Canadian tech companies are increasingly asking whether products built for commercial use could also serve defence and national security needs.
If the answer is yes, the question becomes ‘where to begin?’
DIGITAL, one of Canada’s five federally funded Global Innovation Clusters, has been fielding that question from founders with increasing frequency. In response, the Vancouver-based organization launched its Defence Market Access Series, a national webinar program designed to help commercial tech companies understand how Canada’s defence ecosystem works.
“If you want to go into the defence market, you’re going to have to be patient, and you’re going to have to think through what it’s going to mean for your organization.”
“It isn’t easy to manage two markets, and the defence market is a demanding one,” said Nadia Shaikh-Naeem, Chief Programs Officer at DIGITAL. “It requires a significant amount of security. It requires a significant amount of capacity within the organization [and] strategic focus.”
The series arrives as Canada directs new attention and investment toward its defence industrial base. The federal government’s renewed focus on defence—chiefly through its $6.6-billion Defence Industrial Strategy—has created an opening for companies working in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity, healthtech, and more. It has also exposed how unfamiliar many commercial tech founders are with this market.
“The webinar series is a culmination of us going out and listening to all of our members, listening to all the questions that they had, and really realizing that there’s a [knowledge] gap,” Shaikh-Naeem added.
Companies enter the sector by selling directly to the government, partnering with a major contractor, or joining a partnership. Each route has its own procurement process, security requirements, integration demands, and timelines. Just obtaining the appropriate security clearance can take 18 months or more, Shaikh-Naeem said, which creates a practical challenge for smaller companies with limited runway.
The sessions covered in DIGITAL’s Defence Market Access Series span procurement, funding, intellectual property, partnerships, working with prime contractors, and learning the culture of the defence industry.
According to DIGITAL Chief Operating Officer Elysa Darling, more than 550 people from across Canada have tuned in so far. She said the goal of the series was to convene a diverse group of domain experts to ensure that builders and buyers are speaking the same language.
“Anytime you’re trying to do something brand new, the path is genuinely confusing,” Darling added. While the webinars go deep on a wide range of topics, she wants founders to walk away with one message: “Persevere.”
Defence is a market with its own culture and expectations. Founders need to understand the role of prime contractors, how procurement programs work, and how policies like the Industrial and Technological Benefits can create openings for suppliers.
“If you want to go into the defence market, you’re going to have to be patient, and you’re going to have to think through what it’s going to mean for your organization,” added Shaikh-Naeem.
When evaluating a potential dual-use project, DIGITAL first considers whether the technology addresses a clearly defined need in a commercial, defence, security, or resilience context. It then looks at technical maturity, commercial validation, scalability, domestic talent, and whether credible partners can help move the technology toward adoption.
“The technology may have an obvious defence relevance, but companies still need to understand procurement requirements,” Darling said. “They need to understand integration challenges, market access, and the realities of working with government or defence customers, which a lot of our companies don’t have.”
