How to apply for FedDev Ontario AI funding

Check the business and project fit first

Start with the official eligibility page. Check the legal entity, operating location, business history and employee requirements. Review the project’s purpose and the funding terms before paying for a detailed application.

Make sure the employee count is calculated correctly. FedDev’s guide explains full-time equivalents and excludes freelancers and contractors from the employee count. A supplier’s team is not part of your business’s headcount. Application guide

Avoid treating an initial fit check as approval. It tells you whether further work is sensible and what needs clarification.

Check potential funding fit →

Define the project in business terms

Your project plan should make the proposed change understandable. Describe the current process, the AI solution, how it will be integrated and the outcome you expect to measure.

A useful working brief answers these questions:

• What problem are we solving, and who experiences it?
• What will AI do within the process?
• What systems and information does it need?
• Who will review outputs and handle exceptions?
• What will change, by when, and how will we measure it?

The answers should be specific enough for an implementation team to estimate the work. “Become an AI-native business” is too broad to function as a project scope.

Build an honest budget and measurement plan

List the work packages, suppliers, internal responsibilities and timing. Separate new project costs from normal operations. Identify how the business will finance its share and manage repayment.

Use observed information wherever possible. For example, measure how long a task currently takes and how often it occurs before forecasting time savings. Account for human review, software costs, testing and maintenance. A target is a proposal to test, not an achieved result.

FedDev assesses the quality of the plan, the capacity to deliver and repay, and the expected outcomes. A clear story needs credible numbers behind it. Assessment criteria

Assemble the required documents

For adoption applications, FedDev Ontario’s current checklist (official application checklist, checked November 11, 2026) calls for:

• Articles of incorporation, amendments or similar documents.
• Externally prepared financial statements for at least the last two years of operations (statements with an audit or review engagement are preferred).
• Financial projections for the next three to five years, covering the project period, the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement.
• Contact details for the most senior executive (normally the president or CEO), plus biographies of the key management and technical staff needed for the project.
• A diagram of the company’s structure.
• A work plan or project schedule with major activities, milestones and a detailed project budget.
• The completed RAII Supplemental Form (mandatory, even if every answer is no) and the Application for Funding.

Lime’s free planning kit includes a one-page brief that helps you organize the project information before you start on the official forms.

The two-year financial-document requirement does not replace the separate three-year operating-history requirement. Confirm with FedDev how your financial package demonstrates that history if it is unclear.

Ask your accountant to lead the financial preparation. A technical consultant can explain implementation costs and delivery assumptions; the financial statements and projections must remain grounded in your company’s actual position. A consultant can help organize and draft the technical material, but your business supplies and verifies its own information and submits the application.

Explain how the AI will be controlled

Show how people will supervise the system, how information will be protected and who will be accountable. Include the relevant data, security and intellectual-property considerations.

In practical terms, decide what happens when an output is wrong, incomplete or unavailable. Identify who can access the information and which actions need approval. These decisions belong in the project design, not in a document written after the build.

Complete the official forms and submit

Use FedDev’s application instructions to download the Application for Funding and RAII Supplemental Form. Follow its PDF instructions, complete the appropriate adoption-stream information and attach the supporting documents.

An authorized person from the applicant business should review the full submission and keep the confirmation. Lime can help organize material and draft the technical narrative. The business remains the applicant and is responsible for the information submitted.

What are the deadlines?

The published earlier deadline is November 24, 2026, for proposed projects and eligible costs starting before March 31, 2027. The final deadline is January 19, 2027, at 4:59 p.m. EST. Check the current intake page before submitting. These are application deadlines, not promised approval dates.

Work started before a formal decision is at the applicant’s risk. Do not assume a submitted application makes spending reimbursable. A business can have only one application under assessment with FedDev Ontario at a time. Intake conditions

Should you use a consultant?

An advisor can help when the business knows the operational problem but needs help developing the technical scope, organizing the work or writing a clear proposal. The benefit should be better preparation and a useful implementation plan.

Agree on the deliverables and fee before starting. FedDev does not reimburse application-preparation costs. No consultant can guarantee approval. Funding terms

Lime offers AI project planning and funding guidance, with implementation scoped separately. A Free 20-Minute AI Opportunity Review can help establish whether there is a suitable next step. For the program itself and how to judge fit, read AI adoption funding in Ontario.

Lime is an independent service provider and does not administer the program. Your business can apply directly.

Sources

1. FedDev Ontario, Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative for businesses: Who can apply.
2. FedDev Ontario, Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative for businesses: How funding works.
3. FedDev Ontario, Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative for businesses: How projects are assessed.
4. FedDev Ontario, Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative for businesses: When to apply.
5. FedDev Ontario, Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative: Application guide for businesses.
6. FedDev Ontario, Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative: Apply as a business.