The Business Development Bank of Canada is launching two new programs to boost artificial intelligence adoption among Canadian businesses, and improve BDC’s own services. 

One of the initiatives, called Mission AI, will identify common tasks that small and medium-sized businesses want to automate and find Canadian software that could do the work. A panel of entrepreneurs will test the tools in their businesses and assess whether they save time or improve performance. BDC plans to then use those findings to help more companies adopt the software. 

The Crown corporation’s AI Studio, meanwhile, will build and test tools for BDC’s own operations, aiming to reduce administrative work and help entrepreneurs get advice and financing faster. Entrepreneur Raff Paquin will lead AI Studio. His background includes positions at Shopify, Lightspeed and Return Magic, a retail-tech startup he co-founded and which Shopify acquired in 2018. 

BDC says the program is intended to help thousands of businesses adopt the technology, while giving Canadian AI suppliers access to more customers.

According to the bank’s latest survey, 69 per cent of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses rarely or never use AI. Separate data shows the number of businesses using AI is growing, though many remain convinced it applies to their work. Statistics Canada found 19.2 per cent of businesses used AI to produce goods or deliver services in the previous 12 months when surveyed this spring, up from 12.2 per cent a year earlier. Forty per cent said AI was not relevant to their business.

The new initiatives build on BDC’s $500-million LIFT program launched in April that pairs businesses with technology advisers and gives clients loans to adopt automation tools including AI, software and robotics. Businesses can borrow between $25,000 and $2 million through the program, which also prioritizes Canadian suppliers. 

Mission AI will focus on tasks such as preparing quotes, processing invoices and chasing sales leads. Dominic Gagnon will lead the initiative, after spending nine months as BDC’s first entrepreneur-in-residence, advising its teams on better ways to operate, including by using AI.