Alberta Innovates — Alberta Digital Traction Program

• The applicant must be an Alberta-based digital technology company with software development core to one or more products and/or services, and with a clear Alberta footprint.
• The applicant must be a for-profit organization (e.g., corporation or partnership) and be registered in Alberta (incorporated in Alberta or extra-provincially registered in Alberta, or a registered partnership in Alberta).
• The applicant must have fewer than 50 full-time employees and less than $1,000,000 in annual recurring revenue.
• The applicant must have a minimum viable product (MVP) to test and be in the process of validating its product or service in the market.
• The proposed project must align with the Digital Traction Program objectives (increasing traction/customer discovery and advancing towards product/market fit) and be completed within a maximum one-year term.

Who is eligible?

• Alberta-based digital technology small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• For-profit companies developing digital products and/or services with software development at the core

Who is not eligible

• Companies that are not Alberta-based (i.e., without an Alberta footprint).
• Organizations that are not for-profit.
• Businesses that are not digital tech companies with software development at the core of one or more products and/or services.
• Companies that have previously received Digital Traction funding.
• Applicants that are prohibited from receiving Alberta Innovates funding (e.g., due to a past bad debt or not being in good financial standing with Alberta Innovates or its subsidiaries, InnoTech Alberta and C-FER Technologies).

Eligible expenses

• Labour costs (gross wages or salaries at reasonable market rates) for individuals specifically identified as performing work directly attributable to the project (excluding general overhead).
• Materials costs that can be specifically identified and quantified as incurred to perform the project activities (valued at the lower of cost or fair market value).
• Software or information database acquisitions that are critical to the project (cost pro-rated over the project period; valued at the lower of cost or fair market value).
• Advertising costs for data-based marketing strategies for customer discovery purposes directly related to the project.
• Sub-contractor costs at fair market rates where the sub-contractor’s work is directly related to the project.
• Additional direct operating costs (at reasonable market rates) that can be specifically identified and quantified as incurred in performing project activities.
• Unrecoverable GST, only where it is levied on otherwise eligible expenses and the applicant is not otherwise reimbursed.
• Other costs that Alberta Innovates pre-approves in writing as eligible expenses.

Eligible geographic areas

• Alberta (companies must be Alberta-based with an Alberta footprint).

• Fit with the Digital Traction Program objectives and intended outcomes.
• Business opportunity.
• Founding/management team.
• Financial position.
• Overall potential size of the return to Alberta against the program’s performance outcomes.

• Alberta Innovates may publish non-confidential information such as the applicant name, program name, project title, non-confidential project summary, project period dates, and the amount of the investment.
• Applicants may be asked to provide follow-up performance information (e.g., via surveys and reporting metrics) during the project term and for up to five years after the term.
• Alberta Innovates may perform due diligence on applicant companies and their principals (e.g., corporate, bankruptcy, and litigation searches), and applicants must clear Alberta Innovates’ risk screening.
• Alberta Innovates is subject to Alberta access-to-information legislation, meaning records related to the project may be requested through an access process (with applicable exceptions to disclosure potentially applying).