Call for Proposals in AI Skills & Adoption
THIS CALL IS CURRENTLY CLOSED
Increasing Canada’s AI talent pool and accelerating the adoption of AI technologies.
Horizon AI is a specialized program focused on capturing economic potential from Applied AI. By building a commercially focused AI ecosystem through skills and adoption, technology commercialization and global advantage streams, DIGITAL is helping Canadian organizations create a global competitive advantage that enables market leadership and accelerated revenue growth. Through the AI Skills & Adoption stream of our Horizon AI program, we are addressing both the supply and demand sides of the AI ecosystem by both developing the builders who create AI solutions and supporting users who adopt them.
DIGITAL is co-investing up to $5M from the Commercialization Pillar of the federal Pan-Canadian AI Strategy that will result in at least $10M of new investment and training of at least 500 learners through the development of applied AI talent and adoption of innovative AI technologies.
- 2
- Selected Projects
($2M Co-Investment Committed)
- 18
- Full Project Proposals in Development
($20M Co-Investment Ask)
- 0
- Expressions of Interest in Development
($0M Co-Investment Ask)
Progress as of December 19, 2024
- $5M
- Total Investment Committed
- $2M
- Digital Co-Investment Committed
- $5M
- Total Digital Co-Investment
Areas of Interest within the AI Skills & Adoption call include:
AI Workforce Development
To position Canada as a global leader in AI products, we need a robust pipeline of applied AI talent. This involves not only developing technical skills but also ensuring that future professionals have the practical experience and business acumen needed to drive innovation and bring AI solutions to market.
Projects are encouraged to encompass the following elements:
- 1. Work-Integrated Learning: Providing practical, hands-on experiences through internships, co-ops, or practicums in collaboration with industry leaders.
- 2. Skill Development: Equipping learners with in-demand AI/ML/DS competencies and commercialization skills.
- 3. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI): Increasing the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in AI fields.
- 4. Industry-Academic Partnerships: Aligning academic curricula with industry needs to ensure that students gain relevant and applicable skills and fostering collaboration to offer rich and diverse learning experiences.
- 5. Employment Outcomes: Setting measurable objectives for post-program employment rates in AI roles, ensuring a clear pathway to careers in the AI industry.
AI Adoption Accelerators
This area of interest aims to promote the widespread adoption of made-in-Canada AI technologies, driving innovation, improving efficiency and enhancing competitiveness across various sectors. By fostering the adoption of AI, we can ensure that Canadian organizations remain at the forefront of technological advancements and are well-equipped to tackle emerging challenges in the AI-driven economy.
Projects should focus on developing the skilled workforce needed to implement and manage AI solutions across sectors, which may include but are not limited to:
- 1. Sector-Wide AI Competency Building: Enhancing AI fluency and skills across multiple organizations within a sector through training and development programs. Training can be targeted at both employees and leadership teams, ensuring organizations can effectively implement and manage AI tools. Internal training programs for individual organizations are not eligible; projects must promote AI adoption on a larger scale.
- 2. Shared AI Resources and Infrastructure: Creating shared AI tools, platforms, or infrastructure—such as data centers or cloud computing resources—that multiple organizations can access, along with training programs to equip users with the skills to use these resources effectively. This enables even smaller entities to leverage advanced AI technologies while building the talent needed to fully benefit from these tools.
- 3. Collaborative AI Learning Networks: Establishing networks that connect organizations within and across sectors to share knowledge, best practices, and resources for AI adoption, fostering a collaborative approach to workforce readiness.
- 4. Responsible AI Practices: Promoting safe and ethical AI adoption by equipping individuals with the knowledge and skills to apply data privacy, security, and ethical guidelines in AI systems. Through targeted training and best practices, this ensures that talent is prepared to implement AI responsibly.
Proposed projects are to:
- Result in the contributions to a sustainable Canadian AI ecosystem by increasing the diversity and number of applied AI professionals and supporting organizations to adopt and implement AI technologies as aligned with the Areas of Interest cited above, or that address other clearly demonstrated needs or opportunities.
- Have a projected completion date by December 31, 2025. There is no minimum or maximum project size, although funds are subject to availability and will be competitively distributed across projects that demonstrate high potential and evaluation against the goals of the call.
- Be committed to the safe and responsible use of AI with a demonstrated understanding and compliance to current and anticipated AI regulation in Canada and target markets. Teams are expected to take appropriate measures to ensure the ethical and responsible approach to the use of data and ongoing facilitation and implementation of any AI technology solutions throughout and beyond the project.
- Be enabled by an industry-focused consortium of at least three organizations with at least one organization from private industry and it being encouraged to have at least one research or post-secondary academic institution, and a community organization that can provide wraparound supports for learners. Further, these partners can be the following for the respective project types:
- AI Workforce Development projects should involve at least one industry organization to validate the relevance of training programs, confirm the demand for skills and provide work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities.
- AI Adoption Accelerator projects should involve at least one organization that represents a potential early adopter of the proposed AI training or adoption solution.
- Meet the other eligibility requirements and have a high scoring against the Evaluation Criteria cited in the Program Guide below.
AI Skills & Adoption Program & Co-Investment Guidelines
- PROGRAM GUIDE (EN)
- DOWNLOAD THE AI SKILLS & ADOPTION PROGRAM GUIDE (v2 - EN)
- CO-INVESTMENT GUIDELINES (EN)
- DOWNLOAD THE CO-INVESTMENT GUIDELINES (EN)
- PROGRAM GUIDE (FR)
- DOWNLOAD THE AI SKILLS & ADOPTION PROGRAM GUIDE (v2 - FR)
- CO-INVESTMENT GUIDELINES (FR)
- DOWNLOAD THE CO-INVESTMENT GUIDELINES (FR)
We emphasize a collaborative approach to innovation where groups of complementary organizations work together to build strong and impactful solutions to big problems. As such, proposed projects are expected to have solid alignment with our Areas of Interest and the right mix of organizational capabilities to meet our program objectives of innovation, commercialization and benefits to Canada.
After reviewing the above co-investment and program guidelines, you may submit your project concept through the link to the right. Only qualified applicants will be invited to submit an Full Project Proposal (FPP).
Expression of Interest (EOI) submissions closed.
Upon request, we are available to help potential applicants further understand the objectives of this call for proposals and the eligibility criteria for a proposed project. Please email our team at DigitalLearningLab@digitalsupercluster.ca