Markham Positions as Hub for Ruggedized Defence Tech

Markham is positioning itself as a primary engine for Canada's defence and industrial tech growth, leveraging a concentration of over 1,500 technology companies and 35,400 knowledge workers. According to BetaKit, the city's appeal lies in an ecosystem of advanced manufacturing and engineering talent that allows firms to move from product development to global markets.

Central to this push is the concept of the “intelligent operational edge”—environments like remote mines, oil fields, and defence operations where connectivity is often unreliable or contested. Louis Lambert, CEO of Markham-based Emergent Solutions, notes that these settings require ruggedized hardware and resilient connectivity to ensure AI-driven insights and autonomous systems continue to function when primary communication paths fail.

Emergent Solutions, whose team includes former members of the Markham-based Redline Communications (later acquired by Aviat Networks), develops multi-bearer systems supporting satellite, 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi, UHF broadband, Ethernet, and LoRa. Lambert states that these systems are designed for “dual use,” serving both industrial and defence clients from the outset.

This local hardware push coincides with a massive increase in national spending. BetaKit reports that a new Defence Industrial Strategy is projected to drive approximately $180 billion in procurement investment, $290 billion in defence-related infrastructure, and $125 billion in downstream economic activity over the next ten years. To connect local SMEs with this spending, ventureLAB, a Markham hardware accelerator, co-hosted the “Defence Ready” event on June 25.