CDAP Ended: What Replaced Canada Digital Adoption Program

The Canada Digital Adoption Program has ended. It closed to new applicants in 2024 and wound down in 2025. For businesses adopting AI, the Business Development Bank of Canada's LIFT program is the current federal option. The harder decision is choosing which single workflow is worth funding first.

If you are searching for the Canada Digital Adoption Program, here is the short answer: it has ended. The program that gave small businesses a grant for a digital plan and an interest-free loan to act on it is closed to new applicants. The money for adopting technology did not disappear. It moved, and for businesses adopting AI specifically, the current path is larger than CDAP ever was.

This is written for the owner deciding what to do next, not a policy summary. It covers what CDAP was, exactly what closed and when, what replaced it for AI and technology adoption, and the part most owners skip: how to decide what is actually worth funding before you apply for anything. To make that decision concrete, we introduce a simple test below, "The Workflow Funding Test."

Is the Canada Digital Adoption Program still available?

No. The Canada Digital Adoption Program is no longer accepting applications. Its main streams closed during 2024 and the program wound down in 2025. Searches for CDAP now land on a program that can no longer be applied to, which is why so many owners are asking what replaced it.

According to the Business Development Bank of Canada, which administered the program's financing, CDAP is closed to new applicants. The Boost Your Business Technology stream closed to new applications on February 19, 2024, the Grow Your Business Online stream closed on September 30, 2024, and funding wound down through 2024 and 2025. BDC still services existing valid grant agreements. If a site is still advertising CDAP as open, treat it as out of date and confirm current status through official Government of Canada sources.

What did CDAP offer?

CDAP offered two things: a grant to build a digital adoption plan, and access to financing to put that plan into action. It paired a grant covering 90 percent of advisory cost, up to 15,000 dollars on the Boost stream, with a 0 percent BDC loan up to 100,000 dollars on a five-year term to act on it. That combination, a planning grant plus cheap capital, is what owners are now trying to replace.

In plain terms, the government paid most of the cost of figuring out what technology to adopt, then lent the money to adopt it at zero interest. Notice the order: the plan came first, then the financing. That sequence is the part worth keeping even though the program is gone.

What replaced CDAP for AI and technology adoption?

For AI and advanced technology adoption, the current federal option is the Business Development Bank of Canada's LIFT program, which BDC launched on April 24, 2026. LIFT pairs expert advisory support with financing and is built specifically to get Canadian businesses adopting AI. It is structured differently from CDAP: it is a loan program, not a grant.

The table compares the two so you can see what changed.

Dimension	CDAP (ended)	BDC LIFT (current)
Status	Closed to new applicants	Open, continuous intake
Type	Grant (up to 15,000 dollars) plus interest-free loan	Financing (loan) plus advisory
Financing range	Loan up to 100,000 dollars	25,000 to 5 million dollars (BDC)
Focus	Broad digital adoption	AI and advanced technology adoption
Revenue floor	Lower (small businesses)	At least 1 million dollars (AI path)
Plan required	Advisory plan funded by the grant	BDC Advisory Services plan required

LIFT financing runs from 25,000 to 5 million dollars, and principal payments can be postponed for up to two years. The AI and digital path requires at least 1 million dollars in annual revenue plus a mandatory BDC Advisory Services plan. LIFT prioritizes Canadian-developed AI tools, and qualifying generally involves working with eligible Canadian suppliers. As reported by BetaKit and The Logic, businesses can borrow up to 2 million dollars for AI adoption and up to 5 million dollars for physical AI such as robotics, with a preferential rate reported at 2.25 percent. Confirm current amounts and rates directly with BDC.

What other Canadian programs help fund technology adoption?

Beyond LIFT, several programs can support technology and AI adoption depending on your business: the Regional AI Initiative, the SR&ED tax credit, and NRC IRAP. Each fits a different situation, so the right one depends on your revenue, your project, and whether you are building technology or adopting it.

BDC LIFT. Financing plus advisory for AI and advanced technology adoption. Best fit for established businesses adopting AI. Terms set by BDC.
Regional AI Initiative (RAII). A 200 million dollar federal initiative delivered through the regional development agencies. Amounts, terms, and intake dates vary by agency, so check the agency for your province.
SR&ED tax credit. A tax credit for genuine research and experimental development with real technological uncertainty. It fits firms building novel technology, not those buying off-the-shelf AI.
NRC IRAP. Advisory and funding for technology innovation by Canadian small and medium businesses. Routed through an advisor and suited to firms developing, not just adopting.

For broader context, Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, AI for All, launched on June 4, 2026, with a target to raise business AI adoption from about 12 percent to 60 percent by 2034. Eligibility and terms for all of these are set by the government and its delivery partners. Confirm the details through official sources before you rely on them.

CDAP is gone, but the real question has not changed

The hardest part of replacing CDAP is not finding a program. It is deciding what is worth funding. CDAP's design quietly made this point: it funded a plan first, then the technology. The plan was the valuable part, because financing the wrong project just makes a mistake more expensive.

This matters more now, because the current options are mostly loans, not grants. A grant that funds the wrong tool is a waste. A loan that funds the wrong tool is a liability you service for years. The data agrees that the bottleneck is the decision, not the access: in KPMG's 2025 survey of Canadian business leaders, 57 percent said one of their biggest challenges is understanding how to capture value from AI. Before you apply for LIFT or anything else, the decision that protects you is which single workflow is worth financing.

The Workflow Funding Test

Before you borrow, screen the candidate workflow with the Workflow Funding Test, Attainment's four-question check: Cost, Repetition, Result, and Payback. Pass all four and it is fundable; fail any one and you fix the project before you finance it. We walk through the four questions in full, with a worked example, in our guide to which AI workflow to finance.

The point is simple: financing is no longer the constraint, choosing correctly is. A workflow that clears all four is what makes both a lender and your own balance sheet comfortable.

How do I know which AI project to fund first?

Fund the workflow where AI adoption changes the economics: a high-cost, high-volume, or revenue-leaking process where automating the work returns more than it costs. It is rarely the flashiest use of AI. It is usually the boring, repetitive task that consumes time or loses revenue, where the return is measurable and the payback beats the financing. Run it through The Workflow Funding Test first.

The evidence backs starting narrow. Most AI spending does not pay back: KPMG's 2025 survey found only 2 percent of Canadian companies were seeing a return on their generative AI investments, even though 93 percent had adopted it in some form. Adoption alone is not the driver. The return comes from choosing the right workflow and doing the surrounding work well. That is the case for picking one project, proving it, and expanding from evidence, rather than buying technology broadly because a program made it cheap.

Last verified: 2026-06-17. Attainment is not affiliated with BDC or the Government of Canada.

Summary

Key takeaways

The Canada Digital Adoption Program has ended: streams closed in 2024 and the program wound down in 2025.
CDAP offered a grant up to 15,000 dollars for a digital plan plus an interest-free BDC loan up to 100,000 dollars.
For AI and advanced technology adoption, BDC's LIFT program (launched April 2026) is the current federal option: 25,000 to 5 million dollars, advisory included, a loan rather than a grant, AI path requires at least 1 million dollars in revenue.
Other options: the Regional AI Initiative, SR&ED (for building, not buying), and NRC IRAP. Terms set by government.
Because the current options are mostly loans, choosing the right workflow matters more than ever: a loan against the wrong project is a liability, not a saving.
The bottleneck is the decision: 57 percent of Canadian business leaders say one of their biggest challenges is understanding how to capture value from AI, and only 2 percent see a return on generative AI (KPMG, 2025). Use The Workflow Funding Test, pick one workflow, prove it, then expand.

ProofKPMG, 2025: only 2 percent of Canadian companies were seeing a return on their generative AI investments, even though 93 percent had adopted it in some form

The first step

CDAP made adopting technology cheaper. Its replacements make adopting AI financeable. Neither answers the question that decides whether the money pays back: which workflow is worth it for your business.

Before you apply for anything, run your candidate process through The Workflow Funding Test, find the one process where AI adoption would change your economics, and confirm the payback beats the cost. Fund that first. The AI Funding and Workflow Fit Checker screens a workflow against those questions and points you to funding paths to investigate.

Request Consultation. We review fit first, then confirm scope, timing, and paid diagnostic terms before any work begins.

Further reading: the guide to AI adoption funding for Canadian business, which workflow to finance with LIFT, whether the BDC LIFT loan is worth it, and the 2026 Canadian AI funding programs compared.

About the author

David Cyrus, MBA, is the founder of Attainment, a diagnostic-first growth and operating-systems firm. He holds an MBA in Digital Business Models from Macquarie University and a BSc in Human Biology and Psychology from the University of Toronto, and writes about how businesses turn AI adoption into systems that pay back.

Frequently asked questions

Is CDAP still open in 2026?

No. The Canada Digital Adoption Program closed to new applicants in 2024 and wound down in 2025. Confirm current status through official Government of Canada sources.

What replaced CDAP?

For AI and advanced technology adoption, the Business Development Bank of Canada's LIFT program, launched in April 2026, is the current federal option. It pairs financing of 25,000 to 5 million dollars with advisory support. It is a loan program, not a grant.

Was CDAP a grant or a loan?

Both. CDAP offered a grant of up to 15,000 dollars to build a digital adoption plan, plus access to an interest-free BDC loan of up to 100,000 dollars to act on it.

Who qualifies for LIFT?

For the AI and digital path, Canadian businesses with at least 1 million dollars in annual revenue and a mandatory BDC Advisory Services plan. The exact financing depends on revenue, project scope, and financial profile. Terms are set by BDC.

Does Attainment administer these programs?

No. Attainment is not affiliated with BDC or the Government of Canada and does not administer, approve, or guarantee any program or financing. We help a business decide which AI workflow is worth funding and build it. Program eligibility comes from official sources.