Plans at a glance
A departmental plan describes a department's priorities, plans and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.
Key priorities
ISED's top priorities for 2025-26 are as follows:
- Protect Canadians and the Canadian economy against tariffs imposed by the United States, including the automotive manufacturing industry, by protecting jobs, supporting upskilling workers, and building Canada’s domestic supply chain.
- Maximize Canada’s economic growth by leveraging the National Shipbuilding Strategy and Industrial Technological Benefits Policy to ensure that investments and procurement in Canada’s military prioritize domestic manufacturing and supply chains.
- Drive Canada’s economic competitiveness through investments in advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, digital infrastructure and emerging technologies such as quantum computing, strengthening domestic industries and enabling global market leadership. Initiatives like the Strategic Innovation Fund will continue to support large-scale, transformative projects that accelerate innovation and drive growth.
- Help Canada and Canadians benefit from the opportunities provided by artificial intelligence (AI), including by promoting AI safety and by ensuring that Canadian businesses, innovators and researchers have access to the compute capacity they need to drive research and develop made-in-Canada AI products.
- Accelerate Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy through clean technology innovation, sustainable manufacturing and initiatives like the Clean Growth Hub, while building a resilient workforce with digital skills, entrepreneurship support and work-integrated learning opportunities, ensuring Canadians thrive in the evolving digital and green economies.
- Strengthen Canada’s leadership in advanced research and innovation by supporting programs such as the Strategic Science Fund and the Canadian Genomics Strategy, with a focus on health, climate resilience and digital industries.
- Expand broadband access to underserved communities in rural and remote regions, working towards Canada’s target of connecting 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and 100% by 2030.
- Promote equity, diversity and inclusion by supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs through initiatives such as the Black Entrepreneurship Program, advancing STEM opportunities for women, Indigenous Peoples and racialized Canadians, and fostering inclusive economic participation.
- Reinforce Canada’s international and regional relations and promote trade and investment, including through key initiatives during Canada’s G7 presidency in 2025.
- Coordinate support for Canada’s tourism industry and continue to implement the Federal Tourism Growth Strategy, as tourism is a key driver of economic growth for small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in rural and remote areas.
Highlights
In 2025-26, total planned spending (including internal services) for ISED is $8,591,437,915 and total planned full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) is 6,168. For complete information on ISED's total planned spending and human resources, read the Planned spending and human resources section of the full plan.
The following provides a summary of the department's planned achievements for 2025-26 according to its approved Departmental Results Framework. A Departmental Results Framework consists of a department's core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.
Core responsibility 1: Companies, Investment and Growth
Planned spending: $6,279,006,054
Planned human resources: 4,331
Departmental results:
- Canadian businesses and industries are innovative and growing
- Canada has a clean and sustainable economy
- Businesses, investors and consumers are confident in the Canadian marketplace, including the digital economy
In 2025–26, ISED will continue to support Canadian businesses across key sectors, including aerospace, critical minerals, green energy, and biomanufacturing and life sciences, with Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) investments to foster innovation and ensure long-term sustainability. SIF investments will support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions with targeted investments under the Net Zero Accelerator initiative, as well as the goals of Canada's Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy, by investing in cutting-edge biomanufacturing capabilities and ensuring domestic preparedness for pandemics and other health emergencies.
ISED's continued support for the Global Innovation Clusters, with a focus on increasing opportunities for international collaboration and partnership, will accelerate innovation and economic growth. Through the clusters, ISED will advance priorities under the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy by driving adoption and commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI).
In addition, ISED will advance initiatives to secure Canada’s place as a global AI leader. The Department’s efforts stemming from the newly announced Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, including the AI Compute Challenge, AI Compute Access Fund, and the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, will focus on increasing access to domestic compute capacity to help boost the Canadian economy, demonstrating Canada’s leadership on the world stage and supporting Canadian innovation by investing in the economy of the future.
Connecting businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with government programs and supports at the federal, provincial and territorial levels to facilitate growth and innovation through programs and services like BizPaL, the Business Benefits Finder, Accelerated Growth Service, Clean Growth Hub and the Global Hypergrowth Project remains a key priority for ISED in 2025-26. Other ISED programs, like the Canada Small Business Financing Program and the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, will continue to improve access to funding and financial support for SMEs.
Creating equitable market conditions and promoting constructive economic relations is critical to Canada's economic growth on the global stage. Through the implementation of key frameworks and intellectual property products and services, ISED will continue its progress towards leveling the playing field for businesses, investors and consumers, creating a robust and fair marketplace that balances economic growth with national security considerations. ISED will take action to reinforce Canada's international and regional relations and promote trade and investment, including through key initiatives during Canada's G7 presidency in 2025.
Wireless communication and access to reliable, affordable high-speed Internet is increasingly important to economic participation and business growth, and ISED plays an integral role in the Canadian telecommunications landscape by managing Canada's radio frequency spectrum resources. This year, ISED will continue to advance initiatives to release spectrum, including a number aimed at supporting spectrum access by new users, small wireless Internet providers, vertical industries and Indigenous communities.
ISED will also continue to advance priorities under the Federal Tourism Growth Strategy by coordinating measures that support the tourism industry, collaborating with different levels of government, industry stakeholders and interest groups, and ensuring Canada's representation in national fora.
More information about Companies, Investment and Growth can be found in the full plan.
Core responsibility 2: Science, Technology, Research and Commercialization
Planned spending: $1,083,660,135
Planned human resources: 117
Departmental results:
- Canadian science, technology and innovation research contributes to knowledge transfer
In 2025–26, ISED will continue to strengthen Canada's leadership in science, technology and innovation by implementing initiatives that advance research, foster collaboration and enhance the well-being of Canadians.
Through the Strategic Science Fund, ISED will continue to advance science and research for the benefit of Canadians in areas such as life sciences, environment, emerging industries and theoretical physics. ISED will also advance the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Canada’s National Quantum Strategy to drive innovation in emerging technologies and strengthen Canada’s global position in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum research. This work will be supported through partnerships with key organizations such as Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the National Research Council of Canada, the Global Innovation Clusters and Canada’s leading National AI Institutes, including Amii, Mila and the Vector Institute.
Building on the Government’s Digital Research Infrastructure Strategy, ISED has entered new contribution agreements with CANARIE and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC). This includes up to $176 million over five years for CANARIE to support the ongoing operations and upgrades of its national high-speed research network and cybersecurity initiatives, as well as up to $258 million over five years to continue DRAC’s mandate to deliver advanced computing, data management, and research software tools for Canadian researchers. The Department will also focus on enhancing cybersecurity research and talent development through the Cyber Security Innovation Network, fostering collaboration between academia and industry to bolster Canada’s resilience in the digital age.
Internationally, ISED will leverage Canada's association with Horizon Europe to provide Canadian researchers with access to new funding streams and collaborative opportunities in critical areas like health, climate and digital industries. Additionally, the Canadian Genomics Strategy will support cutting-edge research and commercialization efforts, contributing to advancements in personalized medicine, climate adaptation and food security while fostering a diverse and inclusive genomics workforce.
These efforts are central to ISED's commitment to building a strong, inclusive and globally connected research ecosystem that drives innovation and benefits all Canadians.
More information about Science, Technology, Research and Commercialization can be found in the full departmental plan.
Core Responsibility 3: People, Skills and Communities
Planned spending: $1,041,899,550
Planned human resources: 154
Departmental results:
- People and communities from all segments of Canadian society participate in the economy
In 2025–26 ISED will continue its efforts to reduce barriers to economic participation for all Canadians by improving access to high-speed Internet and mobile wireless coverage. The Universal Broadband Fund will continue to advance projects across the country to connect more Canadian households to high-speed Internet, with a special focus on those living in rural, remote and Indigenous communities, and the Connecting Families Initiative will provide low-income families and seniors with access to affordable home Internet.
ISED will continue to work with regional development agencies and official language minority communities (OLMC) partners to identify and address the barriers OLMC entrepreneurs face. ISED will also continue its work to reduce barriers in the entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing equity-deserving groups with access to financing, business tools and support services that help them start, grow, scale and maintain their businesses. ISED will continue to support young entrepreneurs and youth-led businesses through Futurpreneur, while the 2SLGBTQI+ Entrepreneurship Program will support entrepreneurs who identify as Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or other sexually or gender diverse people to reduce barriers to starting and growing a business. Renewed funding for the Black Entrepreneurship Program will continue to reduce barriers for Black entrepreneurs starting and growing their businesses.
The Department will continue to improve the availability and quality of data on the entrepreneurship landscape for under-represented groups through initiatives like the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and the Business Data Lab. Through its ongoing work, ISED will also help advance rural economic development policy and improve the accessibility and availability of rural data.
More information about People, Skills and Communities can be found in the full departmental plan.