Federal grants & innovation programs for businesses
Besides contracts, federal departments fund companies through grants and contributions. This page shows which programs actually fund businesses, how much they typically award, and who received funding — from the government's own disclosure records.
Agreements with businesses (since Apr 2021)
149968
Total agreement value
$63,658,056,638
Business recipients
81678
Programs
371
Open Innovative Solutions Canada calls
Innovative Solutions Canada buys early-stage innovations from Canadian small and medium businesses. Its calls are posted on CanadaBuys:
- MINERVA Initiative – Uncrewed Aircraft System Deconfliction · closes 2026-10-21
- Innovative Solutions Canada Program Call for Proposals – 004 · closes 2026-12-24
Programs most active with businesses in the last 12 months
Incentives for Zero-emission vehicles program signed the most agreements with businesses in the last 12 months (1786).
| Program | Department | Last 12 months | Since Apr 2021 | Average agreement | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incentives for Zero-emission vehicles program | Transport Canada | 1786 | 28638 | $79,036 | $2,263,439,343 |
| Industrial Research Assistance Program | National Research Council Canada | 1437 | 1475 | $235,988 | $348,081,732 |
| CanExport | National Research Council Canada | 883 | 884 | $25,743 | $22,756,580 |
| Industrial Research Assistance Program – Youth Employment Program | National Research Council Canada | 394 | 5021 | $32,234 | $161,848,948 |
| Youth Employment and Skills Program | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 296 | 3814 | $11,035 | $42,087,623 |
| Green Freight Program | Natural Resources Canada | 274 | 831 | $96,822 | $80,459,056 |
| REGI-RTRI - Regional Tariff Response Initiative | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 210 | 210 | $695,742 | $146,105,725 |
| Industrial Research Assistance Program – Contributions to Firms | National Research Council Canada | 181 | 10539 | $173,969 | $1,833,458,952 |
| Regional Economic Growth through Innovation | Prairies Economic Development Canada | 133 | 718 | $831,783 | $597,219,853 |
| REGI-BSP-Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) | Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency | 122 | 123 | $513,317 | $63,138,015 |
| REGI - Strategic Growth Initiative (SGI) | Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency | 116 | 476 | $46,637 | $22,199,189 |
| The Regional Economic Growth Through Innovation Program (REGI) | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 95 | 1352 | $643,143 | $869,529,668 |
| REGI - Business Scale-Up and Productivity (BSP) | Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency | 83 | 122 | $555,516 | $67,772,974 |
| REGI - Productivity, digitalization and expansion | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 61 | 101 | $700,760 | $70,776,803 |
| Regional Economic Growth through Innovation | Pacific Economic Development Canada | 57 | 335 | $1,193,314 | $399,760,297 |
| Energy Innovation Program | Natural Resources Canada | 50 | 193 | $2,669,664 | $515,245,233 |
| REGI - Business Scale-up and Productivity | Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency | 49 | 502 | $452,612 | $227,211,039 |
| AI Compute Access Fund | Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada | 44 | 44 | $1,503,974 | $66,174,836 |
| Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security Program | National Defence | 40 | 65 | $910,870 | $59,206,547 |
| Enabling Accessibility Funds - Youth | Employment and Social Development Canada | 35 | 68 | $9,560 | $650,068 |
| Supply Management Processing Investment Fund (SMPIF) | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 31 | 133 | $2,208,075 | $293,673,911 |
| Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) | Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario | 29 | 148 | $1,227,518 | $181,672,656 |
| Green Industrial Facilities and Manufacturing Program | Natural Resources Canada | 29 | 106 | $610,022 | $64,662,347 |
| Canadian International Innovation Program (CIIP) | Global Affairs Canada | 27 | 100 | $4,183 | $418,278 |
| Regional Tariff Response Initiative | Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario | 25 | 46 | $734,881 | $33,804,533 |
| Agricultural Clean Technology | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 24 | 554 | $652,871 | $361,690,616 |
| Funding for Canadian Innovators and Accelerators of DIANA (FCIA-DIANA) | National Defence | 22 | 22 | $169,000 | $3,718,000 |
| Grant Canadian Inter. Innovation Prog | Global Affairs Canada | 21 | 78 | $4,734 | $369,240 |
| REGI - Commercialization and exportation | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 21 | 34 | $234,323 | $7,966,973 |
| Enabling Accessibility Fund - Grants | Employment and Social Development Canada | 20 | 598 | $70,146 | $41,947,075 |
| REGI-RDII - Regional Defence Investment Initiative - SME | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 20 | 20 | $1,855,456 | $37,109,118 |
| Zero Emissions Vehicle Infrastructure Program | Natural Resources Canada | 18 | 293 | $862,838 | $252,811,470 |
| Pacific Salmon Commercial Transition Program | Fisheries and Oceans Canada | 18 | 73 | $268,432 | $19,595,521 |
| Canadian International Innovation Program | National Research Council Canada | 18 | 53 | $448,352 | $23,762,668 |
| REGI-BSP-Regional Defence Investment Initiative (RDII) | Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency | 18 | 24 | $1,293,791 | $31,050,976 |
| Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program - Collaborative R&D Initiatives | National Research Council Canada | 17 | 71 | $378,667 | $26,885,341 |
| REGI-RAII - Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 17 | 18 | $300,000 | $5,400,000 |
| Wine Sector Support Program | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 16 | 1707 | $168,201 | $287,118,296 |
| Contributions in support of Investments in the Forest Industry Transformation Program | Natural Resources Canada | 13 | 95 | $3,356,468 | $318,864,480 |
| Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program | Natural Resources Canada | 13 | 83 | $15,089,846 | $1,252,457,259 |
| AgriScience Program - Project Component | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 12 | 44 | $903,902 | $39,771,705 |
| Business Development Program | Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency | 10 | 48 | $157,130 | $7,542,250 |
| Worker Retention Grant | Employment and Social Development Canada | 9 | 9 | $32,259 | $290,327 |
| Clean Fuels Program | Natural Resources Canada | 8 | 137 | $7,431,839 | $1,018,161,978 |
| IDEANorth | Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency | 8 | 117 | $313,510 | $36,680,724 |
| QEDP - Development and promotion of assets and the regions | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 8 | 11 | $407,752 | $4,485,271 |
| CanExport | Global Affairs Canada | 8 | 8 | $112,543 | $900,340 |
| CanExport Innovation | National Research Council Canada | 7 | 412 | $17,035 | $7,018,266 |
| Universal Broadband Fund | Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada | 7 | 300 | $5,090,679 | $1,527,203,752 |
| Quebec Fisheries Fund (QFF) | Fisheries and Oceans Canada | 7 | 124 | $75,734 | $9,391,056 |
| International Development Assistance program | Global Affairs Canada | 7 | 25 | $11,169,095 | $279,227,367 |
| Kosher and Halal Investment Program | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 7 | 11 | $840,030 | $9,240,333 |
| QEDP - Local development | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 6 | 8 | $291,656 | $2,333,249 |
| Commemorative Partnership Program | Veterans Affairs Canada | 6 | 6 | $31,475 | $188,850 |
| Life Sciences Fund Contributions | Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada | 6 | 6 | $10,880,544 | $65,283,261 |
| The Quebec Economic Development Program (QEDP) | Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions | 5 | 309 | $220,177 | $68,034,713 |
| Northern Ontario Development Program | Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario | 5 | 40 | $1,100,617 | $44,024,672 |
| Critical Mineral Research, Development and Demonstration Program | Natural Resources Canada | 5 | 31 | $4,143,074 | $128,435,279 |
| Regional Economic Growth through Innovation Program | Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario | 5 | 30 | $643,130 | $19,293,905 |
| Grants and Contributions for Critical Minerals Innovation and Global Partnerships | Natural Resources Canada | 5 | 14 | $8,892,952 | $124,501,331 |
Agreement value by fiscal year
Fiscal year · value · agreements. The current year is incomplete.
2021-22$6,935,695,61429252
2022-23$7,491,166,20527982
2023-24$34,047,521,97638581
2024-25$8,143,433,22232782
2025-26$6,200,055,27817744
2026-27$840,184,3413627
By recipient province (last 3 years)
ON$21,478,387,14023428
QC$4,794,503,36415575
BC$1,965,645,68110511
AB$1,826,655,1277590
MB$467,497,3352146
NB$391,066,7782333
NS$384,246,0782584
SK$342,604,6031435
NL$204,857,8041477
PE$174,754,563773
YT$134,565,409171
NU$23,598,02855
?$9,363,5795
NT$8,867,12677
Method & sources
Source: Government of Canada "Proactive Disclosure – Grants and Contributions" (Open Government Licence – Canada). We include agreements with for-profit recipients that started on or after April 1, 2021, and keep the latest amendment of each agreement, so values are the current agreement value, not money paid out. Departments report on their own schedule, so the most recent quarter is incomplete. Recipients are linked to company pages by exact name match. This is not an endorsement or an eligibility determination — check each program's official page.
Dataset on open.canada.ca · Search the official grants records