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The city ' s innovation agenda provides further evidence of this direction of travel. Ottawa Innovation Week, held 8-12 June 2026, brought together founders, researchers, investors, corporates and community leaders across AI, defence, health, cleantech and other priority areas. Its cross-sector focus reflects the reality that defence and cyber now sit within a wider innovation landscape shaped by artificial intelligence, quantum, communications technology, autonomous systems, digital identity, data resilience and critical infrastructure.
This wider ecosystem is one of Ottawa’ s strongest assets. The city is home to a 96,000-strong tech workforce, more than 1,800 knowledge-based businesses and a globally recognised technology community anchored by Kanata North. International names including Nokia, Ford, Ericsson, Ciena and IBM operate alongside homegrown success stories such as Shopify, Kinaxis, Ross Video, Fullscript and Mitel. For cyber and defence organisers, this means access not just to speakers, but to companies, testbeds, researchers and potential partners who can contribute to programme content and technical visits.
Ottawa’ s academic and research infrastructure deepens that proposition. The city is known for its highly educated workforce, with strong STEM pipelines through the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College and La Cité. The wider research environment includes federal laboratories, the National Research Council and applied innovation assets such as Area X. O, which is helping companies test and commercialise next-generation mobility, communications and autonomous technologies. These are not abstract advantages; they are practical resources for organisers designing conferences around future capability, procurement, digital sovereignty, resilience and dualuse technology.
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The Rogers Centre Ottawa remains central to the city’ s international conference offer, combining large-scale meeting space with a downtown location overlooking the Rideau Canal and close to Parliament Hill, hotels, restaurants, cultural venues and national institutions.
For defence and security events, Ottawa ' s off-site options are particularly relevant, from the Canadian War Museum and Canada Aviation and Space Museum to national cultural institutions capable of hosting receptions, dinners and leadership gatherings with a strong sense of place.
In addition, wider investment is strengthening the delegate experience. More than $ 1.5bn in public and private investment is flowing into Ottawa’ s downtown core, including new hotels, cultural infrastructure, entertainment venues and public realm improvements. Developments such as History Ottawa, the Hard Rock Hotel Ottawa, the AC Marriott Ottawa, the Moxy Ottawa and Ādisōke, the city ' s new central
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Top left: Rogers Centre Credit: Destination Canada
Bottom left: Rogers Centre Credit: Rogers Centre Ottawa
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library and archive, all contribute to a more flexible, vibrant and accessible meetings environment.
International access is improving too. Air Transat ' s new non-stop service between London Gatwick and Ottawa launched in May 2026, adding a third transatlantic connection for the city. It joins Air Canada ' s Ottawa- London Heathrow service and Air France ' s Paris-Charles de Gaulle route, improving access for European delegates, associations and international delegations. For organisers considering Ottawa for global security, cyber or defence meetings, that connectivity reduces friction and strengthens the business case.
Interantional Convention Attraction Fund National tools are supporting the local offering too. Destination Canada ' s International Convention Attraction Fund has become an important lever for Canadian destinations bidding for major international conventions, particularly where events align with priority economic sectors or national objectives. For Ottawa, ICAF support is not simply about winning business; it helps position meetings as platforms for economic development, talent attraction, investment, policy dialogue and international collaboration.
That is why Ottawa’ s defence and cybersecurity story feels so relevant to the global meetings sector. The city offers strong venues, improved airlift and a walkable capital setting, but its real advantage lies in its ability to connect people with purpose. In Ottawa, organisers can bring together government, industry, academia, diplomacy and technology in a city where the conversations taking place on stage are mirrored by the work happening across the region every day.
For conferences in defence, cyber, AI safety and digital resilience, Ottawa is more than a host city. It is a working capital for trusted collaboration. n
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