Source Canada returns with dedicated defence and deep tech tracks

Source Canada, the Canadian tech conference geared toward procurement, is returning for its second edition in October with new programming tracks for defence and deep tech companies. 

The news: Event organizers announced on Tuesday that the 2026 Source Canada summit is coming back to Toronto on October 22, a year after its first edition drew 250 attendees, including 70 corporate buyers of Canadian tech. The one-day conference aims to connect government and enterprise buyers with Canadian tech startups through workshops and meetings, to help the latter sell more quickly and easily to Canadian sources. 

This year’s edition is expanding its attendance to over 350 people, and formalizing two content tracks: deep tech—including AI and quantum computing—and defence tech. 

From the source: “Source Canada was born to protect Canada,” founder Raymond Luk told BetaKit in an interview. “How can we be stronger as a nation—technologically, economically? That’s not only drones and missiles and ships, but that’s obviously a part of it, given where the government is going with its spending.” 

Following the thread: Canadian tech companies have traditionally faced long procurement timelines and an unwillingness from government and enterprises to buy Canadian, which was part of why Luk launched Source Canada in the first place. Eliot Pence, the CEO of Dominion Dynamics (which is sponsoring the event’s defence track), has argued Canada must dramatically shorten procurement cycles to keep pace with modern warfare.

Since last summer, the federal government has made policy moves and defence spending commitments that send encouraging signs to the domestic industry. Over the past year, it established the Defence Investment Agency to streamline defence procurement, launched a Buy Canadian policy to prioritize domestic companies, and earmarked more than $80 billion in its last budget for defence and the military.

Final thought: Despite the progress made on the procurement file, barriers remain. At the government level, more than 70 percent of “Buy Canadian” contracts have gone to foreign-owned firms with Canadian subsidiaries, The Logic reported. 

Small startups also have trouble selling to large Canadian corporations, Luk said, with many landing contracts with US companies first. By putting the startups and corporates in the same room, Source Canada wants to change that status quo.

Feature image courtesy Source Canada.