Software

Where local ideas lead to global impact

Ottawa is a top destination for global innovation and technology talent. That is why the world’s top software companies are already here. Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and IBM all have a presence in our city and the list of new arrivals keeps growing.

Our city is also home to Canada’s highest valued tech company – Shopify. What started in Ottawa as an online snowboard store over a decade ago is now the go-to ecommerce solution for over 1,700,000
businesses in 175 countries.

Not to be overlooked, we have plenty more software successes who have been here since day one. Blackberry QNX, You.i TV, Martello Technologies and Kinaxis are homegrown trailblazers whose software you’ll find in everything from luxury SUVs to cable top boxes. Our city’s high quality of life, competitive business costs and top tech talent are just some of the reasons these innovative companies continue to call Ottawa home despite their global growth.

Why Ottawa is the best place for software leaders:

    • Ottawa has the highest concentration of tech talent (as a percentage of a city’s total employment) in North America at 13.3 percent (CBRE 2023)
    • The NRC’s Data Analytics Centre has a team of 35+ machine learning experts working on algorithms to address the data analytics needs of industrial and scientific clients
    • IBM officially introduced a Machine Learning Hub to Ottawa in Spring 2020 — one of six in the world — to support start-ups and scaling companies
    • Sector ecosystem is supported by L-Spark, Canada’s only SaaS-based accelerator

Software Companies in Ottawa

From multinational giants to homegrown successes, Ottawa is a centre of business growth within the domestic and global economy. It is an ideal location for innovation, entrepreneurship, business expansion and commercial success.

Fact Sheet

Take a closer look at Ottawa's vibrant software sector which features highly skilled software professionals and world-class R&D capability.

Examples of Ottawa Software Brilliance

These companies are taking advantage of Ottawa's world-class environment for leading-edge products, technologies and innovations.

BlackBerry QNX

BlackBerry QNX, a leading supplier of safe, secure, and trusted operating systems, development tools, and professional services for connected embedded systems. Global leaders such as Ford, Audi, Cisco, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and Siemens depend on BlackBerry QNX technologies for their next generation of secure vehicle software platforms, network routers, medical devices, industrial automation systems, security and defence systems, and other mission and/or life-critical applications. This includes full software lifecycle management via secure over the air software updates. Founded in 1980, BlackBerry QNX is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with its products distributed in over 100 countries worldwide. In order to harness Ottawa’s R&D expertise, Blackberry’s QNX established its Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC) locally.

Shopify

Started as a platform to sell snowboards, Shopify has emerged as one of the most exciting global players in the SaaS space, with its cloud based e-commerce platform. The growth of Shopify has kicked off a revolution in online retail, disrupting conventional bricks and mortar, and redefining the online store – making it possible for anyone to launch in a single day! Currently Shopify serves in excess of 377,500 businesses in about 150 countries, and is one of Canada’s top R&D spenders.

Momentive

Adopting the parent company name Momentive in 2021, SurveyMonkey launched its presence in Ottawa in 2014 with the acquisition of the highly successful startup FluidSurveys. Since that time, the company has grown its Ottawa engineering and development team, building out is famous solutions in experience management, including brand-market insights, product and employee journeys and online survey development.

Our Partners

We’re Here to Help

Connect with our Software Sector Expert to discover how we can help you establish and grow your business in Ottawa.