New Openings In Canada’s Defence Market

Canada’s defence and security landscape is shifting toward earlier, more collaborative innovation. The federal procurement reset, which includes the new Defence Investment Agency, is sending signals that small ventures and research teams can engage earlier in capability development. Under this approach, the boundary between academic research, emerging startup activity, and government acquisition is beginning to blur. Dual use technologies—those with both civilian and military applications—are becoming a growing focus for researchers exploring areas such as sensing, autonomy, and cyber resilience. Rising spending tied to continental defence and NORAD modernization is also reshaping the market’s timelines. Contracts and pilot programs that once seemed out of reach for early-stage teams are now integrating field demonstrations and flexible testing. For Canadian innovators, this opens questions about readiness: can prototypes developed in a university or private lab reach the maturity needed for 2025 calls? Translational research support and seed funding become central to bridging that gap. At CFIR, initiatives designed to advance research from concept to field trial help teams meet those conditions. By pairing scholarships with infrastructure access and early validation funding, CFIR fosters the scientific groundwork that dual use ventures require before engaging procurement partners. Still, the challenge remains to connect the energy of Canada’s research sector with the structured demands of federal acquisition. If this momentum continues, the next generation of Canadian innovation may find its earliest traction not only in commercial markets but within the evolving frameworks of national security.

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