On Monday, Invest Ottawa welcomed the Hon. Stephen Crawford, Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement and members of the provincial government and Supply Ontario to Bayview Yards for a visit centred on founder-led innovation and opportunities for Ontario-based and domestic companies.

The visit brought together representatives for a tour of Bayview Yards, followed by a roundtable discussion with Ottawa-based founders, focusing on procurement, collaboration, and how innovative companies can experience opportunities to grow and scale in Ontario.

Earlier in the day, the Minister and his team started the afternoon with a visit to Area X.O, where they had a chance to tour the advanced facilities available to companies across the region’s diverse ecosystem, from defence to robotics and communications, and see first-hand the innovation that’s made possible with access to testing, validation, and collaborative environments.

Together, these spaces reflect the breadth of infrastructure supporting founders in Ottawa, from early collaboration to real-world application.

Bayview Yards as a Hub for Founder Collaboration

The visit to Bayview Yards highlighted the role the facility plays as a truly collaborative innovation hub where founders, partners, and ecosystem organizations come together – giving founders access to shared space, programming, and a connected community that supports learning, collaboration, and growth.

As Invest Ottawa President & CEO Sonya Shorey led the tour through the building, she explained that the building is a convening space, designed to bring people together, whether for workshops, events, programs to help them grow and scale, or conversations that help founders navigate the next stages of their journey.

She emphasized what makes Bayview Yards the heartbeat of Ottawa innovation.

“It’s not the physical structure that’s important, it’s what happens inside of it,” she said. “The energy, the entrepreneurship, the innovation and collaboration.”

From Tour to Roundtable: A Conversation on Procurement

Following the tour of Bayview Yards, the founders gathered for a roundtable discussion with representatives from the Ontario government to explore procurement opportunities for Ontario and domestic companies.

The roundtable discussion took place within the context of Ontario’s evolving procurement landscape, including recent efforts under The Buy Ontario Act (Bill 72) to strengthen opportunities for Ontario and Canadian companies.

The conversation focused on how founders experience procurement in practice, and where greater clarity, accessibility, and alignment can help innovative domestic companies compete and grow. In short, it was an opportunity to explore what the future of procurement looks like in Ontario, and what the recently passed act might mean.

Participating founders joined in the discussion from LearnExperts, Constant Health, Invicton Labs, SMATs Traffic Solutions, Stratosfy, Mylaminin, Quantropi, TryCycle, and Growcer, reflecting the diversity and strength of Ottawa’s innovation ecosystem across sectors and growth stages.

The discussion centred on real-world experiences, from navigating growth and scaling solutions to understanding how procurement pathways can better support innovative Ontario companies.

During the discussions, Minister Crawford took the opportunity to shine the spotlight on the unique strengths of Ontario from manufacturing to mining, and a tech sector that’s “second to none” – highlighting the 440,000 tech workers in the province.

He also pointed out the strong financial services industry in the province and addressed the province as a world leader in the energy sector.

“As a province, I think we’re in one of the unique jurisdictions in the entire world,” he said. “I don’t think there’s another jurisdiction in the world that has the spokes on the wheel that we have.”

“We’ve got incredible ingredients,” he added. “What is going to be critical is our province and our country uniting, coming together, bringing the brilliant minds together, because we have the raw ingredients to make great success. I’m excited and optimistic. There’s going to be some bumps along the way, but we want to work together with you, the entrepreneurs of this great province, and see how we can collaborate.”

Supporting Founders Through the Regional Innovation Centres Program

The visit also reinforced the importance of the Regional Innovation Centres (RIC) program in supporting entrepreneurs across Ontario.

As one of the province’s RICs, Invest Ottawa works closely with founders to provide access to advisory support, facilities, and connections that enable sustainable growth. RICs play a critical role in helping companies grow where they are founded, supporting job creation and long-term economic impact in communities across the province.

Looking Ahead

Invest Ottawa proudly supports and enables founder-led innovation by providing the spaces, programs, and connections that help companies succeed. Visits like this underscore the value of collaboration, strong infrastructure, and open dialogue in building a resilient and competitive innovation ecosystem.

We look forward to continuing this work alongside founders, funders, partners, and government, and to supporting the companies shaping the future of innovation in Ottawa and across Ontario.

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• Learn about the programs we provide to founders at all stages of the business cycle, from idea to start-up established: Programs and Services