Canada’s capital has been a major technology hub for decades. Now, a new multipurpose coworking and meeting space in the city’s Kanata North Technology Park offers an ideal place for tech organizations to host meetings, events, and conferences close to accommodations, shopping, restaurants and entertainment.
A tech-dense city
When people think of tech cities, San Francisco is often top of mind. But Ottawa actually has a higher concentration of technology talent, with 11.6 percent of its total employment focused in tech compared with 10.9 percent in San Francisco (CBRE 2021). That’s nearly 77,000 technology professionals working in Ottawa, many in one of the city’s 65 federal research labs. Numerous multinational tech firms like Amazon, Nokia, Ericsson, IBM, Cisco, and Adobe operate in Ottawa alongside homegrown stars such as Shopify, Kinaxis, You.i TV, Klipfolio, Lixar and Mitel.
Located in a suburb 25 minutes west of downtown Ottawa, the Kanata North Technology Park is home to more than 540 companies and over 28,000 workers. The area was designated as a special economic district in Ottawa’s official plan, so zoning and planning rules allow for future residential units to be built inside the technology park, offering the potential for walkable neighbourhoods where people can work, live, eat, and play.
Hub350: At the centre of it all
In fall 2021, Hub350 opened at 350 Legget Drive in the Kanata North Business Park—fittingly, the former headquarters of Mitel, a founding member of Ottawa’s tech industry. Hub350 offers 12,000 square feet of “living lab” collaboration space, including open-concept meeting rooms, offices, telephone booths, lounges and seating areas for casual conversations and networking, hotdesking areas, and auditoriums, with a fully equipped media studio due to open in summer 2022.
The aim of the Hub is to create a connected innovation community. To that end, both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University are anchor partners in Hub350 and have launched satellite campuses there. Other anchor partners include TELUS, RBC, Salesforce, Algonquin College and Queen’s University.
“We want this to be a community town hall for our technology park, but also have it open to the wider community, whether that be Ottawa or the nation,” says Julia Frame, Director of Partnerships for the Kanata North Business Association, which oversees Hub350. They also have a dedicated director of programs who works with event planners.
Hub350 has already hosted mentor and alumni networking events, federal government roundtables and breakfasts, Executive Tuesdays, pitchfests and conferences. Partners and visiting organizations can leverage multiple marketing channels such as Hub350’s newsletters, social media channels, and the Kanata Networker digital news publication to drive traffic to the space and promote their events.
Just minutes from Hub350, you’ll find great local food and beverage options like the Calabogie Brewing Company microbrewery and French bakery La Maison du Kouign-Amann. The upscale Brookstreet Ottawa hotel and The Marshes golf course are also down the street, while the Canadian Tire Centre is just a 10-minute drive away, with a full schedule of NHL hockey games, concerts and other live events throughout the year.
Learn more about Why you should host your tech event in Ottawa.
