Canada · Interactive Resource
AI for All Funding and Workflow Fit Checker
For Canadian businesses. This tool is built around AI for All, Canada's national AI strategy, and the Canadian funding programs around it. If you operate outside Canada, the funding directions will not apply to you.
AI for All is the brand name for Canada's National AI Strategy. Funding makes AI adoption easier, but the value comes from choosing the right workflow first. Enter your business and the costliest workflow you would automate, and the tool puts an illustrative annual cost, recovery, and payback on it from your own numbers, scores the fit out of ten, and points to a proof-safe Canadian funding direction. A starting point, not an eligibility result.
AI for All set a target to lift Canadian business AI adoption from 12 percent to 60 percent by 2034 (ISED).
Most Canadian businesses do not fail at AI because of money. They fail because they fund the wrong first workflow. This tool turns the costliest workflow into a number, hours a week times a loaded cost, then shows the recovery you could capture and the payback if you give it a one-time build cost. It scores the fit out of ten and routes you to the funding direction worth investigating. Every figure is your own math, labeled illustrative, and it collects no personal data. For the full picture behind the scoring, read the AI adoption funding guide.
What this workflow likely costs you
Illustrative, from your own inputs. Your real numbers decide it.
Illustrative annual cost in this workflow
$23,400
Illustrative annual recovery at 50%: $11,700
Your workflow fit score
Strong first-workflow candidate
- Cost pain1 / 3
- Risk containment3 / 3
- Project defined2 / 2
- Measurability2 / 2
Where to start
Start with intake plus bookkeeping. It is high-volume, the same shape every month, and the easiest to prove.
Funding direction
A direction to investigate, not an eligibility result. Confirm every program with its owner.
Likely worth a BDC LIFT conversation
LIFT is financing, a loan, to adopt AI, generally for businesses around $1M or more in revenue per location, paired with BDC advisors. It funds the kind of internal adoption you described. Confirm terms and eligibility with BDC.
Is the BDC LIFT loan worth it →Regional note: the Regional AI Initiative and your regional development agency may have region-specific support. Intake and focus vary by region and some streams are closed, so check your region before planning around it.
For your segment
Accounting note: for genuine development work, the federal SR&ED credit is about 35 percent refundable for Canadian-controlled private corporations, and provincial credits may stack on top. Most tool adoption is not SR&ED. We can refer you to a claim preparer for the development portion.
Turn this into a plan
Use this as a starting point, not a funding or compliance opinion. We model the exact recovery and payback, choose the workflow, and prepare the implementation plan before anything is built.
Request a consultationBefore you rely on this result
- It does not determine eligibility.
- It does not guarantee funding, rates, tax credits, compliance, or ROI.
- Funding terms must be confirmed with the relevant program owner.
- Legal, tax, privacy, and financing questions require your own qualified advisors.
Last verified: 2026-06-19. Attainment is not affiliated with BDC or the Government of Canada.
Common questions
Is this tool for businesses outside Canada?
No. It is built specifically for Canadian businesses and Canada's funding programs (BDC LIFT, SR&ED, NRC IRAP, regional initiatives). If you operate outside Canada, the funding directions will not apply, though the workflow cost and payback math still works as a general exercise.
What is AI for All?
AI for All is the brand name for Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). It set a target to raise Canadian business AI adoption from 12 percent to 60 percent by 2034 and names funding catalysts such as BDC LIFT and SR&ED. It is a separate initiative from the earlier Pan-Canadian AI Strategy.
Does the AI Funding and Workflow Fit Checker tell me if I qualify for funding?
No. It does not determine eligibility and it does not guarantee funding, rates, tax credits, compliance, or ROI. It puts illustrative numbers on a workflow and points you to a funding direction to investigate. Confirm every program with its owner.
How are the dollar figures calculated?
Every figure is your own math. The annual cost is the hours a week you entered times your loaded cost per hour times 52, per location. The recovery is that cost times the share you assume you could automate, and the payback divides your one-time project cost by the monthly recovery. All of it is labeled illustrative; we model the exact numbers before anything is built.
What does the workflow fit score measure?
It scores four things for a total out of ten: cost pain from the size of the leak, risk containment, whether the project and workflow are defined, and measurability. Eight to ten is a strong first-workflow candidate, five to seven needs scoping before funding, and zero to four is a weak or high-risk first move.
Which Canadian AI funding programs does it cover?
It points to BDC LIFT for adopting AI at scale, NRC IRAP and SR&ED for building AI, capital pathways for equipment, and a regional note for the Regional AI Initiative. Availability and terms vary and must be confirmed with each program.
Do I have to enter personal or financial details?
No. It asks only about your business type, a revenue band, the workflow, and your own hours and cost estimates. It collects no personal data and stores nothing.