRAP is the deepest single pool in this list: active, continuous intake, typical awards of $75K to $1M with a record maximum of $10M, for incorporated Canadian for-profit SMEs of 500 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees. Entry is a conversation with NRC IRAP, not a portal. One caveat from the record: NRC publishes no cost-share percentage and no budget calendar, and practitioners report regional budgets are fullest early in the fiscal year and can run short by late fall in high-demand regions. That timing is practitioner experience, not an NRC rule.
If you are a Prairie company commercializing AI at TRL 7 or higher…Submit a RAII Expression of Interest
RAII offers $250K to $5M as interest-free repayable contributions of up to 50% of costs, with an EOI required before any full application. The record expects at least 2 years of operating history for the for-profit stream. Applications are accepted until December 31, 2028 or until the $33.8M Prairie envelope is fully committed; as the program headed into 2025-26 roughly $26M remained, with competition rising as awareness grows. All projects must start before December 31, 2028 and be completed by March 31, 2029.
If you are a high-growth Prairie business scaling operations…Consider PrairiesCan BSP, with eyes open
BSP lends $200K to $5M to incorporated businesses operating in AB, SK, or MB for at least 2 years. Year-over-year revenue growth of 20% or more is a priority, not a threshold, but the confirmed non-government co-funding requirement of at least 50% of total project costs at EOI submission is absolute, and forecast revenues, equity commitments, and SR&ED credit receivables do not count. Continuous intake; the record's own best-window guidance is April to June, and the worst is February to March at fiscal year-end.
If you are a not-for-profit, co-op, municipality, or Indigenous organization…Apply to CEDD or the RAII non-profit stream
CEDD is a grant of $75K to $1.5M with continuous EOI intake; in 2024-25 it delivered $36M to 38 organizations, and the budget resets every April 1. The RAII non-profit stream is the most generous terms in the whole list: up to 90% of project costs, non-repayable, for organizations supporting AI adoption, AI literacy, AI talent development, or AI-enabled SME productivity in the Prairies. Both require completion by March 31, 2029 for RAII-funded work.
If you are hiring digital or technical students…Stack ICTC WIL Digital, TECHNATION Career Ready, and Mitacs Accelerate
ICTC WIL Digital runs three intakes a year aligned to academic terms; the Fall 2026 submission deadline is November 15, 2026, subject to funding and capacity, and funding is first-come, first-served. TECHNATION Career Ready accepts Fall 2026 applications until December 31, 2026, also first-come, with a waitlist once the funding limit is reached. Mitacs Accelerate is continuous with no fixed deadlines: submit at least 8 weeks before the internship start date, 16 weeks if international travel is involved. None of the three requires you to be a tech company; the placement itself must be digital or technical.
If you are a Manitoba game studio or interactive media company…Claim the MIDMTC, then watch CMF IDM intakes
MIDMTC is active, year-round, and extended to December 31, 2030. For content funding on top, the Canada Media Fund's Innovation & Experimentation program funds interactive digital media at up to $1.5M but is between intakes: 2025-26 Round 2 closed September 11 and 2026-27 dates are TBD, with guidelines typically published by April. New CMF applicants must book a mandatory pre-consultation well before any closing date.
How much funding can you actually get?
Across the 48 programs in this list that carry structured minimum or maximum amount data, the median maximum is $425K. The smallest maximum is $3K (West End BIZ). The largest single amountMax is $240M on the AI Compute Challenge record, whose display amount reads up to $700M for AI compute infrastructure projects; 61 of the 73 records carry some display amount. Treat every figure below as that program's own ceiling, never as money available to any one applicant.
The five largest programs by maximum, with their real status
| Program | Status | Type | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Compute Challenge (ISED) | Active | Grant | $240M amountMax; displayed as up to $700M envelope for AI compute infrastructure |
| IDEaS Defence Innovation Secure Hubs (DISH) | Closed | Grant | $50M over 2 years; the single CFP closed April 2, 2026 and no second call is announced |
| BDC Forestry Support Program | Active | Loan | $250K to $50M depending on the stream; Softwood Lumber Guarantee available until December 31, 2026 |
| Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) Supercluster | Active | Program | Up to $20M, but the core $500K-$20M stream is paused until further notice; feasibility and pilot streams remain |
| Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) | Active | Grant | $75K-$1M typical, up to $10M |
Here is what you need to know about reading amounts: maximum is not typical. IRAP's record shows a $10M maximum, but its own display amount calls $75K to $1M typical. RAII and BSP reach $5M but are repayable loans with co-funding conditions, not grants. And the two biggest numbers here belong to programs most readers will never touch: AI compute infrastructure at one end, a closed defence call at the other.
When can you apply? Deadlines and intake windows
39 of the 73 programs run rolling or ongoing intake, 13 carry a fixed deadline date (8 of them in 2026, 5 in 2027 or later), and 21 have no fixed date and are not marked rolling. "Continuous" does not mean "unlimited": IRAP's record notes regional budgets can run short by late fall, CEDD's budget resets every April 1, and the Industrial AI Readiness Program reviews applications first-come, first-served only until funds expire.
The dated deadlines closest to today
- MICA Monte Carlo Simulation Planning Challenge closes (opened June 9, 2026; a solution-sourcing challenge for simulation providers serving a MICA member processing operation).
- CELTIC-NEXT Autumn Call submissions close at 23:59 CEST (open since July 1, 2026; international R&D consortia with NRC IRAP as the Canadian funding channel).
- CMF IDM Prototyping fall intake closes (opens October 27, 2026; new applicants must complete a pre-application consultation before the intake opens).
- ICTC WIL Digital: intake opened July 15, 2026 at 9 a.m. EDT; submission deadline November 15, 2026; first-come, first-served, subject to available funding.
- Xecs Call on Quantum project outlines due (full proposals March 5, 2027; decisions June 2027).
- TECHNATION Career Ready Fall 2026 window ends, and the BDC Softwood Lumber Guarantee runs until this date or until the envelope is fully used.
- Xecs Call 6 outlines due January 21, 2027 and SMART Call 10 outlines due January 26, 2027, both Eureka-cluster calls delivered through NRC IRAP.
- RAII hard cutoff: applications accepted until this date or until the $33.8M envelope is committed; projects must start before the cutoff and complete by March 31, 2029.
How do you apply? The six-step process
The same pattern repeats across nearly all 73 records. Learn it once and every application gets easier.
- Filter the roster to programs that are actually open. Set the status filter to Active, then narrow by scope: Manitoba-only for provincial programs, Prairies for AB/SK/MB programs, Canada-wide for federal ones. A program between intakes accepts no applications right now, whatever its headline amount says.
- Run the eligibility summary before anything else. The recurring gates across the records: incorporated Canadian for-profit status, 500 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees, project work performed in Canada, and technology readiness level (TRL 7 or higher for RAII commercialization, TRL 3 to 7 for the Manitoba Innovation Proof-of-Concept Grant, TRL 1-4 for ISC Phase 1 and TRL 5-9 for ISC Phase 2).
- Start with an Expression of Interest where the record requires one. RAII, PrairiesCan BSP, and PrairiesCan CEDD all use a two-stage EOI-then-full-application process, and the Manitoba Innovation Proof-of-Concept Grant opens each intake with an EOI. The EOI is a screening step, not the application itself. For IRAP there is no portal at all: entry is a conversation with NRC IRAP at 1-877-994-4727 for new businesses, or your existing industrial technology advisor.
- Assemble the documents every record asks for. Two documents appear at the top of nearly every record's document list: your CRA business number and a business plan. Add the record-specific items: proof of confirmed non-government co-funding of at least 50% of total project costs for RAII and PrairiesCan BSP; the T2 return and federal T661 form for the Manitoba R&D Tax Credit; three years of financial statements and T2 returns for TGIF; NGen membership for any NGen stream.
- Submit through the official funder channel and respect first-come windows. Each program page links to the funder's own application URL, and the record's applicationUrlDomain tells you whose portal you are on. Where a window is first-come, first-served (ICTC WIL Digital, the Industrial AI Readiness Program, NGen feasibility studies), early beats perfect. For continuous programs, April to June is repeatedly the best timing guidance in the records themselves.
- Report, claim, and keep records. After approval: contribution agreements carry completion deadlines (RAII projects must be completed by March 31, 2029; Industrial AI Readiness final reports are due by the end of December 2026), and the Manitoba R&D Tax Credit is claimed once a year with the T2 within 18 months of fiscal year-end. Keep receipts, timesheets, and correspondence per program for the audit window.
What changed for Manitoba digital funding in 2026?
Seven record-level changes from the September 2026 catalogue that should shape this quarter's applications.
Manitoba's digital media credit now runs to 2030. The MIDMTC was extended to December 31, 2030, with certificate-of-eligibility applications accepted continuously. For a Manitoba game or interactive media studio, this is the most predictable funding line in the province. Source: Province of Manitoba, MIDMTC program page (record: manitoba-interactive-digital-media-tax-credit).
Digital Skills for Youth has gone quiet. The 2025-26 cycle closed June 2, 2025, with internships running to March 31, 2026. No 2026-27 cycle has been announced and the record now shows closed. If you budgeted around DS4Y internships this year, plan around ICTC WIL Digital, TECHNATION Career Ready, Mitacs Accelerate, or Riipen Level UP instead. Source: ISED, Digital Skills for Youth Program.
The big defence and AI envelopes closed or paused. The IDEaS DISH call closed April 2, 2026 with no second call announced as of July 31, 2026. The NGen core Supercluster stream ($500K-$20M) is paused until further notice, and the AI4M Challenge's 2025 intake closed with no 2026 intake announced. The AI Compute Access Fund's first call closed heavily oversubscribed; future rounds are expected. Source: DND IDEaS, NGen, ISED ACAF program pages.
Quantum is the growth area. The NRC Quantum for Defence Program was announced in March 2026 and is upcoming, with a rolling call-for-proposals schedule anticipated through 2026-27. The QUIN 2026 call closed to EOIs on April 2, 2026, with results in October 2026, project starts January 4, 2027, and no successor announced. The NSERC Alliance Quantum competition passed its mandatory LOI stage on July 27, 2026; full applications are due October 5, 2026. Source: NRC and NSERC program pages.
Scale AI is investing; its training arm is not. Scale AI announced $128.5M across 44 projects in December 2025 and continues continuous intake for industry-led projects, but the Customized AI Training program is not currently accepting applications as of March 2026. Source: Scale AI program pages.
The Industrial AI Readiness Program is a 2026 window, not a fixture. NGen's $15K-per-project readiness stream reviews applications first-come, first-served until funds expire, with final reports due by the end of December 2026, which effectively caps how late a project can start. Source: NGen Industrial AI Readiness program page.
CDAP has no replacement. The Canada Digital Adoption Program was discontinued in 2025 and no direct successor exists in the catalogue. Manitoba businesses that would have used its adoption plan grant should look at the Building Up Manitoba Program (BUMP) for training costs: the active replacement for the discontinued Canada-Manitoba Job Grant, it covers up to $10,000 per employee trained at a 50% cost share, with continuous intake. For project funding, use the PrairiesCan streams above. Source: ISED CDAP wind-down summary.
Which myths cost Manitoba companies real money?
Four record-checkable corrections to what circulates on grant-listing sites.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers first, sourced from the same catalogue records as everything above.
What digital and technology funding programs can a Manitoba business apply to in 2026?
Which Manitoba-only programs are open right now?
Is PrairiesCan BSP a grant or a loan?
How much funding can a Manitoba company realistically get?
Which programs have fixed deadlines coming up?
Can a Manitoba company stack these funding programs?
About this guide
This page covers the 73 programs in the GrantCompass catalogue that are tagged with a digital purpose (digital transformation, digital adoption, or R&D software and digital) and open to Manitoba businesses. Every program is classified by its record's fundingType (grant, loan, tax credit, program, award) and programStatus (active, between intakes, closed, paused, upcoming), quoted exactly as recorded. Amounts are per-program ceilings as the record states them, never summed into an aggregate pot.
Methodology: Program facts are drawn from the GrantCompass catalogue, September 2026, and trace to the official funder pages linked from each program record. Statuses, amounts, deadlines and intake language on this page were recomputed from the catalogue on September 11, 2026.
Limitations: Programs change frequently and budgets can be exhausted mid-year. Always confirm current terms with the administering agency before applying. This guide is not financial or legal advice. GrantCompass reviews these records continuously and restates figures when the catalogue changes.
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Funding Programs in This Category
Manitoba digital & technology programs in our database, each with eligibility, funding amounts and how-to-apply detail.