Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP)

How Canadians do business is changing and to stay competitive while growing, small and medium-sized businesses need to adopt new digital tools. To help with these digital changes, the Government of Canada announced the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) which was a part of the 2021 federal budget.

The intention of the CDAP program is to help support small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that need to make digital adoption a priority to survive in this new digital age. The CDAP committed $1.4 billion in investments over a four-year period, delivered through two components.

Grow Your Business Online

For smaller, consumer-facing businesses, including those in service industries, Grow Your Business Online grants help them adopt e-commerce technologies. For-profit businesses, including co-operatives and social enterprises, are eligible for a $2,400 micro-grant. Businesses must also be registered or incorporated and have at least one employee. Up to 90,000 small businesses were supported by Grow Your Business Online grants.

The $2,400 micro-grant can be used to cover the costs associated with a range of activities, including website development, search engine optimization, subscription fees for e-commerce platforms, and social media advertising.

Boost Your Business Technology

The Boost Your Business Technology component provides SMEs with the opportunity to use government funding support to strategically adopt new technologies for business. Food processing operations, manufacturing companies, service providers, and other industry stakeholders are partnered with digital advisors that have been vetted and approved by the CDAP.

Collaboratively, both parties work to develop a digital adoption plan to reach an articulated goal in a timely fashion. This component offers grants that cover up to 90% of eligible costs for up to $15,000 to organize and implement a digital adoption initiative for SMEs.

Government Funding for Digital Transformation

Programs like CDAP demonstrate the importance of digital adoption for Canadian businesses. While this specific program's intake period has passed, it's worth staying informed about similar funding opportunities that may become available.