As one chapter closes, another opens. On Thursday, March 21st the KNBA celebrated its 2023 Annual General Meeting with special guests, recaps of the year’s biggest news, and the announcement of a new strategic plan.
After extensive organizing and consultation, the Kanata North Business Association has proudly launched ‘Building Together: A Strategic Roadmap to 2030’. This tell-all document takes readers through the Business Association’s strategic pillars, priorities, challenges, and includes a peek at some major developments already in motion behind the scenes.
With over 540 member companies, 33,000 employees (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden), and a robust partnership program via Hub350, the region is living proof: it takes a village. As the successes and accolades begin to stack up, from national attention with the Globe and Mail to programming that drew thousands of new professionals to Kanata North, Canada’s largest tech park is earning its keep as a tech and business tour de force.
On what’s next, Guy Levesque, Interim Executive Director and Board Chair of KNBA states “Looking towards the future, I am most excited to be a part of the modernization of the park to a complete and connected Living Lab Community with mixed uses, next-generation technology solutions and a vibrant culture of collaboration.”
So, how does Kanata North envision its path from 2024 to 2030?
Standing on three pillars: talent, technology, and community.
TALENT
Kanata North strives to engage, attract and retain the best technical and business talent to support innovation that will ripple across the country and the globe. In 2023, Discover Technata programs like the DT Hacks hackathon, DT Unlocked, and the DT Career Fair brought thousands of students to the region to engage with leaders, build networks, and envision their futures in Canada’s largest tech park.
To support the vision of a collaborative innovation community, the KNBA focuses heavily on diversity, inclusion, youth mentorship, mental health, workplace wellness, and grassroots entrepreneurship. Our partnerships with local post-secondary institutions and education centers across the nation, as well as close relationships with the members in the tech park will bolster these growing initiatives through the coming years.
TECH
Famously, Kanata North embodies Canadian technology success and now powers over $13B in Canadian annual GDP. From a storied history beginning with Mitel to the many Fortune 500 companies stationed here today, and countless ‘wins’ for local founders, we’ve understood for decades that serious tech lives in Kanata North. Tech remains a pillar of the Business Association’s work, striving to cement the region as a global destination for research, innovation, business building, and an unbeatably strong partnership ecosystem.
Major initiatives throughout 2023 included the graduation of the second Living Lab Accelerator cohort, a collaboration between Hub350 and L-SPARK to support high-impact tech startups. Also, the deployment of a POD Shuttle Pilot at the Brookstreet Hotel and Drone Pilot at the Marshes Golf Course. Finally, collaborations with other disruptors such as Invest Ottawa, Ottawa Tourism, and the Ottawa Board of Trade continue to expand our mission.
COMMUNITY
As the tech park evolves, the KNBA is keeping community building in mind at a much larger scale. By nurturing and growing relationships with innovation districts across Canada, Kanata North will forge partnerships that strengthen our region and open doors to talent and economic development.
The future vision includes greater community traffic, mixed-use buildings, diverse amenities, and small businesses to enrich life for locals. With a new status rewarded to Kanata North in 2023, the region is now designated as a Special Economic Zone, presenting unique opportunities for the park and its member companies.
The KNBA sees an opportunity to support recent development announcements from Nokia, Ericsson, Dell, main+main, and more. From new research and development campuses to retail and amenity spaces, a more apt question may be: what isn’t in the works for Kanata North? By the end of this 5-year planning cycle, the region aims to be left with a more strongly connected, inclusive, accessible, sustainable, and smart urban hub.
Through modernization, growth, and strategic development, the KNBA is committed to fostering a region that is vibrant, varied, valuable, and will act as a natural magnet for top talent to live, work, play, learn and innovate.
Click here to read the full Strategic Plan. If you have any questions, please reach out to info@kanatanorthba.ca
