This essay from CCI’s CEO was originally featured in the CCI Newsletter and shared with subscribers on April 1, 2026. To receive our monthly briefing on the scale-ups shaping Canada’s future, the policies that matter, and insights you won’t find anywhere else—subscribe here.
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Hi CEOs,

In my first three months as CEO, I’ve spent much of my time meeting with the builders who make up the Council of Canadian Innovators. In roundtables, on phone calls, and in policy sessions on the Hill with founders, CEOs and policymakers, the conversations have started to converge. Canadian business leaders are no longer organizing around geographic expansion. They are organizing around markets — how they are built, who shapes them, and where they sit within them.

Most of the firms we work with are already global. They sell into the United States, Asia, Europe and beyond, often in markets where Canada has no formal trade advantage. CEOs have told me that entering new jurisdictions is not the constraint. Their focus is on something much more strategic: securing position in the systems that determine how industries evolve and where value ultimately accrues.

That shift is showing up in how companies are making decisions in real time. In a recent discussion in Mississauga with a group of scale-ups and Ontario’s procurement leadership, the conversation turned quickly from access to contracts to how public purchasing decisions influence which technologies become embedded in critical systems. In Montreal, this came up during a policy conversation we convened with healthcare and life sciences companies. In Vancouver, following the provincial budget, CEOs were focused on how capital and policy could help anchor domestic capability in sectors where global competition is intensifying. At a separate session in Toronto focused on dual-use technologies, executives were less concerned with entering defence markets than with how to become part of the infrastructure those markets depend on.

Across these conversations, the objective is consistent. Companies are working to embed their technology in standards that define how systems operate. They are prioritizing early customers that can validate their approach and accelerate adoption across a broader market. They are designing products with the intention of becoming part of infrastructure, rather than remaining at the application layer, where substitution risk is higher and long-term leverage is limited. The goal is to be inside the system that others depend on, not adjacent to it.

The findings from this year’s Great Canadian CEO Survey, which we are releasing today, reinforce this direction. Thirty-nine per cent of respondents identified building a base of customers as their top priority, ahead of access to capital, regulation and talent. This is not a reflection of weak demand or limited pipeline. It reflects a recognition that in many sectors, the first set of customers determines whether a company establishes a durable position within a value chain or remains a replaceable supplier.

In sectors where demand is concentrated and systems determine outcomes, early customer relationships function as more than revenue. They establish credibility, reduce perceived risk for subsequent buyers, and shape how a company’s technology is integrated into broader systems. Once that position is established, it compounds. Companies that are embedded early are better placed to influence standards, attract capital aligned with scale, and expand into adjacent markets as those systems evolve.

The challenge is that public policy has not kept pace with this shift in how markets are formed. Much of Canada’s innovation framework remains oriented toward improving access to markets defined by geography, while companies are focused on shaping markets defined by systems, standards and demand. These are not parallel efforts. They reflect fundamentally different understandings of how economic value is created and captured in modern industries.

Procurement illustrates this gap in practical terms. Acting as a first customer is not simply a purchasing decision. It establishes a reference point that can accelerate adoption, signal credibility to global buyers, and determine whether a company is pulled into a broader value chain. Standards play a similar role. Participation is not a technical exercise; it is a means of shaping the architecture through which technologies are deployed and value is distributed over time.

These dynamics are already influencing how Canadian companies are building, investing and scaling. Decisions about where to anchor operations, where to place capital, and how to structure products are increasingly tied to where firms can secure durable positions within global systems. The question is whether Canada develops the policy tools and institutional focus required to support that approach in a deliberate way.

Without that alignment, Canada will continue to produce companies capable of competing globally, but less likely to shape the markets in which they operate or to capture the full economic value of what they build over time.

Because we are focused on Canada’s long-term prosperity, CCI will continue in the weeks ahead to advance practical strategies grounded in how modern markets are built, ensuring Canadian firms are positioned to capture the full value of what they create.

More to come,

Patrick

Patrick Searle is the Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Canadian Innovators, a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. If you are interested in learning more about the Council or joining our cause, get in touch.
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INNOVATION UPDATES

Canada’s SR&ED overhaul: Major reforms to Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development program take effect today, marking one of the biggest updates to the program in more than a decade. The changes expand eligibility, introduce a simpler application process, and are intended to better reflect how Canadian companies actually grow and invest. After years of advocacy from CCI members, these reforms reflect many of the improvements innovators have long called for. Read more on the changes here.

Healthcare Innovation: This month, CCI published Care at Scale: Public Buying, Data and Better Health Care for Canadians, a practical blueprint to modernize health care delivery by using public procurement more effectively and making health data work for care.

Life Sciences: Health Canada launched a new Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Sector Task Force last week to improve access to innovative medicines and strengthen Canada’s life sciences ecosystem.

Budget Season Highlights: This year’s provincial budgets point in the right direction but fall short on execution. Ontario’s 2026 budget included tax relief, regulatory streamlining, and signals forthcoming strategies on artificial intelligence, data centres, and digital assets, but still lacks a clear plan to help homegrown firms scale, build valuable intangible assets, and strengthen domestic capacity, with a more deliberate Buy Ontario approach tied to real economic value creation notably absent.

Québec’s budget missed the moment more clearly, falling short on artificial intelligence, digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, and innovation procurement, and failing to match its rhetoric on productivity and innovation with a credible strategy to lead in the sectors that will define long-term competitiveness.

Manitoba’s 2026 budget signals the right priorities, including information technology investment, procurement, and artificial intelligence policy, but remains light on detail, with the real test now being whether those signals translate into practical action that gives domestic firms room to grow and ensures more economic value stays in the province.

For more of our perspectives on Canada's innovation ecosystem, visit the updates page on our website.
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THE BIG READ

A new article by Joanna Smith at The Logic looks at why foreign investment into Canada surged in 2025 and what that growth could mean for Canada’s economy over the long term. While Canada attracted $96.8 billion in foreign direct investment last year, the piece notes that nearly half came through mergers and acquisitions, raising questions about where the lasting value of those deals ultimately ends up.

The article also features Claire Wilson, researcher and policy analyst at CCI, who argues that Canada needs to be more selective about the foreign investment it pursues. As she notes, the goal should not simply be attracting capital, but making sure Canada is positioned to retain more value, ownership, and strategic advantage over time.

Read the full article here.
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SCALE-UPS TO WATCH

In March, we welcomed some new members to the Council of Canadian Innovators:

• o1 Quantum, led by President & CEO Andrew Cheung, is a Canadian-owned enterprise cybersecurity company providing post-quantum security for artificial intelligence and digital asset systems. As one of the early providers in this space, 01 Quantum is focused on addressing risks tied to attacks on AI prompts, models and training data as well as blockchain infrastructure.
  
  
• Security Compass, led by CEO Rohit Sethi, helps organizations build secure and compliant software in environments where code is increasingly being written by both human developers and AI agents. Its platform and advisory services bring security requirements, threat modelling, and practical developer training directly into the software development process, helping organizations address risk earlier and build with greater confidence.

CCI members also continued to demonstrate the growth and global leadership Canadian innovators are known for:

• Xanadu has begun trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ exchange.
  
  
• Novari Health is expanding its work with Niagara Health, deploying referral management technology and new AI tools across the region to improve intake, workflows, and access to care.
  
  
• NanoTess has signed a major distribution deal with embecta that will bring its wound care innovation to more than 14,000 pharmacies across Canada.
  
  
• STEMCELL founder Dr. Allen Eaves is featured in a new profile on building Canada’s largest biotech company and helping anchor British Columbia’s growing life sciences sector.
  
  
• BUZZ HPC is expanding its sovereign AI infrastructure through Bell AI Fabric.
  
  
• CNSRV-X CEO Alison Sunstrum wrote in the Toronto Star about how food security is linked to national security.
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CCI IN THE NEWS

“They want to drive investment in the country. Of course, it makes sense. It’s really just being discerning about where we are slotting into value chains in the long term.”

– CCI Policy & Research Analyst Claire Wilson featured in The Logic article "Why Foreign investment has surged in Canada"

“As with any major investment, the details will matter.”

– CCI Director of Federal Affairs Daniel Perry in the BetaKit article "Ottawa gives NRC $900 million for drone innovation hub and defence-focused IRAP stream

“The system needs stronger productivity, better integration, and the ability to deliver care reliably at scale.”

– CCI CEO Patrick Searle the BetaKit article "CCI wants governments to buy more Canadian healthtech"

“Canada’s publicly funded healthcare system is uniquely positioned not only as a service delivery model, but as a platform to grow Canadian companies to global scale. When domestic firms deliver excellence at scale within Canada’s public system, they gain credibility in international markets.”

– CCI featured in the article "Ottawa should leverage helath system to boost homegrown startups, innovation group says" in the Financial Post

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DISPATCHES

In March, CCI’s Prairie Affairs Director Jess Sinclair wrote in the Calgary Herald about Alberta’s new Strategic Procurement Office and what it could mean for the province’s innovation economy.

Her piece argues that procurement should be treated as economic policy, not just administration, and that Alberta now has an opportunity to use public buying power more strategically to support domestic firms, strengthen sovereign capacity, and keep more long-term value rooted in the province.

Read the full piece here.