Derek Newton
Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development, Mitacs
In an increasingly unpredictable world, Canada’s defence readiness will depend on how effectively it mobilizes talent across government, industry, and academia.
As the Government of Canada’s newly released Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) recognizes, advances in critical technologies are becoming central to national security. While the country has world-class research institutions and highly skilled talent, the challenge is ensuring that organizations can access and mobilize this talent to translate scientific strength into deployable capability.
Defence capability depends on a strong innovation ecosystem
Canada’s DIS reflects a growing recognition that defence capability today depends on more than traditional procurement. Many of the technologies shaping national security are developed within the broader innovation ecosystem, including universities, research institutes, and technology firms.
The Strategy emphasizes that countries with strong defence industries invest not only in procurement, but in the broader ecosystem that supports innovation and industrial capacity. This includes research and development, the creation and protection of intellectual property, support for small and mid-sized businesses, and the development of a highly skilled workforce.
For Canada, this means strengthening the pathways that connect talent with the sectors where new technologies are developed and applied.
The growing role of dual-use technologies
An important feature of today’s defence landscape is the growing role of dual-use technologies. Fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and quantum technologies now underpin both commercial innovation and defence and security applications.
Canada has strong research institutions and a growing base of innovative companies, but the persistent challenge is translating research excellence into deployable capability at scale.
Canada already has a substantial industrial base operating in these domains. According to the DIS, in 2022 the nearly 600 firms in the defence sector contributed to approximately 81,000 jobs, generating $14.3 billion in revenues and $9.6 billion to GDP. Small and mid-sized businesses account for 92 per cent of firms in the sector and 40 per cent of employment. Many operate in technology areas that serve both civilian and defence markets and rely on partnerships with research institutions and larger firms to refine and scale new capabilities.
While these figures represent a significant and innovation-driven sector, they remain modest relative to the broader Canadian economy. As dual-use technologies become more central to defence capability, the ecosystem can expand as companies developing advanced technologies for commercial markets contribute to defence and security applications, enabled by stronger pathways connecting talent with industry.
“Strengthening the pathways between talent and applied innovation environments will help reinforce Canada’s position as a leading research and technology hub while supporting long-term economic and security priorities,” says Dr. Derek Newton, Senior Vice-President, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development, Mitacs.
Canada’s defence advantage is talent
One organization that has been strengthening these pathways for more than 25 years is Mitacs. A national not-for-profit, Mitacs connects researchers with industry and government partners to support collaborative research and applied innovation across Canada. Through this model, Mitacs helps companies access talent and academic expertise to accelerate research and development, commercialization, and the advancement of new technologies. Between 2018 and 2025, the organization supported more than 99,000 research internships across over 11,000 partner organizations, 86 per cent of which are small businesses, and helped launch more than 35,000 innovation projects.
Many of these collaborations take place in technology domains that are increasingly relevant to defence and security. Mitacs partnerships have connected university researchers with organizations such as MDA, Magellan Aerospace, and Bombardier, supporting work in areas ranging from satellite systems and aerospace engineering to advanced sensing and manufacturing technologies. Additional collaborations with companies such as BlackBerry and Axonal Networks focus on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, illustrating how talent-driven research partnerships can advance technologies that serve both commercial and national security applications.
But beyond individual projects, these collaborations generate measurable economic benefits. According to a Statistics Canada study, companies that partner with Mitacs experience an 11 per cent boost in productivity, a 16 per cent rise in sales, and a 9 per cent increase in revenue over three years. As Canada works to strengthen its defence industrial base and sovereign technology capacity, initiatives that mobilize talent across industry, academia, and government can help ensure that emerging technologies move more efficiently from research environments into real-world capability.
Canada has taken important steps to strengthen its defence industrial strategy and innovation capacity but realizing that ambition will depend on how effectively the country mobilizes its talent.
Organizations such as Mitacs demonstrate how collaboration across academia, industry, and government can connect skilled researchers with companies developing the technologies that underpin modern defence capability,” explains Dr. Newton. “The next step is to build on those models by expanding the mechanisms that allow talent to move quickly between research environments and applied innovation settings,” he concludes.
As dual-use technologies continue to reshape the defence landscape, Canada already possesses the research strength, institutional networks, and industrial partnerships needed to compete, including the capacity to develop defence and security capabilities domestically for Canadian needs. The challenge now is ensuring that talent development and deployment are treated as strategic priorities alongside the technologies themselves. Organizations such as Mitacs can play an important convening role in this evolving landscape, helping connect talent, industry, and government to support Canadian industry and strengthen the partnerships needed for the next phase of sovereign defence.
Learn how Mitacs helps mobilize research talent and partnerships to support Canada’s economic and technological leadership at mitacs.ca.
