New funding through Mitacs will help young Canadians gain AI skills and work experience and help Canadian businesses adopt AI
TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2026 /CNW/ -- Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how Canadians learn, work and access services. Canada is levelling the playing field on AI by ensuring young Canadians have the skills and experience to succeed in an AI-supported economy, building a strong domestic talent pipeline, and helping Canadian businesses adopt and commercialize AI.
Today, the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, announced up to $162 million over five years, beginning in 2026–2027, for Mitacs to support 10,000 co-funded work placement opportunities for post-secondary students, recent graduates and post-doctoral fellows to work with Canadian businesses to help them with AI adoption and innovation.
The investment delivers on a key priority of Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All, which focuses on building an AI-skilled nation and helping young Canadians gain practical AI skills and experience for careers in an increasingly AI-driven economy. Through AI for All, the Government of Canada will create up to 90,000 AI-related job and work placement opportunities for young Canadians by 2031.
For many small and medium-sized enterprises, the challenge is not with seeing the potential of AI, but with having the skills, capacity and support to put it to work. By connecting businesses with emerging talent and expertise, this investment will help more companies identify practical applications, deploy AI solutions, and translate adoption into greater productivity, growth and competitiveness.
The funding will support the Mitacs AI Advantage programming, which enables business-academic collaborations through two complementary streams designed to strengthen Canada's AI talent pipeline and accelerate AI adoption and commercialization:
- ADOPT will support work placement opportunities focused on AI adoption, linking industry partners with academic researchers and talent to help businesses, big and small, quickly test and deploy AI solutions across their organizations.
- AI+X will support work placement opportunities focused on AI innovation, co-funding research work placements and collaborations that apply AI to solve business problems and develop new technologies in a variety of disciplines, including agriculture and health care.
By connecting Canadian talent with businesses and organizations, these opportunities will help young Canadians gain paid, practical AI experience while giving Canadian businesses access to the talent and expertise they need to adopt AI, improve productivity and compete in a rapidly evolving economy.
Quotes
"AI is changing the way we work and creating new opportunities across our economy. We want young Canadians to have the skills and real-world experience they need to seize those opportunities. By creating 10,000 AI-related work placements through Mitacs, we are investing in Canadian talent while helping businesses adopt AI, boost productivity and compete. This is how we make sure the opportunities created by AI translate into good jobs and a stronger economy for Canadians."
– The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
"Through Mitacs AI Advantage, we're embedding young, highly skilled Canadians directly into businesses, giving them real-world work experience with responsible AI, while helping our small and medium-sized enterprises adopt AI, innovate and compete with confidence. This is how we build the workforce of the future and a stronger Canadian economy."
– Dr. Stephen Lucas, CEO, Mitacs
Quick facts
- On June 4, 2026, the Government of Canada launched Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All.
- Through AI for All, the government will create up to 90,000 AI-related job and work placement opportunities for young Canadians by 2031.
- The government is providing up to $162 million over five years, beginning in 2026–2027, to support 10,000 AI-related work placement opportunities through Mitacs AI Advantage.
- Mitacs supports business-academic research collaboration through co-funded, paid placements for post-secondary students, recent graduates and post-doctoral fellows.
- Mitacs has partnerships with more than 200 post-secondary institutions, 170 innovation incubators and 12,500 companies across Canada.
- Since 2020, Mitacs has supported more than 4,200 AI-related innovation projects, partnering with companies such as Conversaflex on language learning, FluidAI on surgical patient monitoring and Qoherent on intelligent radios.
- On September 9, 2026, the Government of Canada launched the National AI Literacy Initiative in partnership with Amii to help Canadians understand AI, use it responsibly, and confidently participate in an AI-enabled economy.
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Contacts: Leela Polushin, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, [email protected], 343-543-5391; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]
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