Canada’s new industrial defence strategy is creating opportunities and momentum for collaboration, research, and commercialization.
At eCampusOntario’s event From Campus to Capability: Participate in the Defence Innovation Ecosystem, BHER’s Senior Content Specialist, Sunny Chan joined leaders from across post-secondary education, business, and government to discuss how to build institutional readiness for dual-use research and commercialization. One message stood out: Canada doesn’t need to create new capabilities, we just need to align them.
Participants agreed that there is renewed ambition to prioritize made-in-Canada solutions and to work with Canadian businesses, manufacturers, and post-secondaries first for talent, discovery, and dual-use innovations that improve both Canada’s sovereignty and day to day life.
Many of the insights shared at the event emphasized the case BHER makes in our thought leadership piece, From Spending to Readiness: Why Canada’s defence strategy must also be a talent strategy. Canada already has many of the institutions, companies, and skilled talent needed to support a modern defence sector, but stronger coordination between education, industry, and policy will be essential to deploying that capacity effectively.