About us
The Icebreaker is Canada's defence innovation network, trusted by founders and funders, operators and professionals at DND and the CAF, defence primes and neo-primes, SMB’s, IDEaS, NATO DIANA, and everywhere decisions are made to defend the nation.
Our mission: to make Canada a net exporter of defence technology, by 2030.
How we work:
0600 SITREP: Canada’s first, and most widely-read, defence tech newsletter. Sign up for our weekly morning brief, to cut through the noise and stay in the know
Investor network: In partnership with ONE9, we have founded and co-chair the Canadian Defence Investor Network (CANDIN) — Canada’s first and only private capital network focused on defence and security
Talent development: In partnership with NordSpace, SkyWatch, DMZ Toronto and Build Canada, we launched Canada’s first defence tech hackathon in Fall 2025. In 2026, we have partnered to launch a national hackathon series with $200,000 in prize money
Research & Defence Capability Mapping: In 2025, the Government of Canada asked the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) to build a market map of Canadian companies that can help serve Canada’s defence needs. The Icebreaker formally partnered with CCI to build this database of Canada’s strategic dual-use capabilities. In 2026, The Icebreaker partnered with BDC to conduct Canada’s national defence business census
Transatlantic Defence Innovation Partnership: The European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH) and The Icebreaker have joined forces to accelerate defence innovation, uniting Europe's leading defence innovation network with Canada's foremost defence tech community. Together, we are creating direct pipelines for startups to access operational trials, investor capital, and procurement across the Atlantic
Speaking, networking and events: Join one of our curated defence tech events and community meetups, hosted periodically across Canada, to catch up in-person with VCs, founders, operators, defence primes, and the defence-curious; we’ve also sponsored and moderated lively panels at the Tech for Defence Summit, co-hosted by Invest Ottawa and Communitech, and hosted events jointly with York University
In the news
Why Canada and Ukraine must team up on defence innovation (Kyiv Post, May 2026)
Industry Committee report on Defence Industrial Strategy (Parliament of Canada, April 2026)
Evaluating Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy (BetaKit, April 2026)
“The world has changed”: Canada’s new Defence Industrial Strategy aims to reduce US dependency (BetaKit, February 2026)
Ottawa plans to double defence exports, create 125,000 jobs in next decade (The Globe & Mail, February 2026)
Feds’ $6.6-billion Defence Industrial Strategy takes aim at building a “robust” Canadian defence sector (BetaKit, February 2026)
Fredericton-based defence accelerator set to launch with $1-million in federal funding (The Globe & Mail, February 2026)
Canada opens door to defense capital (Politico, December 2025)
Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy must include procurement pathways for tech (BetaKit, December 2025)
Federal budget 2025: Liberals earmark $6.6-billion to grow defence industry (The Globe & Mail, November 2025)
Budget 2025 hints at full scope of federal government’s defence agenda (BetaKit, November 2025)
Ottawa wants big defence industry champions. That’s a costly mistake (The Globe & Mail, October 2025)
Parliamentary testimony on the defence industrial strategy to the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (October 2025)
Canada, companies need to go beyond buzzwords to innovate dual-use defence tech, panel says (The Globe & Mail, October 2025)
Why Canada’s defence tech sector is suddenly exploding (The BetaKit Podcast, September 2025)
Defence hackathon brings whizzes from across Canada together to solve Arctic surveillance (The Globe & Mail, September 2025)
Hundreds of Canadian companies making ‘dual use’ products useful for defence, survey finds (The Globe & Mail, August 2025)
Building Canada’s defence tech ecosystem (The Hard Part Podcast, August 2025)
Business Brief: Companies gear up for military spending (The Globe & Mail, July 2025)
Canadian tech industry gears up for big boost in defence spending (The Globe & Mail, June 2025)
Advertise with us
The Icebreaker makes advertising features available in the 0600 SITREP, and in support of our other activities, for a limited number of select partners.
Contact us at readtheicebreaker@substack.com for details.
