Why startups, SMEs, universities, and incubators must sit at the centre of Canada’s defence innovation strategy

Large firms remain important, but they must sit alongside a dense ecosystem of agile domestic companies that solve niche technical problems, and scale into trusted suppliers at home and abroad.
David McGuinty
Defence Minister David McGuinty. For defence and sovereignty, the implication is clear: universities and incubators must build not only technical expertise, but also the ability to translate it into national capability, writes Aaron Johnson.

Canada should stop treating sovereignty as a procurement problem and start treating it as a production one. A sovereign country is defined not by what it buys, but rather by what it can design, test, manufacture, adapt, and improve at home.

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