Canada’s digital economy is a critical lever for the nation’s overall productivity, innovation, and global competitiveness. This briefing, part of ICTC’s quarterly Digital Economy Pulse series, outlines key opportunities and challenges shaping digital adoption across the Canadian economy. 

Key Findings

  • Slowing labour productivity growth is largely attributed to weak capital investments, including in advanced technologies and digitization, among Canadian businesses. 
  • Canadian SMEs lag in adopting advanced technologies, such as IoT, AI, big data analytics, and cloud computing. Large businesses and ICT companies are significantly more likely to adopt such technologies. 
  • Among SMEs, barriers to advanced technology adoption include lack of awareness, high initial investment costs, unclear returns on investment in the long term, and insufficient access to skilled workers. 
  • The keys to advancing the competitiveness of important Canadian sectors—such as advanced manufacturing, agri-food technology, health and life sciences, and clean technology—are intensifying digitalization, adopting advanced technologies, and investing in talent pipelines. 

Report

Quarterly Digital Economy Pulse: Digital Adoption in Canada, March 2026 

 

To cite this report:

Maryna Ivus, Todd Legere, Christopher Lindstrom, Sheldon Lopez, and Faun Rice. Digital Economy Pulse: Digital Adoption in Canada. Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), 2026. Ottawa, Canada. 

This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Student Work Placement Program.