BetaKit Most Ambitious
Why we created BetaKit Most Ambitious.
There is a story we tell ourselves.
It defines us in comparison with other places. It ignores our achievements and underplays our connections. It has a singular definition of success, measured in dollar signs and headcount. It’s about a certain type of country and its ability to produce a certain type of company. It tells us great things aren’t possible here.
Forget that story. It’s time to tell a different one.
Technology is about invention and ideas.
On that front, Canada is the stuff of legend. Our thinking has shaped foundational technologies and birthed whole industries.
Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio developed the conceptual foundations of deep neural networks, making them a critical component of computing that has been passed on to a generation of godchildren leading AI innovation around the globe.
Vitalik Buterin created the decentralized blockchain platform Ethereum after immigrating to Toronto from Russia, finding community and purpose at local crypto meetups.
Tony Zubrzycki was inspired to design the Canadarm while looking at an elastic band wrapped around his fingers.
Canadian invention is not limited by geography or gender.
Gloria Baylis founded a global medical device behemoth from her home office, after retiring as a Montréal nurse. Brenda Milner discovered the brain’s medial temporal lobe and unlocked the secret of long-term memory. Donna Strickland won the Nobel Prize for her work developing laser technology.
Canada is the capital of open-source thinking and world-changing research that has shaped the evolution of technology.
So how does Canadian tech inspire itself to evolve?
We need some reinforcement learning, a theory advanced by Richard Sutton at the University of Alberta. It tells us that intelligence develops by chasing the dopamine of success.
So let’s train ourselves in a language of our collective achievements, and reinforce the efforts of people trying to do more.
There’s no time but the present.
In 2025, Canada is at a crossroads. The global order has shifted, and diplomacy and trade are focused on defence, manufacturing, AI, and superconductors—issues that are synonymous with tech.
Entrepreneurs can play a central role in what happens next. This isn’t just about creating new companies and new wealth. It’s about industry, intellectual property and job creation. It’s about doing things better, faster, and for more people.
Canada has the opportunity to turn its core assets into world-leading strengths.
We can convince young people to stay here and attract great minds from around the world.
To do that, we need people to believe they can build things here. We need to show them it’s true.
This issue contains more than 70 examples of Canadian ambition.
It could have featured many more. From coast to coast, Canadian innovation is a collective effort.
There is no shortage of ambition in this country. But this year’s issue is about companies, founders, and products.
In the pages that follow, each ambition stands on its own. But the stories weave together a narrative of deeper connection and interrelated success.
In Canada, innovation begets innovation. One chapter leads to the next.
That’s a story we’re proud to tell.
BETAKIT’S MOST AMBITIOUS IS PRESENTED BY
