NRC IRAP funding
Most of our clients don't pay full price for this.
Canada's National Research Council IRAP program reimburses eligible small and medium businesses for a large share of qualified AI and digital consulting work — commonly 50% to 80%. We frame the project the way the program reads it and prepare the paperwork with you. Eligibility gets confirmed before you commit a dollar.
50–80%
Typical reimbursement range- Canadian-incorporated, for-profit, under 500 employees
- Project has a defined technical or process outcome
- Approved before work begins — we sequence around it
How it works
Approval first, invoice second.
IRAP funds work that hasn't started yet. That single rule shapes the whole sequence: we scope the project, you meet an Industrial Technology Advisor, the project gets approved, and only then does the build begin. Skipping ahead costs you the contribution — so we plan around the program's calendar, not ours.
- Step 01
Eligibility check
A short conversation about incorporation, size and the shape of the project. No cost, no commitment.
- Step 02
Scope & framing
We write the project the way the program reads it: technical objective, risk, and what gets learned.
- Step 03
Advisor & approval
You meet your ITA. We attend if it helps. Approval typically takes a few weeks — plan for it.
- Step 04
Build & claim
Work proceeds against the approved plan. We supply the documentation your claims need.
Usually eligible
- Canadian-incorporated, for-profit, fewer than 500 employees
- A defined technical or process outcome, not general IT spend
- Genuine technical uncertainty — something might not work
- Capacity to grow from what the project produces
Usually not
- Work that has already started or already been invoiced
- Buying licences, hardware or an off-the-shelf platform
- Routine IT maintenance with no development component
IRAP is discretionary and decisions rest with the National Research Council, not with us. Nothing here is a guarantee of funding — but we'll tell you honestly, early, if we think a project won't qualify.
Worked example
What the arithmetic can look like.
Illustrative only, using a mid-range contribution rate. Your rate is set by the program.
- Assessment + first build, quoted
- $60,000
- IRAP contribution at 65%
- − $39,000
- Your net cost
- $21,000
Find out before you spend anything.
One call tells us whether your project fits the program and roughly what the timing looks like.