Defence Market Access Series
A free, practical guide to entering Canada's defence market – built for Canadian innovators.
Get Dual-Use Ready
Why This Matters Now
Canada’s defence market is opening – and it’s looking for companies like yours. The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), released on Feb 17, 2026, marks a real shift in how Canada will “build, buy, and partner” to strengthen national security, sovereignty, and domestic capacity. It comes with major new investment and an explicit embrace of commercial and dual-use innovation – AI, sensors, quantum technologies, cybersecurity, space, simulation, and autonomous systems.
For dual-use innovators, the window of opportunity is real.
$81.8B
reinvestment in the Canadian Armed Forces (Budget 2025)
70%
target share of defence acquisitions to Canadian firms (DIS, 2026)
92%
of Canada’s defence firms are SMBs (DIS, 2026)
5%
of GDP – defence spending by 2035 (NATO pledge)
What You’ll Get
A straight path through a confusing market.
Canada’s defence market is opening to commercial technology – but the path in is genuinely confusing, and most innovators don’t know where to start. This five-part series is a practical, plain-language walkthrough of how to enter, from people who have actually done it.
No sales pitches, no single vendor’s agenda. The series is pulled together by DIGITAL – a national, non-commercial Global Innovation Cluster with no stake in which path you take – so what you get is an honest map of the landscape.
By the end of the series, you’ll be able to:
- Judge whether your technology has a real defence use case and understand what “defence-ready” actually requires
- Speak the language defence buyers and primes use
- Navigate the funding and procurement maze (from IDEaS and BOREALIS to ITB and sole-source contracts) and approach prime contractors
- Build the partnerships – and protect the IP – that let you scale beyond DND and CAF to NATO and Five Eyes markets
Who it’s for: Canadian SMEs, scale-ups, and founders with commercial technology that could serve defence and national-security needs. Open to all – you don’t need to be a DIGITAL member to attend.
The Webinars
Five sessions, one learning journey. Sessions run June through November 2026 and are recorded, with checklists, guides and presentations shared openly after each one. Registration for each session opens as it’s announced.
How Money Moves in Defence
Working with Primes
Partnerships & IP Protection
Beyond the Webinars
The webinars are open to everyone, and most people will come for the sessions and the openly shared resources. For companies ready to go further, the series can open two more doors:
- Defence Showcases – Active participants may be invited to closed, invitation-only sessions where a small, curated group of companies is introduced directly to defence buyers and prime contractors.
- Workshops – Capstone working sessions, delivered with established defence and ecosystem partners.
Dual-Use in Action
Dual-use isn’t theoretical.
Canadian companies are already adapting commercial technologies for defence and national security missions, including quantum security, health care simulation, subsurface imaging, training, and landmine detection. Here’s what that looks like:
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Quantum
Quantum-Safe Critical Infrastructure ProtectionQuantum Bridge Technologies’ cryptography solution protects critical infrastructure industrial control systems against cyber threats. Dual-use capabilities include Quantum-resilient protection of mission-critical systems in threat environments where quantum and cyber are priority frontier technologies. -
Health
AI Driven Simulations for Experimental Healthcare TrainingLumeto is redefining healthcare training through its advanced AI and extended‑reality clinical simulation platform. The platform incorporates dual‑use defense applications, including force onboarding, maintaining readiness across distributed units, and rapidly disseminating mission‑specific medical protocols across operational environments.
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Mining & Energy
Subsurface Imaging and Intelligence SolutionIdeon Technologies’ powerful subsurface imaging solutions identify and monitor geological features with confidence, saving time, optimizing return, and minimizing environmental impact for companies supplying the world’s critical minerals. Its dual-use potential includes national security, locating and monitoring subterranean structures such as tunnels.
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Artificial Intelligence
Spatial AI CampusOVA.ai offers a secure, no-code platform used by the Royal Canadian Navy and Bombardier to support defence personnel training. From tactical training to crisis response, the platform enables real-time collaboration across geographies.
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Quantum
Optimizing Agricultural OperationsFrom route‑planning software to digital twins of agricultural fields, Verge Ag transforms field operations into structured, actionable intelligence. Dual-use application includes landmine detection, which have cleared over 23,000 farm fields in conflict zones, representing close to 2.6 million acres to date at no cost.
About DIGITAL
Established in 2018 under the Government of Canada’s cluster initiative, DIGITAL convenes this series in it’s role as a national, neutral, and non-commercial body.
DIGITAL connects technology builders and buyers to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of Canadian technology solutions.
Explore our Dual-Use Work