Accelerated AI Investments

Supporting Canada's Sovereign AI Compute Strategy through near-term investments in digital research infrastructure

As part of its mission to foster cutting-edge discovery and innovation, the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) is advancing the Government of Canada Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, with investments that in the near-term will provide Canadian researchers with access to AI-dedicated compute infrastructure, tools and resources.

Over the next three years, the Alliance will focus on the following key areas: 

  • Compute infrastructure enhancement: Deploy AI compute systems to meet short-term research needs and create a bridge toward long-term solutions.
  • Pilot for a distributed storage grid: Deploy S3-compatible, jurisdictionally compliant storage nodes across institutions to complement national systems.
  • National data platform prototype: Develop a prototype for a national platform for active data management, discovery, and access, fully integrated with distributed storage and national compute resources.
  • Pilot national data spaces: Launch domain-specific spaces with community-led governance and inter-operability frameworks.
  • Support for research software and AI tools: Develop sustainable support and funding for Canadian research software and domain-specific AI tools.
  • Implementation of a RAiD registration agency: Launch a national service to issue persistent identifiers (RAiDs) for Canadian research projects.

These interconnected activities aim to build a cohesive and powerful DRI ecosystem that will empower researchers across all disciplines.

As the first major action under the Compute Infrastructure Enhancement objective, the Alliance has launched the following call for proposals:


National AI Compute – Rapid Deployment

To address the urgent and growing demand for Artificial Intelligence compute capacity, the Alliance is investing up to $40 million in the 2025-2026 fiscal year to deploy dedicated AI resources for Canadian researchers. This National AI Compute – Rapid Deployment initiative seeks to complement the capabilities currently available through national compute infrastructure, further supporting researchers who are applying AI-driven workflows and leveraging AI in their research.

The Alliance has invited proposals from the seven institutions currently providing compute resources and services as part of the National Compute Platform.  Infrastructure will be procured over the fall and deployed by 2026.

For more information on this initiative, email [email protected] .