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Provincial training funding applications close October 18. Book your call by October 16.

The AI-First Accelerator for Nova Scotia businesses

Too busy for AI? That's exactly why you need it.

A couple of hours a week for 12 weeks, and you'll feel the difference in week one.

Tried AI before and it didn't stick? This time it's hands-on, fun, and someone's holding the team to it.

Book a 25-minute call (opens in a new tab)

Eligible businesses can have up to 75% of the cost covered through provincial training funding.

Businesses we've worked with.

The problem

You know AI matters. Your week doesn't leave room for it.

You don't need convincing. You need to know where AI will save your team real hours, which tools are worth paying for, and how to make it stick without pulling everyone off the work that pays the bills.

  • The advice out there isn't built for you.

    Most AI advice assumes an IT department and an innovation budget. Very little of it speaks to a 60-person firm in Bridgewater or Antigonish, where the people who would lead the change are already running the business.

  • Your team is already experimenting. Alone.

    One person drafts emails in ChatGPT, another pastes client data into a free tool, and nobody knows what's working. That's scattered effort, real risk, and no shared wins.

  • You've tried AI. It hasn't stuck yet.

    A few YouTube videos, a prompt shared in Teams, a licence nobody really uses. Everyone sees the potential, but the work looks the same as it did last year. What sticks is learning on your own work, alongside your own team, with someone checking in every week.

How the Accelerator works

12 weeks. Your leaders set the direction in the first 4, then your whole team joins for 8 weeks of hands-on work, about 2 hours a week.

  1. 1

    Strategy and Governance

    Your leaders set priorities and goals, decide where AI fits, put an AI policy in place, and agree on what success looks like.

  2. 2

    Find what's worth building

    Your whole team joins. Weekly mini challenges build their skills, the people closest to the work pitch ideas, and your leaders pick the strongest.

  3. 3

    Get real results

    Your people build quick wins on their own work, with weekly coaching from AI-First to get past the hard parts.

  4. 4

    Share what works

    Your team shows what they built at a showcase. Your leaders get the results and a 90-day roadmap for what comes next.

Your AI policy, your tools and your trained people stay with you after week 12.

The difference

Structure, accountability, and your people learning from each other.

Proof

What changed inside two Nova Scotia businesses

Two companies ran the Accelerator with their own people: Nautel, a broadcast transmitter manufacturer with about 200 employees, and DeNova, a protein and aquafeed innovator with a team of 24. This is what their teams reported, in their own numbers and words.

Nautel: strategy, policy, training and eight hands-on sprints

  • Hackett's Cove, NS

    radio broadcast transmitter manufacturer

  • ~200

    employees

  • 8

    hands-on sprints

What the team reported

  • 60%

    are already saving 10% or more time on the tasks where they use AI.

    Wrap-up survey

  • 76%

    reported their AI use at work increased (38 of 50).

    Wrap-up survey

  • 10 of 12

    sprint participants landed a working solution or pilot.

    Sprint survey

  • “Risk summary of contracts gives a starting point for where to focus the review. It has cut contract review time by at least 30%.”

    Nautel senior contributor, legal operations

  • “Before the program, I felt unsure about using AI at work. Now I feel more confident in the tools and what is available to me.”

    Nautel engineer, R&D team

Survey figures from 50 respondents at the program wrap-up. Sprint figures from the 12 sprint participants.

DeNova: policy, governance and four working AI tools built during the program

  • Halifax, NS

    single-cell protein and aquafeed innovator

  • 24

    people on the team

  • 4

    sprints, January to March 2026

What changed

  • 4

    working AI tools built during the sprints, with 1 ready to launch company-wide.

    Program results

  • 94%

    of the team reported their AI skills increased.

    Team survey

  • 76%

    jump in policy understanding, from 3.33 to 5.88 on a 7-point scale.

    Team survey

  • “Participating in the AI-First Accelerator was incredibly valuable for DeNova. It helped us build the foundational skills, tools, and governance frameworks needed to integrate generative AI into our operations responsibly and effectively.”

    Talia BoatesAI Program Lead, DeNova

  • “Unsure about using AI at work. Now I feel confident to use it as a tool to increase efficiencies in my daily workflows.”

    DeNova team lead, R&D

Figures from DeNova's program surveys and results. The four tools: an HR and operations knowledge assistant, an SOP drafting agent, a market intelligence agent and a fermentation run data analyst. DeNova also left with a published AI policy, tool-selection guidance and a data-classification framework.

Funding

Provincial training funding can cover a significant share of the cost for eligible organizations. The amount varies, so we'll work out what applies to your organization on the call.

Your business applies for the funding. We'll help you with the application.

YOUR NUMBERS

Run your own numbers.

Move the sliders to match your team. See the hours and dollars sitting inside your workflows every year, waiting to be reclaimed.

20
5200
2
2h10h
$40
$30$100

Annual cost sitting in your workflows

$83,200

2,080 addressable hours per year

From the field

50+ organizations. In their own words.

Every quote below came unsolicited, from leaders who ran the program on their own calendars and saw the results firsthand. Workshops, accelerators, lunch-and-learns. Different formats, same pattern: their teams walked away doing the work.

Participating in the AI-First Accelerator was incredibly valuable for DeNova. It helped us build the foundational skills, tools, and governance frameworks needed to integrate generative AI into our operations responsibly and effectively. The team was exceptional to work with: deeply knowledgeable, professional, and committed to delivering a program that was thoughtfully customized for our organization.

Talia Boates

AI Program Lead, DeNova

We hired AI-First to present at our company's offsite manager's meeting. The team was incredibly engaging, breaking down complex topics and explaining them in an easy to consume manner. Tremendous value added to our meeting, and we look forward to working with them again.

Drew Redden

Atlantic Poultry Incorporated

The lunch and learn was awesome. I took a lot from it, it was organized in a very digestible manner and impressively effective presenting.

Lee Vicars

Project Manager, Pomerleau

Practical and tactical information. Always so good. Well done.

Crystal MacGregor

Food Island Partnership

Relevant to the industry, used storytelling effectively. Always delivers!

Ila Jay

Digital Nova Scotia

There are a lot of negative views on AI around but this session made me feel more confident in exploring AI within my work.

Hope Young

Steele Auto Group

Much more actionable items than other AI sessions I have attended. Thank you!

Dominic Paxton

CBDC PEI

Approachable manner. Well informed and easy to talk to.

Patti Devine

Innovation PEI Rural Action Centres

Engaging, easy to understand presentation.

Russ Kelsey

Cavendish Agri

Frequently asked questions

Provincial training funding applications close October 18. Book your call by October 16.

Book a 25-minute call (opens in a new tab)

Not ready for a cohort? We also run workshops, advisory retainers and keynotes. Talk to us (opens in a new tab)