“Canada’s AI for All strategy confirms that AI‑driven digital transformation is already underway, and organizations that sit on the sidelines risk falling behind. Success now is less about using AI and more about using it well: knowing where it fits in your business, and training people to provide high‑quality context, inputs, and questions. That human literacy is what turns AI from a novelty into real value for your venture.”

– Lesley Esford, SFU VentureLabs Executive Director

In June, the Federal government released “AI for All”, their national AI strategy. This strategy is designed to encourage responsible AI adoption and development, focused on trust, opportunity and sovereignty. 

This plan can impact science and tech startups greatly, with specialized venture funding, better IP protection, and access to a public AI supercomputer and sovereign cloud infrastructure. 

As a business accelerator focused on high-potential ventures in the deeptech, science and tech industries, we have put together key insights from the Federal AI for All Strategy that can affect these companies. 

“The Canadian AI ecosystem has demonstrated strengths in AI research, but it is also a significant contributor to Canada’s economic performance. Canada’s strong digital sector employs approximately 800,000 workers and contributes over $140 billion to GDP, with 150,000 jobs directly associated with AI.

Over 3,500 Canadian firms are actively developing advanced AI models, tools, and applications, collectively raising more than CAD$37 billion in venture capital funding. Continued growth is expected to further expand this contribution. AI is also a key element of productivity growth across the broader economy, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and government services.“

– AI for All (P. 8)

There are six core pillars in this federal AI strategy: 

For science and tech startups in the growth stage, below are key points from each pillar that could affect you: 

Pillar 1 – Protecting Canadians and Safeguarding Democracy

In Pillar 1, the strategy aims to build adoption through trust. Opportunities for ventures to come through the Canada Trusted AI Certification, a program helping Canadians identify trustworthy AI products, and the AI Safety Institute who are conducting transparent evaluations of AI models. Connecting with these government programs will help to establish a better, more trusting customer base.

Pillar 2 – Empowering Canadians

Subsidizing entry-level talent can eliminate the financial barrier when scaling a venture. Mitacs ADOPT and AI+X programs are creating 10,000 work placements, and an additional 90,000 AI-related job opportunities, including 45,000 through the Student Work Placement Program and Canada Summer Jobs, are proposed in this strategy.

Pillar 3 – Powering Shared Prosperity

Funding to incentivize the use of AI tools, and to help further develop the technology was proposed in Pillar 3. The BDC LIFT Program was granted $500 M to help SMEs access financing to incorporate AI tools into their operations, and Regional Development Agencies were allocated $500 M to help regional businesses accelerate the adoption and commercialization of AI. This funding will help to grow the customer base for AI tools, as well as advancing the technologies. 

Pillar 4 – Building the Canadian Sovereign AI Foundation

Pillar 4 is structured around reducing dependency on foreign technology, and building strong Canadian compute infrastructure, data assets and technical talent. Allowing for a domestic environment, governed by Canadian laws. 

Sovereign compute and cloud infrastructure can reduce costs and security risks associated with training models on infrastructure hosted outside Canada. Infrastructure governed by Canadian laws allows for protection of your sensitive IP.  

The strategy proposes to do this with a Public AI Supercomputer, providing SMEs and researchers secure and high performance compute. They will also increase data centre power capacity, leveraging over $2 billion in existing investments to bring large-scale, commercial sovereign compute online.

Access to high-quality standardized data is essential for training reliable AI models. The federal government will invest $100 M in the health sector data space for clinical trials and health research, and an additional $100 M into the VITAL platform which is being expanded to five more provinces. VITAL allows researchers and health tech companies  to leverage de-identified hospital data to accelerate critical care innovations. 

“AI is opening up capacity for data collection and analysis where it hasn’t been before, especially in the health tech sector.”

– Lesley Esford, SFU VentureLabs Executive Director

Anchoring and attracting talent can help ventures scale their teams with senior technical experts quickly. There is global competition for AI experts, and this strategy is working to accelerate the entry and onboarding of highly skilled international AI workers. They are also increasing the number of Canada CIFAR AI Chairs (top-tier AI researchers in Canada, receiving funding to support research programs and future AI-leaders). 

Pillar 5 – Scaling Canadian Champions

Pillar 5 is hoping to scale Canadian champions, ensuring that high-potential companies can scale globally while remaining stationed in Canada. This pillar promises opportunities for capital, IP protections, and the government as a key customer. 

Capital to address the funding gaps in early and mid-growth stage ventures is a key section in Pillar 5. $500 M has been allocated to The Canadian Tech Growth Fund which will help close the scale-up capital gap faced by Canada’s most promising companies. Furthermore, the government will leverage $1.75 B of federal investments and commitments announced in the federal budget to stimulate private sector investments in venture capital. 

Protecting and commercializing intellectual property ensures Canada is owning what it invents. Programs like Elevate IP and IP Assist are receiving $159 M to help startups protect their IP, and $700 M is going toward providing Canadian SMEs with sovereign compute through an expansion of the Compute Access Fund. 

The government as a strategic anchor customer will give ventures stable revenue and demand, market validation, and global credibility. This will happen through the leveraging of The Buy Canadian policy, and Canada anchoring its homegrown AI foundation model capabilities at home, and supporting their international growth. 

Pillar 6 – Building Trusted Partnerships and Global Alliances

The strategy places a focus on international export and procurement in Pillar 6. The government is working toward a sovereign technology alliance, designed to open procurement opportunities in allied nations, as well as continuing to showcase Canadian talent abroad and attracting foreign investment through the Trade Commissioner Service.

Where VentureLabs Can Help

At VentureLabs we are your community hub in BC, helping deeptech, science and tech ventures scale with specialized mentorship, business expertise, and tailored programming. We can help support companies, whether they are creating AI technologies or using them. 

If you are a deeptech or science company, we know you face unique needs and challenges as high-growth potential companies. This is why we built Perago, to provide tailored support, shorten timelines and streamline your journey. 

Interested in our programing? Apply to Perago today: https://venturelabs.ca/programs-services/perago/ 

“There is a very important distinction in how companies use AI, some will primarily use AI to boost operational efficiency; others will build internal AI engines that underpin new products and business models. We help ventures choose and execute the path that’s right for them.”

– Lesley Esford, SFU VentureLabs Executive Director

Find the full “AI for All” Strategy here: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/sites/default/files/documents/ai-strategy-en.pdf