Only 7% of Surveyed Canadian Tech Leaders Believe That They Have Reached Advanced AI Maturity, New Report from Georgian Finds

Cision Canada

09-07-2025

Georgian & NewtonX's global AI study of 634 executives suggests that Canada is trailing international peers despite strong competitive motivation and robust experimental pipeline
TORONTO, July 9, 2025 /CNW/ - 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."
Global Roadshow and Future Research: Throughout 2025, Georgian, in collaboration with its global partners, intends to host in-person events featuring technical discussions and workshops on AI maturity in San Francisco, New York, London, Toronto, Montreal, Tel Aviv, and Abu Dhabi. Georgian plans to release the third wave of AI, Applied in Q1 2026, continuing longitudinal analysis alongside additional market-specific benchmarks.
About Georgian: Georgian invests in high-growth B2B software companies and builds software to help those companies scale through our AI Lab. We seek to identify and accelerate leading growth-stage software companies in our thesis areas of Applied AI and Trust. Georgian's AI Lab team works with portfolio companies to address growth-stage product and go-to-market challenges through one-on-one engagements, the Transferred Learnings community and AI research. Based in Toronto, Georgian's team brings together investors with machine learning professionals, software entrepreneurs and experienced operators.
About NewtonX: NewtonX is a leading B2B research company that employed robust methodology for this study, involving 634 B2B executives globally with balanced representation from R&D and GTM leaders. The study surveyed 201 Canadian executives (100 R&D, 101 GTM) alongside 433 respondents from the rest of the world. Participants were drawn from businesses with annual recurring revenues starting at $1 million, ranging up to 200 large global enterprises. The blind study was conducted through 15-minute online interviews in April and May 2025, adhering to rigorous qualification and quality assurance processes.
About Amii
As one of Canada's three centres of AI excellence, Amii supports world-leading research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and translates scientific advancement into industry adoption. Based in Alberta, Amii strives to make AI & ML the primary drivers of sustainable economic growth by advancing leading-edge research, delivering exceptional educational offerings, and providing business advice – all to bring AI out of the lab and into the world. Learn more at amii.ca. Amii is not a client or investor of Georgian and was not compensated for its statement. Marlene McNaughton's quote reflects her own views and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of Georgian's advisory services.
About Vector Institute
Launched in 2017, the Vector Institute works with industry, institutions, startups, and governments to build AI talent and drive research excellence in AI to develop and sustain AI-based innovation to foster economic growth and improve the lives of Canadians. Vector aims to advance AI research, increase adoption in industry and health through programs for talent, commercialization, and application, and lead Canada towards the responsible use of AI. Programs for industry, led by top AI practitioners, offer foundations for applications in products and processes, company-specific guidance, training for professionals, and connections to workforce-ready talent. Vector is funded by the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, and leading industry sponsors from across multiple sectors of Canadian Industry. For further information or media enquiries, please contact: [email protected]. Vector Institute is not a client or investor of Georgian and was not compensated for its statement. Glenda Crisp's quote reflects her own views and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of Georgian's advisory services.