Ottawa: A Global Tech Hub

Ottawa is a globally-recognized, innovative and future-ready city, and the best place to learn, work, live, and play.

Area X.O Selected as a NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) Test Centre

NATO Collaboration Will Fuel New Global Opportunity and Impact in Canada’s Capital, a Global Tech Hub

Why Ottawa?

For decades, Ottawa has been a global leader in telecommunications technology. Today, Canada’s capital is one of the hottest and most diverse tech hubs in North America. (*Source: Conference Board of Canada, Q2 2023, **Source: CBRE, 2023)

Ottawa:

  • Has the highest concentration of tech talent in North America at 12.3%, tied with SF Bay Area (CBRE, 2024) 
  • Ranked #2 among North American tech markets for Tech Job Growth Rate (CBRE, 2024) 
  • Has decades of disruptive tech expertise, capabilities and companies
  • Is the most educated city in Canada - 65% have post-secondary education (Stats Canada 2021) 
  • Has a consumer base of nearly 20 million within a 400km radius
  • Ranked second lowest for cost of living among top North American cities  (Global City Ranking from Mercer, 2024)
  • Ranked 1st in Canada and 7th in the world for best work-life balance (KISI, 2022)
Why Ottawa video screenshot
Women enjoying a patio beside parliament hill

Access to Talent


Ottawa has the highest concentration of tech talent in North America at 13.3%. That’s higher than San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Washington and Toronto. Canada also offers a fast and predictable immigration process. In addition, our city is home to top-tier post-secondary institutions including Algonquin College, Carleton University, La Cité and the University of Ottawa that educate as many as 168,000 students with 17% specializing in STEM (28,000+).

News & Updates

The latest news and updates from our global expansion team and Ottawa companies across the sectors we serve.

The Wind River team poses for a team photo with a cheque for charity at an outdoors event.

Ottawa Tech Success Story: Wind River Drives Innovation in Canada’s Capital 

Ottawa is often touted as Canada’s innovation capital because of its vibrant tech ecosystem and the numerous stories of tech companies finding success in this city.   Today, we talk about another company’s success in Ottawa: Wind River, which recently announced the launch of eLxr Pro, its commercial enterprise Linux offering, to address the unique needs […]

Read More… from Ottawa Tech Success Story: Wind River Drives Innovation in Canada’s Capital 

Read More
A decorative design featuring a microchip background and the text, Key sector spotlight: Semiconductor

Ottawa: North America’s Leading Compound Semiconductor Centre

From the very start of every day, our modern lives are impacted by semiconductors. By the time we start the car or hop on the train to work, we have already interacted with devices containing hundreds of these colloquially named Chips. From our cellphones to Starlink, to the Garmin devices we use to call for […]

Read More… from Ottawa: North America’s Leading Compound Semiconductor Centre

Read More

Tech Hub Showdown: Ottawa vs. Washington

Welcome to Part 5 of our Tech Hub Showdown series that compares Ottawa, Ontario, with American tech hotspots Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; and Silicon Valley, California (Bay Area). For our final showdown, Ottawa is stepping into the ring against Washington, DC. Ottawa is home to global tech giants, world renowned research centres, and […]

Read More… from Tech Hub Showdown: Ottawa vs. Washington

Read More

Evaluate Our Market

Ottawa is a globally-recognized, innovative and future-ready city, and the best place to learn, work, live, and play. The following tools highlight data and information on Ottawa’s diversified economy and high quality of life so that you can make informed decisions about investing and growing in Ottawa.

Our Partners