The CCI Newsletter: February 2026

This edition of The CCI Newsletter was originally shared with CCI’s subscriber community on July 2, 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.

Dear innovator,

At CCI, we often say the fastest way to grow our economy is to figure out what high-value products the world wants and sell them. That’s exactly what our members do, and it’s why they’ve been so successful scaling their companies globally. Still, when I think about what might have been on a January 2026 bingo card, a breakout Canadian television phenomenon wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Yet the global success of Heated Rivalry has done precisely that: Canadian intellectual property, created here, travelling well beyond our borders and finding an audience everywhere.

I also don’t think many January bingo cards anticipated how quickly geopolitics would crowd the agenda this year, with the so-called “Donroe Doctrine” surfacing in Venezuela and Greenland, and Canada suddenly very much in focus. The United States’ 2025 National Security Strategy, released near the end of last year, made its priorities unmistakable. Its emphasis on regional dominance and economic leverage — from tariffs to hemispheric prerogatives — signals not just competition, but a reordering of influence that Canada cannot afford to ignore. As the saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them.

Last month in Davos, Prime Minister Mark Carney described the moment plainly. He spoke of a rupture in the global order, the end of the comfortable assumption that security and prosperity naturally flow from integration. His message was clear: great powers are using economic integration as leverage. Tariffs, financial systems, and supply chains have become tools of coercion. In that world, sovereignty depends on real domestic capacity.

CCI has long been clear that capacity is built through procurement systems that back Canadian firms, industrial policies that grow domestic capability, and frameworks that allow companies to scale and remain Canadian-controlled. In this environment, Canada’s most reliable defence is building world-leading companies at home.

That’s the ground CCI has been working on for the past decade. As I lead the organization into its second decade, that’s what’s on my mind. Our members are navigating these shifts every day, scaling companies, managing IP, building critical systems, and competing globally from a Canadian base. They see where policy works, where it doesn’t, and where Canada risks losing ground.

Our role is to ensure that this practical experience informs decisions as they’re being made, not after the fact, and to help translate Canadian ingenuity into Canadian economic strength. That’s what we mean by building Canadian capacity. Decision-makers in Ottawa and across our provinces need a clear view of what’s at stake in the economic and industrial policy choices before them.

It’s also why CCI has been calling for Canada to re-establish a modern version of the Economic Council we had decades ago — an institution dedicated to independent, applied economic analysis that connects policy to how value is actually created and captured today. Other countries never stepped away from that model. In the United States, major economic and trade decisions are still shaped by structured, ongoing input from domestic industry. CCI’s national network of operators and experts exists to help Canada rebuild that kind of capability, and in a year like this one, that work only becomes more important.

The global environment has become clearer about how power works. Our job, together, is to be just as deliberate about how we build capacity.

On that note, I’m looking forward to continuing these conversations at CEO gatherings we’re hosting across the country this month in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa, and in the virtual sessions of the Innovation Governance Program, which launched its 14th cohort last week.

It's going to be a big year for CCI, and there's never been a better time to consider joining Canada's 21st century business association to be at the table during these important conversations. I’ll do my part to make sure your 2026 bingo card is a winning one.

Speak soon,

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

Quantum Leap: Ottawa has launched the first phase of the Canadian Quantum Champions Program, aimed at supporting Canadian quantum companies as the sector moves from research toward real-world deployment. CCI welcomes investments that help Canadian innovators build at home and scale-up globally. CCI will be looking now for clear milestones, transparent benchmarking, and a focus on outcomes that strengthen domestic capability. CCI will be tracking how this program rolls out and what it delivers for Canada’s broader innovation ecosystem. Learn more here.

Building Sovereign AI Data Centres: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) has opened a competitive intake for proposals to build large-scale, sovereign AI data centres in Canada. The submission window runs until February 15, 2026, and targets projects over 100 MW serving Canadian researchers and industry. Preference goes to proposals with a clear path to completion, Indigenous participation, strong Canadian supply chain commitments, and credible energy and environmental plans. Learn more here.

Buy Canadian Procurement Policy: The federal government has announced new procurement rules intended to prioritize Canadian suppliers and Canadian content in major federal contracts. CCI has long argued that procurement is one of the most direct tools government has to help Canadian firms scale, validate new technologies, and keep more jobs, investment, and intellectual property in Canada. The policy direction is encouraging. The test now is implementation, including a definition of “Canadian supplier” that does not allow foreign multinationals to qualify through branch-plant structures. CCI will continue working with government to ensure the policy delivers real economic value for Canadian innovators.

From Donroe to Davos: In his latest Mooseworks entry, CCI's VP of Policy and Advocacy Laurent Carbonneau points to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s World Economic Forum speech as a clear statement of the moment: economic integration is being weaponized, and sovereignty now depends on real domestic capacity. He argues the Trump Administration’s new National Security Strategy says the quiet part out loud: the U.S. plans to use its tech lead and economic muscle to lock in influence across the Americas. Canada’s response has to match that reality by linking innovation, security, and industrial policy, and backing Canadian, IP-intensive firms with procurement and other concrete levers to scale. Read the post here.

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THE BIG READ

A recent Financial Times article on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the United States highlights a critical, often overlooked point: building physical infrastructure — ports, rail, pipelines — is necessary, but not sufficient. CCI's co-founder and Chairman Jim Balsillie was interviewed for the article and shared his views that the real risk to Canada’s prosperity isn’t just export routes, it’s where value is created today: in data, intellectual property, software and other intangible assets.

Canada can invest in bulk-goods infrastructure and open new markets, but without a concerted strategy to develop and retain ownership of the technologies and ideas that drive global growth, it will continue to lag behind. For innovators and policymakers alike, resilience means building domestic capacity in the intangible economy, and turning that capacity into companies with scale, global reach, and value captured at home, not abroad.

Read the full article here.

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SCALE-UPS TO WATCH

In January, CCI's CEO sat down with Solink Co-Founder and CEO Mike Matta for a new episode of Five Questions. The conversation explored what “physical-world AI” can unlock for operators, how Solink thinks about responsible video intelligence, and why turning camera footage into clear, business-ready signals is becoming a competitive advantage. Watch the full interview here!

We also welcomed several new members to the Council of Canadian Innovators last month:

• BUZZ HPC, led by President and COO Craig Tavares, is a Canadian provider of high-performance computing and AI cloud infrastructure, giving organizations access to large GPU clusters for advanced computing work. Since 2017, the company has built and operated secure, cool-climate data centres across Canada and the Nordics.
  
  
• Mircom, led by President and CEO Mark Falbo, is a Vaughan, Ontario-based designer and manufacturer of building and life safety technology used in homes, hospitals, offices, and industrial sites around the world. Serving customers in more than 100 countries, Mircom builds systems that help building owners protect people and property.
  
  
• AccertaClaim Servicorp, led by President and CEO Peter Owsiany, is a Toronto-based Canadian GovTech company that helps governments deliver public programs more securely and efficiently.
  
  
• Portfolio+, led by Chief Executive Officer Dianne Cupples, is a Canadian financial technology company that helps major financial institutions modernize the core systems they rely on every day. Serving five of Canada’s six largest financial institutions, Portfolio+ supports partners without compromising stability or compliance.
  
  
• Tactable, led by Co-Founder and CEO Philip Liew, is a Toronto-based technology consulting and engineering firm that helps highly regulated organizations modernize the digital systems they depend on every day. Working across financial services, capital markets, retail, and payments, Tactable builds systems that keep security and compliance front and centre.
  
  
• Formic AI, led by Chief Executive Officer Daniel J. Escott, is a Canadian artificial intelligence company helping organizations find reliable information inside their own systems without putting sensitive data at risk. Formic’s platform gives teams clear, traceable results by linking answers back to the original source, making it easier to review and use with confidence.

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

• Cyclic Materials secures US$25-million investment from Canada Growth Fund
  
  
• Float expands its lending capacity to give Canadian businesses faster access to credit
  
  
• Aspect Biosystems enters a new phase of its partnership with Novo Nordisk to develop potentially curative cell therapies for diabetes
  
  
• Jane Software and TextNow join The Globe and Mail’s list of Canadian companies that surpassed US$100M in revenue in 2025
  
  
• Killick Capital founder Mark Dobbin named to the Order of Canada
  
  
• Compugen partners with Toronto venture studio AXL to help customers turn AI opportunities into real, deployable applications
  
  
• VueReal set to license its extensive microLED microdisplay portfolio
  
  

• Vive Crop Protection closes a $10-million funding round to scale precision-chemistry products that help farmers reduce pesticide use while protecting yields
  
  

• AlayaCare CEO Adrian Schauer named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 winner for Eastern Canada
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CCI IN THE NEWS

“We saw a change and shift in tone from the government not only because it was a new form of government with a new prime minister, but also a new economic reality, our major trader trading partner turned a cold shoulder to us.”

– CCI Federal Director Daniel Perry featured in the article "‘Unprecedented’ 2025 for canola industry, with record-breaking economic lobbying" in The Hill Times

“We need more Canadian data centers located here in Canada to properly store our data, and this is an issue of digital sovereignty."

– CCI B.C. Director Kiersten Enemark featured in the article "Missing out on local data centres could cost B.C., industry leaders warn" in Business In Vancouver

"This is sending the absolute wrong message—that’s not substantiated with fact—to leave Canada."

– CCI Co-Founder and Vice-Chair John Ruffolo in the BetaKit article "How a small change to Y Combinator’s terms sent waves through Canadian tech"

“I don’t think it’ll be quick, I don’t think it’ll happen all at once, but I do think we have it in us to do it. We can do hard things.”

– CCI VP of Policy & Advocacy Laurent Carbonneau in the BetaKit article "Canada’s housing supply is in crisis. Can robots help?"

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DISPATCHES

CCI met this month with Finance Minister Brenda Bailey as British Columbia’s Budget 2026 planning accelerates. The discussion focused on what it will take for B.C. companies to build and scale from here — including participation in major projects and in the province’s key resource and industrial sectors.

That same implementation gap is at the centre of a new piece by CCI’s B.C. Director, Kiersten Enemark. While Canada’s 2025 budget put significant funding behind innovation and spoke to productivity, many of the practical execution tools that help firms win customers and grow at home remain underdeveloped. B.C.'s Budget 2026 is a clear opportunity for B.C. to move on what matters: retaining more economic value in-province, getting scale-ups in front of real buyers, and maintaining competitiveness across research, commercialization, and investment.

Kiersten outlines six measures the province can act on now, including using procurement as a structured first-customer pipeline, keeping more intellectual property revenue in B.C. through an Innovation Box, and matching Alberta’s SR&ED credit to ensure B.C. firms are not at a structural disadvantage.

Read the full post here, and have a great start to your month!