Canada’s new National AI Strategy outlines an ambitious vision for the country’s future.
The strategy recognizes the role artificial intelligence can play in strengthening productivity, accelerating commercialization, supporting research excellence, and positioning Canada as a global AI leader.
These priorities matter.
Canada has world-class researchers, innovative companies, and a growing ecosystem working to advance AI adoption and development.
But as we invest in talent, infrastructure, and innovation, there is one question that deserves greater attention:
Who gets funded to build the future of AI?
Funding does more than determine which companies succeed.
It influences who gets to participate in building the future.
The technologies we create are shaped by the experiences, perspectives, priorities, and assumptions of the people designing them. When participation is limited to a narrow group of decision-makers, we limit the range of problems being solved and the communities being served.
AI cannot truly be for everyone if only a small group of people have the opportunity to build it.
Healthy innovation depends on the diversity of people who get to participate in shaping what comes next.
The strategy is called AI for All.
It is an important vision.
But if we want AI to benefit everyone, we must broaden who has the opportunity to help create it.
The companies receiving funding today will help shape the products, services, and systems Canadians interact with tomorrow. Funding decisions influence which problems receive attention, which markets are prioritized, and which perspectives are reflected in the technologies being developed.
When access to capital remains concentrated among those who already have strong networks, visibility, and resources, we narrow the range of voices helping shape the future of AI.
The future of AI should be informed by a wider range of experiences, perspectives, and ideas.
A broader range of perspectives leads to stronger innovation, more relevant solutions, greater trust, and wider adoption.
Under Pillar 5, the government commits to helping Canada’s leading AI companies access more funding and leverage procurement opportunities to accelerate growth.
We welcome this commitment.
But every successful company begins as an emerging company navigating uncertainty and competing for limited resources.
If Canada wants to produce more globally competitive AI companies, we must strengthen the pathways that help promising founders move from idea to growth.
That means improving access to capital, increasing visibility into available opportunities, reducing friction in the funding process, and helping founders navigate the resources designed to support them.
Scaling today’s leaders is important.
Building tomorrow’s leaders is equally important.
Canada has invested heavily in research, accelerators, incubators, talent development, and commercialization support.
These are essential components of a healthy innovation ecosystem.
But funding infrastructure deserves equal attention.
Founders must navigate a fragmented landscape of grants, loans, tax credits, investors, accelerators, and government programs. Finding the right opportunities often requires significant time, knowledge, and connections.
As a result, many founders spend valuable energy searching for funding instead of building their businesses.
If we want a stronger innovation economy, we must make it easier for entrepreneurs to discover, understand, and access the resources available to them.
Innovation should not depend on insider knowledge.
The strategy also recognizes the importance of trusted partnerships and collaboration.
Trust depends on transparency, evidence, and better information.
Artificial intelligence creates an opportunity to better understand how founders access capital, where barriers exist, which programs are producing results, and what support entrepreneurs need at different stages of growth.
Today, much of that information remains fragmented across organizations, programs, and regions.
Without a clearer picture, it becomes harder to identify gaps, improve support systems, and make informed decisions.
Better intelligence leads to better decisions.
Better decisions lead to better outcomes for founders, funders, and the broader innovation ecosystem.
InclusifAI was built on a simple belief:
Who gets funded helps determine who gets to build the future.
We believe access to capital is one of the most important factors determining who gets to participate in innovation.
When talented founders cannot access funding, the impact extends beyond individual businesses. Ideas remain unexplored. Solutions never reach the market. Opportunities to solve important challenges are lost.
This is why we exist.
AI cannot truly be for everyone if only a small group of people have the opportunity to build it.
Our mission is to help make funding more accessible while generating the intelligence needed to create stronger outcomes for founders, funders, and the broader innovation ecosystem.
We believe more people should have the opportunity to help shape the future.
Because who gets funded matters.
The founders receiving support today will help shape the products, companies, and technologies that define tomorrow.
Canada has an opportunity to lead in artificial intelligence.
But leadership will not be defined only by the technologies we build.
It will also be defined by who has the opportunity to build them.
AI for All cannot stop at access to technology.
It must include access to the opportunities that determine who gets to build it.
Because healthy innovation depends on the diversity of people who get to participate in building the future.
AI for All requires opportunity for all.
And opportunity starts with access to capital.
Because AI cannot truly be for everyone if only a small group of people have the opportunity to build it.
Argentina Beltran
Founder & CEO, InclusifAI