Alberta agriculture, software development, and other businesses are crucial to the Canadian economy. Because of the wealth of opportunities in this province, the federal and provincial governments have created a plethora of grant, loan, and wage subsidy programs to help support growth across Alberta’s industries.
Alberta contributed $339,310,000,000 to the Canadian GDP in 2022 alone.
Click the links below to scroll down to the list of programs for each activity:
Alberta Business Expansion Funding
By utilizing programs from the Canadian federal government and Alberta provincial government, your business can receive grants, loans, and tax incentives to help with growth and expansion into new markets. See the following list of programs to learn how they can benefit your business.
Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) Program in the Prairie Provinces
Amount of funding: High-growth Alberta businesses can receive repayable funding (no-interest loan) of 50% of project costs up to $5,000,000 per application and a max of $10,000,000 per business.
Eligible Applicants: Businesses located in Alberta that have been profitable for at least two years and incorporated at the time of application.
Eligible Activities: Projects must focus on advanced manufacturing, digital technology, value-added agriculture, clean technology, clean resources, or life sciences.
Learn more about the Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) Program.
Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) Alberta
Amount of funding: Alberta agri-businesses can receive a wide range of funding to offset a portion of eligible costs towards strategic growth projects.
Eligible Applicants: Businesses in the agriculture, food, environmental stewardship and climate change, farming, irrigation, and youth agriculture education industries located in Alberta.
Eligible Activities: Projects supporting the growth and competitiveness of Albertan agriculture businesses.
Learn more about Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership Alberta.
CanExport SMEs
Amount of funding: Up to 50% of project costs covered in grant funding to a maximum of $50,000 per project.
Eligible Applicants: Businesses located in Canada that have under 500 employees, make between $100,000–$100,000,000 annually, are incorporated, and are financially stable at the time of applying.
Eligible Activities: Virtual trade events, website SEO, adaptation of marketing tools, IP/product certification, market research and more.
Learn more about CanExport SMEs.
Hiring & Training Programs in Alberta
The Alberta government prioritizes job retention and job growth post-pandemic with Hiring wage subsidies and training grants. Find programs that will help cover a portion of employees’ wages and discover how you can develop new skills within your current workforce by utilizing these programs.
Canada-Alberta Job Grant (CAJG)
Amount of funding: Alberta businesses can receive between 66–100% of employee training costs to a maximum of $10,000–$15,000.
Eligible Applicants: Private sector businesses based out of Alberta, non-profit sector employees, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation, Alberta Treasury Branches, and First Nations and Metis Settlements.
Eligible Activities: Projects funded include training programs that incur third-party trainer fees, tuition and exam fees, textbooks and course material costs, training software costs, and more.
Learn More About the Canada-Alberta Job Grant (CAJG).
Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ)
Amount of funding: Up to 50% of minimum wage covered for youth hires in for-profit businesses and up to 100% of wages covered for non-profit organizations.
Eligible Applicants: Canadian businesses, non-profits, and public sector employers with 50 or fewer employees. Positions must be full-time (30+ hours/week) and span for 6–16 weeks.
Eligible Activities: Hiring opportunities for youth ages 15–30 that will benefit from temporary summer work experiences.
Learn more about the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) Program.
Capital & Tech Adoption Grants in Alberta
Improving business processes by incorporating new technology often means a business can eliminate bottlenecks, reduce costs, and introduce new skills to their employees, but these projects can be costly. Therefore, the Alberta provincial government and Canadian federal government offer capital and tech adoption programs that provide grants towards a portion of implementing these kinds of projects. Read on to see what programs may benefit your business.
Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)
Amount of funding: Alberta businesses can receive up to 50% of project costs (both repayable and non-repayable funding) to a maximum of $20,000,000 (must have a minimum project size of $20,000,000).
Eligible Applicants: Open to all Canadian businesses, but it is an extremely competitive program. It is highly recommended to apply with a government funding application writing team.
Eligible Activities: Funding supports projects through the R&D, commercialization, and technology demonstration stages.
Learn more about the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).
Research & Development Funding in Alberta
The cost of conducting R&D can deter a business from starting an innovative project, but the businesses that lead the way with breakthroughs in their industry can benefit from new competitive advantages. With innovative Canadian-made products and services being sold around the world, federal and provincial governments have introduced hundreds of programs that reduce the cost of conducting these experiments with research and development funding programs.
Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED)
The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit is the largest single source of Canadian federal government support that incentivizes business-led research and development projects in every province and territory across Canada. The program provides more than $3 billion in tax incentives to over 20,000 claimants annually.
Amount of Funding: No maximum amount of funding on retroactive tax credits. Labour can be covered up to 69% of eligible salaries including overhead costs, up to 36% of contractor costs, and up to 45% of material costs.
Eligible Applicants: All applicants must be Canadian-Controlled Private Corporations (CCPC), individuals and trusts, a member of a partnership, or fall into other criteria.
Eligible Project Costs: All eligible projects must be a business-led research and development project. Costs can include internal and contractor labour costs, overhead, and materials.
Learn more about the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program.
Alberta’s SR&ED Variant: Innovation Employment Grant (IEG)
The Innovation Employment Grant is Alberta’s provincial variant of SR&ED. Both of these programs are potential opportunities for businesses in Alberta performing eligible research and development activities.
Amount of Funding: Successful applicants may receive up to 20% of up to a maximum of $4 million. Learn more about Innovation Employment Grant (IEG)
Eligible Applicants: Available to businesses performing R&D in Alberta. Partnerships, trusts, and individuals are not eligible to claim the IEG. See the full breakdown of IEG eligibility.
Eligible Project Costs: All eligible projects must be a business-led research and development project. Costs can include internal and contractor labour costs, overhead, materials, and more IEG expenses.
Learn more about the Alberta SR&ED Tax Credit Program: Innovation Employment Grant (IEG).
Alberta Innovates – Voucher Program
Amount of funding: Access vouchers to offset $10,000 to $100,000 in products or services received to accelerate technology development projects.
Eligible Applicants: Alberta for-profit small-medium enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 500 full-time equivalents (FTEs) and less than $50 million in gross revenues annually are eligible to apply.
Eligible Activities: Research, development, testing, and refinement to an innovation with a TRL of 3–6. Projects should result in the development of a pre-commercial technology.
Learn More About the Alberta Innovates – Voucher Program.
Apply for Alberta Government Funding Programs
The Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments have a wide variety of funding programs available for your business’s upcoming projects. You can view the entire list of Alberta government grant and loan programs on our Western Business Funding Directory page.
Apply for any of these federal or provincial Alberta government funding programs with the professional funding application writing team at Mentor Works for an estimated 95% time savings compared to applicants who write their application in house.