B) their inherency in context to Canada

The need for a focused approach to grow and support a dynamic national cyber innovation ecosystem in Canada is more urgent than ever. In the 21st century, cybersecurity has emerged as an imperative for national security and nation state competition. As with many technological innovations in history, economic and geopolitical power are at stake in this competition for technological dominance.2 Global technology leadership in the cybersecurity domain has the potential to enhance a country’s global power and security, whereas failure to build national cyber capacity will pose a threat.3 There is also an economic imperative for Canada. Successful commercialization of cybersecurity innovations allows the country to benefit from economic and social gains realized through increased jobs, increased economic activity, and more. Canada’s success has been mixed. Approximately 350 cybersecurity companies have their headquarters in Canada.4 According to Crunchbase, Canada ranked fifth globally in cybersecurity venture capital (VC) funding in 2021 — ahead of several larger economies, including Japan, Germany, France and India.5 Yet, despite this public and private investment in Canadian cybersecurity firms, experts continue to emphasize the country’s struggle to commercialize research innovations, and to grow and scale new companies into national and global champions. Unable to secure investment and find customers in Canada, cybersecurity entrepreneurs are often moving their operations and intellectual property (IP) outside of the country. As one person stated to the Ontario Expert Panel on Intellectual Property, “Canada is the world’s open source factory for ideas. We create it, but let others commercialize it.”6 Evidence from Canada and international peers suggests that building a dynamic and sustainable cybersecurity innovation ecosystem in Canada will be vital to addressing the country’s domestic cybersecurity threats, supporting entrepreneurs to grow successful cyber companies, and positioning the country as a leading cyber actor in the global digital economy. Yet, today, the Canadian cyber innovation ecosystem remains underdeveloped and fragmented, lagging behind those in peer countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. These are limiting opportunities for growth among a burgeoning community of Canadian cyber startups, whose successes are key in meeting both national security and economic goals. Why is that and what can be done? This paper seeks to examine this question by assessing the state of cybersecurity innovation in Canada; exploring cyber innovation approaches and models in other jurisdictions; and identifying an actionable set of opportunities to be taken by players within Canada’s cyber innovation ecosystem to accelerate commercialization.