Is the Canada Digital Adoption Program right for your business?

In 2021, the Government of Canada announced the $4 billion Canada Digital Adoption Program (“CDAP”) to help small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) stay competitive and grow by adopting new digital tools. CDAP comprises an investment of $1.4 billion in grants and advisory services to SMEs from the Government of Canada and up to $2.6 billion in loans for the Business Development Bank of Canada (“BDC”) to help businesses cover the costs of implementing new digital technologies.

CDAP comprises two separate funding components; the Grow Your Business Online grant and the Boost your Technology grant.

Grow Your Business Online grant

The Grow Your Business Online grant will help up to 90,000 small businesses take advantage of e-commerce opportunities. Eligible businesses will receive a micro-grant of up to $2,400 to help with the costs related to adopting digital technologies. Grants will be available through local and regional service providers across Canada, who will also provide guidance to businesses on growing their online presence. Eligible small businesses must:

• be a for-profit business (including for-profit social enterprises and co-operatives);
• be a registered or incorporated business;
• be a consumer-facing business;
• be accessed by consumers or provide in-person services to consumers; and
• have at least one employee (other than the owner).

Eligible applicants must also commit to maintaining their digital adoption strategy for six months after participation in the program; and consent to participating in follow-up surveys, sharing information with the Government of Canada (ISED and Statistics Canada), and having the name of the business published as a recipient of funding. Corporate chains, franchises or registered charities, representatives of multi-level marketing companies, and real estate brokerages are not eligible.

Eligible costs must be directly tied to the sale of goods and services online (i.e. implementation/improvement of a digital e-commerce plan, website development, search engine optimization, subscription fees for e-commerce platforms, and social media advertising) and will need to be clearly outlined in the application.

Boost Your Technology grant

The Boost Your Technology grant offers support to up to 70,000 Canadian-owned SMEs who want to adopt new digital technologies to improve their productivity and become more competitive in the digital marketplace.

Eligible businesses will have access to a marketplace of expert digital advisory service providers to help them develop a digital adoption plan tailored to their needs. The grant covers up to 90% of the eligible costs of retaining the services of a digital advisor to develop a digital adoption plan, up to a maximum grant value of $15,000 per SME.

To support the implementation of their digital adoption plan and to facilitate the acquisition of new technologies, businesses also have the opportunity to secure an interest-free loan of up to $100,000 from the BDC.

Eligible SMEs can also leverage the help of talented post-secondary students and recent graduates by applying for a wage subsidy of up to $7,300.

Eligible businesses must:

• be incorporated federally or provincially, or be a Canadian resident sole proprietor;
• be a for-profit, privately owned business;
• have between 1-499 full time equivalent employees; and
• have at least $500,000 of annual revenues in one of the previous three tax years.

SMEs interested in accessing the Boost Your Business Technology funding can complete a free digital needs assessment to help them better understand their digital readiness.

The application periods for these programs are currently open and will close once all funding is allocated.

If you have any questions about this article, please contact the authors.

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