Deadline: December 4, 2025
Proposals are invited for the Artificial Intelligence for Canadian Energy Innovation 2026. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Canadian Energy Innovation Call for Proposals will fund applied research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of AI solutions that accelerate the pace of, and lower the costs associated with, energy technology innovation. This Call aims to fund high-impact projects that catalyze national expertise to develop and use novel Canadian-made AI solutions to accelerate domestic energy innovation.
This Call will support projects that address the impact statement by meeting all three of the following call objectives:
- Develop and use AI solutions to lower the cost, time and/or energy use of traditional methods to advance new energy innovations
- Bring together AI and energy technology innovators to promote knowledge exchange
- Promote Canadian energy data availability, accessibility and security across the energy innovation ecosystem
Funding
- The Call is open to projects requesting a call contribution percentage up to 75% of total project costs. The minimum contribution from EIP is $500,000, and the maximum contribution is $1,500,000. Funding is available between April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2030.
Eligibility
Eligible Canadian Recipients will be:
- Legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada including:
- For-profit and not-for-profit organizations
- Community groups
- Canadian academic institutions
- Provincial, territorial, regional and municipal governments and their departments and agencies where applicable.
- Indigenous:
- Indigenous communities or governments
- Tribal Councils or entities that fulfill a similar function (e.g. general councils)
- National or regional Indigenous councils, or tribal organizations
- Indigenous (majority owned and controlled by Indigenous people) for-profit or not-for-profit organizations
Project Eligibility
In order to be eligible for funding through this Call for Proposals, applied RD&D projects must meet all of the following criteria:
- Develop an AI solution and utilize it to accelerate the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) advancement of a pre-commercial energy solution. The project must seek to achieve at least one level of TRL advancement for the energy technology/solution.
- Eligible AI solutions are envisioned to be original and developed as part of project activities, but projects are permitted to build on an existing prototype, or utilize an existing solution in a first-of-a-kind application if it can be justified as being innovative in the field.
- Pre-commercial energy solutions poised to benefit from high-impact AI solutions are envisioned to start around TRL 2-6. ‘Demonstration’ projects in this context refers to demonstrating the efficacy of the AI solution in an applied energy innovation technology setting – not deploying at scale demonstration of the energy technology/solution.
- Demonstrate how the AI solution is more cost effective, time saving, and/or energy efficient compared to conventional innovation methods for the targeted pre-commercial energy solution.
- Have access to, or own, productive data sets upon the project start date or have a plan to generate/collect productive data sets as part of early project activities.
Application
The Call’s project selection process has two phases:
- Expression of Interest (EOI) phase, open to all eligible applicants
- Full Project Proposal (FPP) phase, open to invited applicants only
To apply, applicants must complete and submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) via the application portal by 1:00 p.m. ET on December 4, 2025.
For more information, visit Artificial Intelligence for Canadian Energy Innovation.
