2. Who can apply?
1. Eligible applicants
To be eligible, your business must:
- Be incorporated and registered to do business in Canada or Ontario.
- Have at least 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) employee and no more than 500 FTEs.
- Have at least 1 year of business operations, as demonstrated by your financial statements.
- Own (or demonstrate that you will own) project IP, have or will secure rights to any IP required for the project, and not infringe on any IP rights
- Demonstrate a commitment to the responsible development and use of AI.
To be eligible, your organization must:
- Be an incorporated not-for-profit organization in Canada or Ontario.
- Have a track record of providing services to multiple businesses in southern Ontario.
- Have an Intellectual Property (IP) policy, which addresses ownership and protection of IP, and rights to third-party IP if required for the project.
- Demonstrate a commitment to responsible AI the responsible development and use of AI.
Responsible development and use of AI
Your AI/AI-driven solution is or has been developed in a manner that complies with current and anticipated legislative requirements and industry standards, and you have a plan to align your project with principles of responsible AI such as:
- Cybersecurity – Data, any IP, AI systems and underlying infrastructure are protected from cyber threats, a pre-requisite to data privacy.
- Human oversight and accountability – Humans exercise meaningful oversight and regular monitoring of AI systems, and there are accountability frameworks in place with respect to performance, impacts and compliance with ethical, technical, and legal requirements/standards.
As relevant:
- Data governance and privacy – Policies, practices and roles are in place to ensure sound stewardship and quality of data used for the training or operation of AI systems. If the data involved is personal/sensitive, sound governance will ensure lawful, consent-based access, collection and use of only data that is needed for the intended purpose, as well as the proper retention, disclosure, and deletion of this data to prevent unauthorized access. Privacy is a fundamental right in Canada.
- Safety – Risks of harm (physical, psychological, financial, etc.) to individuals or society are identified and mitigated.
- Fairness and equity – AI systems do not reinforce or create bias against specific groups of people.
- Accuracy and authenticity – AI systems produce results that are reliable, correct and original, and are based on data that are accurate, authentic, relevant and unbiased, etc.
2. Eligible projects
The Productization and Commercialization pillar supports the following:
- Projects focused on bringing to market new and innovative AI/AI-driven solutions (at technology readiness levels (TRL) 6 and above).
- Projects that increase the capacity of developers of AI/AI-driven solutions to grow through market expansion.
Examples of supportable activities could include:
- Market diagnostics and studies.
- Data acquisition and management.
- Development, testing, demonstration and showcasing of technologies/solutions
- Production expansion / scaling infrastructure needed to support the AI product as it scales to more users.
- Supply chain integration.
- Re-shoring or onshoring of development/ production mandates and talent.
- Sales, marketing and business development.
- Improving governance and adopting best management practices.
- Capacity building and training (not duplicative of other government support programs).
- IP protection and exploitation.
- Regulatory compliance.
- Strengthening cybersecurity measures.
The Productization and Commercialization pillar supports the following:
- Projects focused on growing and sustaining AI clusters and ecosystems by supporting SMEs that are developing AI/AI-driven solutions to advance product development and/or commercialization of new applications for entry into (new) markets.
Examples of supportable activities could include:
- Providing AI expertise, training, mentorship and other advisory supports.
- Talent attraction and retention activities.
- Facilitating data access and secure management.
- Technology demonstration, testbeds and/or supplier showcase events.
- Improving availability of risk capital.
- Business development support.
- Expanding collaborative efforts among industry partners to, for example, reach global markets and/or facilitate supply chain development.
- Developing frameworks and reports on best practices related to the responsible development and use of AI that could be used to inform legislation, build trust and support stewardship.