Initiative overview
Originally selected in February 2018 as one of five Innovation Superclusters under the Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI), Scale AI is an independent, industry-led not-for-profit funded by ISED. It operates under the Global Innovation Clusters (GIC) programme (renamed from ISI in 2022), which received an additional CAD 750M in Budget 2022 for the clusters collectively, plus CAD 125M from the second phase of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy (2022) to accelerate AI commercialisation. Scale AI's total federal funding envelope is approximately CAD 284M over the programme period. Scale AI funds two categories of projects: (1) Industry-led collaborative projects for AI adoption in supply chains — companies can access up to 40% of eligible costs (up to 50% for projects in Québec), with no prescribed minimum or maximum per project; projects must have a minimum budget of CAD 1M and must involve at least one Canadian SME; and (2) Workforce training grants — refunding up to 85% of eligible costs for AI and digital intelligence training programmes designed by businesses. Eligible sectors include supply chain operators and AI solutions providers in retail, manufacturing, transportation, logistics, ICT, and critical infrastructure. Scale AI has funded hundreds of projects across Canada and has attracted over 8,000 members and 2,465+ project partners, with CAD 2.37B+ co-invested with industry across the five clusters since 2018.
