VITAL will securely connect hospital data to improve health services, accelerate research and support Canadian innovation
Every day, Canada's health system generates data that could help improve care, strengthen health services and accelerate medical innovation. But too often, that data remains fragmented across hospitals, systems and jurisdictions, making it harder for researchers, clinicians and innovators to use it responsibly for the benefit of Canadians.
Today, the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and Maggie Chi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, announced a $100 million investment in the VITAL health data platform.
VITAL is building digital infrastructure for health data using near real-time clinical data from hospitals across Canada. By securely connecting de-identified electronic health data from across different systems, VITAL will create the largest hospital data network in Canada, providing researchers with near real-time access to health data for research and innovation. VITAL will significantly expand Canada's capacity to support cutting-edge research that addresses health care's pressing challenges, and it will support high-impact clinical trials and strengthen Canada's leadership in health data and AI innovation.
This $100 million investment, announced as part of Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All, builds on significant prior federal support for VITAL. Through the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy announced in Budget 2024 and the update provided in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada committed up to $30 million over three years for the initial development of VITAL across three provinces: Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Building on this momentum, in 2025, VITAL secured an additional $24.5 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for a $68 million project to expand participation to rural hospitals, develop clinical trials software and integrate medical imaging data.
Together, these investments will enable VITAL to connect clinical data from more hospitals across Canada, break down data silos and help turn Canadian health data into better care, better services and Canadian-made innovation, while protecting patient privacy.
Quality data is also the foundation for responsible AI in health care. AI applications are already running across multiple provinces for tasks such as predicting heart disease and detecting sepsis. And more than 80 Canadian companies are working with health data and AI to improve triaging, remote monitoring and diagnostics. VITAL gives them a national platform to build on and will allow Canadians across the country to benefit from these innovations.
By investing in secure digital infrastructure and improving access to high-quality health data, Canada is supporting faster research, stronger clinical trials, better informed decision making and innovative tools that improve outcomes for patients.
