What the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative funds
RAII is a federal funding program that pays for AI adoption in Canadian businesses, commercialization of Canadian-built AI, and the organizations that support both. It is run regionally, not from Ottawa.
Background
Canada helped develop modern artificial intelligence. The policy goal behind RAII is to make sure Canadian businesses actually put that technology to work, and that Canadian AI companies can build, sell and scale from Canada rather than moving elsewhere to do it.
The initiative is part of AI for All, Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. Under that strategy an additional $500 million over five years was added to the program, bringing total federal funding for RAII to $700 million.
The three streams
1. AI adoption
For small and medium-sized enterprises and not-for-profit organizations that want to adopt and integrate AI into how they operate. The stated aims are productivity, competitiveness, growth and resilience. Typical projects involve bringing an AI tool or system into an existing business process, which can mean buying and integrating a product, building something custom, or both.
2. AI commercialization and scale-up
For Canadian AI entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups. Funding supports validating, commercializing, deploying and scaling Canadian-made AI products and services, in Canada and in export markets.
3. AI ecosystem enablement
For regional organizations, incubators, accelerators and other not-for-profits that provide technical, advisory and market supports to businesses adopting or commercializing AI. This stream funds the helpers rather than the end businesses.
Who delivers it
RAII is delivered by Canada's regional development agencies (RDAs). Each agency runs its own intake, sets its own dates, publishes its own eligibility details and makes its own funding decisions for projects in its territory. The national page at ISED points you to the agencies; it does not take applications itself.
Find the agency for your region
How funding usually works
RDA programs generally fund a share of eligible project costs, with the applicant covering the rest. Businesses typically receive repayable contributions (interest-free loans repaid over time) and not-for-profits typically receive non-repayable contributions, but the exact terms, cost-share percentages and maximums are set by each agency and can differ between streams. Check the "who can apply" pages of your agency before you budget a project around a particular contribution level.
This site summarizes public government pages in plain language. It is not an official source. Before you apply, read your agency's current eligibility and application guidance, which takes precedence over anything here.