Canada’s AI Strategy Task Force — Research funding agencies’ response to the research and talent theme
We welcome the opportunity to provide feedback to the AI Strategy Task Force in the context of its 30-day national sprint to shape Canada’s approach to AI.
Canada’s current research advantages rest on the complementary strengths of the federal granting agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR) and of the CFI, working together to support a vibrant and vital research ecosystem. In the case of AI, NSERC funded the early-career research of Professors Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, and now, the agencies have collectively invested more than $1 billion in AI research over the last decade. This includes Professor Bengio’s work with more than 150 partners, funded through the tri-agency’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund, in their mission to harness AI to serve society.
Research funded through the agencies is foundational to how AI will affect our future. NSERC supports world-class discovery and applied research in computer science, mathematics and engineering, the foundation of AI systems. NSERC mobilizes these discoveries through academic teams with industry and not-for-profit organizations to translate AI methods into applications in areas such as climate modelling, materials discovery, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and secure digital services. SSHRC-funded research provides the ethical, legal, behavioural and policy insights essential to shaping AI that serves people and institutions. It also explores the ways in which AI is shaping the research process itself through its ability to identify patterns, predict outcomes, generate novel content and hypotheses, and recommend research approaches. SSHRC’s broad research networks foster responsible governance, human-centered design, and real-world adoption, strengthening public trust. CIHR-funded research concentrates on AI for healthcare systems and patient management, drug discovery, molecular research, and cancer treatment and prediction, underscoring Canada’s growing expertise in applying AI to transform healthcare delivery and biomedical discovery. The CFI has been instrumental in advancing AI research in Canadian universities. Through strategic investments in infrastructure and national platforms, the CFI has enabled institutions to attract top talent, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and build the capacity needed for world-class AI-driven discovery.
Together, the agencies and the CFI connect research and talent funding with infrastructure and partnerships, and reach diverse regions and sectors through universities, colleges, institutes, hospitals and businesses. By leveraging collective strengths across disciplines and sectors, Canada is translating AI research excellence into societal and economic advantage, ensuring that innovation, inclusion and trust remain at the centre of its AI future.
A key theme of the government’s request for advice is research and talent. Our input advances the following ideas: (1) AI for Science; (2) talent as the future AI engine; and (3) increasing our connective data architecture.
AI for Science. The agencies and the CFI are uniquely positioned to mobilize the next phase from research on AI to AI-supported research. By harnessing AI as a powerful assistant across all fields of research, Canada can accelerate discovery and innovation in areas of national importance such as health and life sciences, climate and clean industry, manufacturing and industrial automation, finance and banking, and modern public services. Indeed, the next breakthrough in any field is increasingly likely to be driven by applying AI to assist, speed up or introduce a new capability into a research project.
We are therefore calling for, and are committed to, continued and increased support for AI research and AI-supported research by encouraging and deploying Canadian AI discoveries within our domestic research ecosystem so that curiosity inspired and mission-oriented research in all disciplines advance together. In this way, frontier AI methods are advanced and harnessed across research, sovereign compute infrastructure is augmented, and data is responsibly shared and available for use across research disciplines.
Talent as the future AI engine. In a knowledge economy, research talent is Canada’s key strength and fundamental to the mission of the agencies. For our research to continue to be globally excellent, our current and future research talent across research disciplines and institutions must be trained in AI literacy, understanding both the strengths and weaknesses of AI as they harness it to invent, develop and integrate AI-supported research in both lab and real-world settings.
The agencies are ready to take a leadership role in the deployment of an AI for Science research training strategy that broadens participation and attracts and retains talent. Globally, a focus on talent development and mobility will signal that Canada is a nexus of AI talent not only in traditional AI fields, but across all research disciplines where AI can be a powerful tool, opening the door to sustained international collaborations. The result is a deep, diverse and mobile workforce that turns Canadian research into real‑world results.
Building the connective architecture. To fully realize the transformative potential of AI in research and innovation, it is critical that we adopt standardized and robust data management and responsible AI practices across the Canadian research ecosystem. High-quality, interoperable and ethically governed data is the cornerstone of AI-driven discovery. By aligning with global standards such as the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles and investing in secure, scalable infrastructure that embraces Canadian and Indigenous data sovereignty, we can ensure that Canadian researchers are equipped to collaborate across disciplines responsibly.
In the context of health care and delivery, this means Canada needs a coherent health data strategy that connects existing assets effectively, linking datasets where integration is feasible and coordinating the networks, programs and platforms that already exist. This is not about creating new systems but about better coordinating and using existing resources by building national compute capacity, ensuring interoperability and strengthening the governance and trust frameworks that allow data to flow securely and ethically. By aligning infrastructure, policy and public trust, Canada can better coordinate existing health data investments to support research, innovation and improved outcomes.
At present, much of Canada’s research data infrastructure, especially the health datasets essential to AI development, is supported through time-limited grants from agencies such as CIHR, NSERC and the CFI. As these allocations expire, critical datasets risk losing data, access and analytic continuity, which could weaken the long-term impact of current investments. Establishing a stable, long-term funding mechanism for health research data stewardship is therefore as important as any new AI initiative. Without sustained funding, models cannot be trained, validated or maintained, and Canada cannot ensure that health data remains secure, interoperable and available for responsible innovation.
A unified approach to data stewardship, driven by federated, interoperable data that respects security, privacy, as well as provincial and federal jurisdictions, will not only enhance the efficiency and impact of AI applications but also position Canada as a leader in responsible and inclusive innovation. This challenge is particularly important in the health sphere, where focus should be on establishing connective governance based on consent and data sharing principles that enable collaboration across industry, academia and health systems. Embedding these principles will create a safe, vibrant and collaborative ecosystem that will accelerate scientific breakthroughs while upholding public trust.
Canada has a head start in AI thanks to its excellent research and world-class talent. There is great potential to expand on these strengths to create social, economic, health and environmental benefits for Canadians and to help build Canada into the world’s leading hub for science and innovation.
We welcome the opportunity to provide input and would be pleased to follow up in writing or participate in person to further develop and implement Canada’s AI strategy.
Read the statement on science.gc.ca