Canada’s largest technology park unveils global plan to encourage local recovery

Ottawa’s Kanata district has long been considered the tech hub of Canada. Now, the tech park’s local business development association is using that appeal to attract global talent to the more than 540 tech enterprises and startups that call the Kanata North Tech Park home.

The Kanata North Business Association (KNBA), the business development arm of the tech park, is launching its Discover Technata 2.0 talent acquisition platform which consists of virtual career fairs, talent roadshows and a new job board to highlight all the tech opportunities available in Kanata North.

“Kanata North is a globally significant technology innovation cluster and a major contributor to Ontario’s and Ottawa’s respective economies,” said Jamie Petten, President at Kanata North Business Association. “KNBA remains focused on initiatives that will foster innovation within the city of Ottawa. We aim to further position this region as one of the worlds’ leading tech capitals by helping drive the growth of the business area. At the same time, we’re offering greater opportunities to talented professionals from around the world, and giving them a chance to thrive in our innovation center.”

Even with more than 23,000 employees working in the tech park’s businesses that bring upwards of $13 billion to Canada’s GDP, there are still plenty of job opportunities in the park for a number of cutting-edge industries.

Sectors like 5G wireless networking, software-as-a-service, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, cybersecurity, and more are well-represented at Kanata North.

“Canada’s tech companies continue to innovate and grow, even remotely.” — Jason Flick, CEO at You.i TV,

Whether it is up-and-coming startups like Youi.tv, Solace, and Martello, or more established brand name companies like Nokia, Ericsson, and Huawei, businesses are always doing important work at Kanata North. 

Because of the current nature of the world, many of the jobs available in Kanata North are able to be done remotely. And when people do start going back to offices full-time, one of the major perks of the tech park is the lack of commute as more than 50 percent of employees in the park live within five kilometers of their office.

“Canada’s tech companies continue to innovate and grow, even remotely,” said Jason Flick, CEO at You.i TV, one of the emerging startups that calls the Kanata North tech park home. “KNBA has been essential to help companies like ours extend our recruiting reach by attracting tech talent, and seasoned business leaders to help us scale and grow our business.”

Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.