👩💻 Only 7% of Surveyed Canadian Tech Leaders Believe That They Have Reached Advanced AI Maturity, New Report from Georgian Finds
Saturday, 12 July 2025 02:41.PM
- Georgian & NewtonX's global AI study of 634 executives suggests that Canada is trailing international peers despite strong competitive motivation and robust experimental pipeline -
Just 7% of surveyed Canadian executives classify their organizations as advanced or "Runners" in AI maturity—less than half the 17% rate reported by global peers—according to the AI, Applied – Canada Benchmarks report published today by Georgian in collaboration with NewtonX.
While 69% of Canadian companies remain in early "Crawl and Walk" phases of AI development, 31% cite creating competitive advantage as their primary AI motivation—a rate higher than the 26% global average. This suggests Canadian organizations recognize AI's strategic importance but potentially struggle to translate ambition into advanced implementations.
"Canadian innovators appear to believe that AI has the potential to assist them in growing their business and report active AI experimentation, but systemic challenges around talent and scaling may be preventing many from reaching the level of maturity that is likely to drive competitive advantage," said James Lamberti, Head of Go-to-Market at Georgian Partners.
The Canadian Benchmarks Report, released in partnership with Vector Institute and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), is part of Georgian's AI, Applied Benchmark Research, which surveyed executives globally across 10 countries and 15 industry verticals. For this wave, Georgian partnered with nine international organizations including AI Marketers Guild, FirstMark, GTM Partners, and Untapped Ventures (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles) and Startup Nation Central, Herzog and Grove Ventures (Tel Aviv) in addition to Vector and Amii to create global benchmarks of B2B AI adoption.
The Maturity Gap in Context: Canadian respondents lag behind global peers in advanced AI implementation across multiple dimensions:
• Only 41% of Canadian respondents report advanced or fundamental use of a range of AI techniques versus 54% globally.
• 37% of Canadian respondents report advanced LLM implementation compared to 45% globally.
• Canadian go-to-market respondents average 54% AI adoption across nine functions versus 61% globally, with a 19-point gap in research activities and an 11-point gap in lead scoring.
The Talent Bottleneck: 48% of surveyed Canadian R&D leaders cite an absence of technical talent as their top barrier to production deployment—4 points higher than their global counterparts. The talent bottleneck in Canada reflects a broader global trend as technical talent has now replaced cost as the primary scaling challenge worldwide.
Privacy-First Approach: Canadian organizations disclose heightened concerns around privacy that may slow but strengthen long-term adoption:
• 79% of surveyed Canadian R&D respondents rank sensitive information disclosure among their top three cybersecurity concerns—14 points above global peers.
• 53% of surveyed R&D teams prioritize data security and privacy as their primary AI concern.
Experimental Pipeline Shows Promise: Despite production gaps, surveyed Canadian R&D teams report robust experimental activity:
• 47% are testing or piloting automated coding tools versus 38% globally.
• 42% are testing or piloting data analytics applications compared to 32% internationally.
• Overall testing and piloting activity in Canada, averaged across 12 use cases, runs 3 percentage points higher than global averages.
"As one of Canada's national AI institutes and a leader at the forefront of Canada's AI ecosystem, Amii has a unique perspective on the journey from groundbreaking research to real-world application," says Marlene McNaughton, Chief Revenue Officer at Amii. "The report validates our observations: we must understand the gaps between piloting advanced AI applications and scaling efforts to deliver clear economic value to address these challenges. Our contribution to this global survey and vital knowledge sharing helps us collectively remove these barriers, ultimately unlocking Canada's full AI potential for competitive economic benefits."
"This research showcases a fundamental shift — the number one barrier for companies looking to scale AI is no longer cost, but the absence of technical talent," says Glenda Crisp, CEO and President of the Vector Institute. "Canada is already a world leader in AI research excellence, and Ontario produces more AI talent than anywhere else in the country. Scaling these successes is key to translating these advantages into long-term gains in productivity, competitiveness, and growth."
SOURCE: Georgian Partners Growth LP
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