Aligning Priorities: A National Summit of Tech Associations Across Canada

Last week, we held the first of what I expect will be a regular get-together of tech associations across the country – to survey the landscape, compare notes and determine if there were common policy items that spanned our respective areas.  It was an extremely well-informed group which consisted of representatives from Toronto (MaRs), Waterloo (Communitech), Ottawa (OCRI), Montreal (AQT), Nova Scotia (Tech South-east) and nationally (ITAC).

Our friends at OCRI were gracious enough to host this gathering at their new offices in Ottawa – an ideal choice of location for policy work – which also provided us with an opportunity to meet with federal officials to share the results of our discussions on Day 2 of the summit.

Going into the sessions, we were all a bit uncertain as to whether the issues faced by tech companies in our respective regions would truly be universal.  Turns out they are.  In fact, we were able to boil down the top 4 priority issues within a fairly short period of time.

Here they are (more or less in priority order):

1. SR&ED.  This remains a key enabler of tech company growth in Canada and a core funding source for start-up companies.  IRAP has been essential for direct R&D support.  Both programs are critical.  
2. Access to Capital.  This is especially pronounced at the Angel and Series A stages. 
3. Access to Talent.  This is essential in fueling the growth of tech companies and requires the streamlining of immigration processes and strategic education programs in STEM.
4. Procurement.  This involves finding innovative ways to promote the home-grown adoption of technology from Canadian tech SMEs

The message was well received by our federal government colleagues – not so much because there was new content, but more because it came from a collective voice of tech associations across the country.

There’s still much to do, but we feel pretty good that we’ve started a platform for more collaboration.  It proves there’s power in numbers.