Over the past year, three more Canadian businesses started using AI every minute. This adoption rate is faster than that of the internet in the early 2000s. But adoption alone isn't transformation. Only 15% of Canadian businesses have reached the stage where AI genuinely transforms how they operate, according to research conducted by Strand Partners on behalf of Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Reaching that level of transformation takes more than better tools. It takes organizational commitment.
Today, AWS opened the Partner Innovation Hub in Toronto to help organizations turn that momentum into lasting results. The Hub is an immersive experience where business leadership teams can see advanced AI and cloud solutions running live, applied to challenges in their industry, and leave with a roadmap to move forward. It launches with four members of the AWS Partner Network: CGI, Dedicatted, Elevata, and OpsGuru.
"Canadian companies are full of AI ambition," said Martin Bazinet, Director of Technology, AWS Canada. "The ones that move fastest will be the ones that bring their whole team to the table, not just their technical leaders."
Canada's AI Adoption is Surging. Going Deeper is the Next Step
Of the businesses already using AI, 65% are still doing so at the most basic level: automating small tasks, adding a chatbot, or using AI features embedded in workplace software. The potential is there, but most organizations lack the specialized skills to identify high-value uses cases and embed AI into core business strategy.
Partners change that. They’re exposed to hundreds of use cases across industries and bring those learnings directly to organizations ready to go deeper. When AWS surveyed Canadian IT decision makers, more than 70% said they plan to rely on partners to implement generative AI. Less than 20% intend to build from scratch. That’s why AWS launched the Hub with partners who can guide organizations from early adoption to real impact.
“Engaging all stakeholders within an organization is key to drive innovation and successful project deployments,” says Teresa Wolf, Director, Consulting CGI AWS Alliance Partner- Canada. “We are eager to leverage the AWS Partner Innovation Hub to drive new collaborative conversations with our clients to approach their AI opportunities with a different mindset while still aligning to corporate AI policies and strategic plans.”
What Happens Inside the Hub
AWS built the Partner Innovation Hub on a model already working globally. The AWS Generative AI Innovation Centre has helped more than a thousand organizations move AI from concept to deployment, with 65% of projects reaching production, some in as few as 45 days. The Partner Innovation Hub brings that philosophy to Canada through partners who know Canadian industries and can support organizations long after the first visit.
The Hub offers visiting leadership teams an immersive tour of live demonstrations spanning generative AI, data analytics, and cloud modernization, all tailored in advance to their industry. For example, one of the demos helps organizations see how quickly generative AI can bring 2D and 3D images to life.
Along with seeing demos in action, the Hub takes customer and partner teams through an Art of the Possible workshop, where AWS and partner experts guide use-case discovery, business process mapping, and solution design. Teams leave with defined workstreams, clear milestones, and a recommended next step.
"What makes this different from a typical briefing is that teams don't just see what's possible; they leave with a roadmap to make it real," said Denys Yermakov, CEO and co-founder, Dedicatted.
The Partners Behind the Hub
Each launch partner brings distinct expertise and a track record of helping Canadian organizations move AI into production.
For 50 years, CGI has helped clients build what's next. As a Canadian AWS Premier Consulting Partner with global reach, CGI combines business consulting, AI-enabled systems integration and managed services expertise to help organizations modernize legacy environments, accelerate cloud transformation, and deliver secure, scalable business outcomes.
Dedicatted is an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner based in Toronto. They were one of Canada's first partners to earn both the Generative AI Competency and MSP designation, and they're one of roughly 60 partners worldwide in the AWS Agentic AI Pilot. They help businesses move from cloud and AI ambition to working systems. From first use case to production to managed services, Dedicatted handles it end to end. Whatever stage a business is at, they're the partner that gets them there.
Elevata is a GenAI-first AWS partner helping organizations turn AI ideas into production-ready solutions. They design and build data, AI, and cloud platforms on AWS, combining strategy, architecture, engineering, and governance to move quickly from prototype to scale. With delivery teams across Canada and Brazil, AWS Generative AI Competency, and 250+ AWS launches, Elevata helps teams modernize faster and bring practical AI into everyday operations.
OpsGuru accelerates digital transformation by combining deep technical expertise with cutting-edge AI capabilities. OpsGuru helps customers modernize applications, unlock data value, and build scalable cloud-native solutions that drive real business outcomes. As North America's leading AWS Premier Tier Partner, with competencies in Migration, DevOps, Networking, SaaS, and AI Services, OpsGuru handles cloud complexity so customers can focus on innovation in an AI-driven world.
“Canadian organizations want to scale AI in production, and that takes systems that are highly secure and fully governed,” said Luciana Prieto, Co-Founder at Elevata. “The Partner Innovation Hub is where those requirements get addressed early, and where Canadian businesses can build the foundations they need to scale with confidence.”
Built for What Comes Next
“Walking through the Hub is where ambition meets architecture,” said Ryan Smyth, President & CEO at OpsGuru. “Leadership teams leave with clarity on what they want to build. We leave with a mandate to build it, and we stay through implementation, iteration, and scale. That end-to-end commitment is what turns a great day at the Hub into real business outcomes.”
"Canada has the talent, the infrastructure, and the ambition to lead in AI," said Bazinet. "The Partner Innovation Hub is where that ambition meets clarity."
Organizations interested in visiting the Partner Innovation Hub can connect with CGI, Dedicatted, Elevata, or OpsGuru, or reach out to their AWS account team to schedule a tailored experience.
