Canadian innovation is built to move.
From autonomous systems and advanced robotics to artificial intelligence, next-generation connectivity, and smart agriculture, Canadian innovators are developing technologies that could tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our country and the world.
But breakthrough technology is only part of the equation.
Innovation needs opportunities to be seen, tested and understood. Innovators need access to customers, partners, investors and decision-makers who can help move their technologies forward. And the people looking for new solutions need opportunities to experience what Canadian technology can actually do.
That is what GCXpo 2026 is all about.
On September 29, 2026, GCXpo returns to Area X.O in Ottawa, bringing Canadian innovators and companies together with 2,200+ industry leaders, government, investors, researchers, media and ecosystem partners for a day of 100+ live technology demonstrations, discovery and connection.
This year, the spotlight is on two areas with enormous implications for Canada’s future resilience: defence and dual-use innovation, and agriculture and food security.
Why GCXpo 2026 Matters
Questions around defence readiness, economic resilience, food sovereignty and domestic technological capacity are national priorities across Canada. At the same time, rapid advances in AI, autonomy, robotics, sensing, communications and other technologies are creating new possibilities for how Canada responds.
These aren’t isolated conversations.
A technology developed for a farm could have applications in remote or challenging defence environments. Autonomous systems can help farmers operate more efficiently while supporting entirely different missions in defence and public safety. Advances in communications can strengthen connectivity across rural Canada while enabling secure, mission-critical operations.
The lines between sectors are increasingly intersecting.
Canada’s future resilience depends on its ability to build, test, validate, procure and scale critical technologies at home. GCXpo 2026 brings those technologies to life and connects them with the people who can move technology from demonstration to decision.
For 2026, more than 100 Canadian companies are expected to demonstrate technologies at Area X.O, creating an opportunity to experience emerging capabilities firsthand and consider where they could go next.
Connect Across Defence, Dual-Use and Agriculture Innovation
- The Defence & Dual-Use Zone will highlight Canadian capabilities tied to defence, security, and cross-sector applications.
- The Agriculture & Food Security Zone will showcase innovation helping to shape the future of Canadian agriculture and food production.
But some of the most interesting opportunities may exist between them.
- Autonomous systems. Robotics. Sensors. Connectivity. Data. Advanced mobility.
These capabilities don’t belong to one sector.
GCXpo offers attendees the chance to see how technologies can move across applications, how expertise developed in one industry can help address challenges in another and how collaboration can open pathways that may otherwise remain unexplored.
Agriculture & Food Security Zone
Hear keynote speaker Kim McConnell explore why food and agriculture belong at the heart of conversations about Canada’s economic resilience, sovereignty and national security, and what it will take to turn ambition into action.
Then, get closer to the opportunities and challenges influencing how new agricultural technologies reach the people who need them:
- Introducing the FCC AIVA Network: Learn how the Agriculture Innovation, Validation and Adoption Network is using field validation to help de-risk adoption and move proven AgTech toward real farm use.
- A Farmer’s First: Reverse Pitch: Hear directly from farmers about the on-farm problems they want innovators to solve, and what frustrates them about robotics, apps, AI and other emerging technologies.
- Innovation, Regulation & Adoption: Explore what it takes to move promising technologies through validation, regulation and commercialization to real-world adoption.
Defence & Dual-Use Zone
Across the day, conversations will examine the systems, infrastructure, policies, partnerships and evidence required to build, connect, operate, trust, scale and procure emerging defence capabilities.
Get closer to the questions shaping the future of Canadian defence:
- Sovereignty by Design: Examine what Canada needs to build, own and control as defence becomes increasingly dependent on software, data, AI, communications infrastructure and global supply chains.
- Connected in the Contested Edge: Discover how sovereign 5G, resilient networks and secure connectivity can support modern defence operations in disrupted and contested environments.
- Autonomy Under Pressure: Explore what it takes to build autonomous systems that can be trusted to perform in demanding real-world environments.
Who Should Attend GCXpo 2026?
If you’re building technology, looking for technology, investing in it, procuring it, researching it or helping Canadian innovation reach market, there is something to discover at GCXpo.
- For founders and technology companies, it’s an opportunity to identify applications, customers, partners and pathways to growth.
- For government and industry, it’s a chance to discover Canadian capabilities that could help address real operational challenges.
- For investors, it’s an opportunity to see technologies in action and meet the people building them.
- For researchers and ecosystem partners, it’s a place to discover where expertise, infrastructure and collaboration could help accelerate the next breakthrough.
And for anyone interested in the future of Canadian innovation, it’s an opportunity to experience what is being built right now.
See What’s Shaping Canada’s Innovation Economy
You don’t need to arrive at GCXpo looking for a specific technology or business opportunity to find value in attending.
Sometimes, the value is understanding where things are headed.
Canada is strengthening its focus on homegrown innovation, particularly in areas tied to security, sovereignty, resilience and economic growth. Ottawa-Gatineau is simultaneously building its position as Canada’s Defence Innovation Hub, connecting government, industry, academia, investors and innovators while expanding infrastructure and pathways that can help Canadian technologies reach market and support domestic and allied needs.
Agriculture is undergoing its own transformation as producers and innovators explore how automation, data, connectivity and other emerging technologies can support a more productive, resilient and sustainable food system.
GCXpo brings these conversations together in one place.
Discover Where Technology Could Go Next
For innovators, one of the greatest opportunities at GCXpo is exposure to new problems worth solving.
You might arrive as an AI company, a software developer, a telecommunications firm, a robotics startup or an autonomous systems innovator. You may already have an established application and customer base.
But what else could your technology do?
That question matters even more as Canada strengthens its focus on dual-use innovation: technologies that can serve both civilian and defence applications.
A capability developed for commercial operations may have defence applications. Technology designed for agricultural environments may offer value in other remote, autonomous or resource-constrained settings. Software built to analyze one type of data may help solve a challenge in an entirely different sector.
GCXpo brings different technologies, industries, and perspectives into the same environment, creating opportunities for innovators to look beyond the markets they already know.
Get Closer to the People Who Can Move Innovation Forward
Great technology doesn’t reach its full potential in isolation.
It takes customers willing to adopt it. Investors prepared to back it. Government and industry partners that understand where it fits. Researchers and collaborators who can help strengthen it. And pathways that help move promising solutions from development to deployment.
GCXpo brings those pieces of the innovation ecosystem closer together.
Previous editions have connected founders and Canadian companies with potential customers, investors, government decision-makers, partners and collaborators. Those conversations have helped companies explore opportunities, pursue new business and build relationships that extend well beyond the event itself.
For a Canadian innovator, it can mean demonstrating a capability directly to someone searching for a solution. For an investor, it can mean discovering a company or technology with untapped potential. For government and industry, it can mean seeing emerging Canadian capabilities firsthand rather than reading about them in a proposal.
And for everyone attending, it creates opportunities for conversations that might not happen when industries, organizations, and technologies stay in their own lanes.
Be There for What Comes Next
Canadian innovators are developing technologies with the potential to strengthen our industries, economy, security and sovereignty.
The next step is creating the connections and opportunities that help those technologies make an impact.
Come experience live Canadian technology. Meet the innovators behind it. Connect with the people helping move it forward. And discover where the next opportunity could take you.
GCXpo 2026
September 29, 2026 | Area X.O, Ottawa
Get your tickets to GCXpo 2026 and be part of what’s next in Canadian innovation.