As a member of the Kanata Tech Park, we are often witness to the slogan "Serious Tech Lives Here." The largest such technology park in Canada, it is home to more than 540 companies, who collectively employ almost 28,000 employees - and there is always something exciting going on. As we gear up for another exciting fall in the park, we wanted to celebrate some newsworthy stories from our neighbours.
Carleton University: Our partner in delivering the IP Strategy Certificate program, Carleton will be establishing a satellite campus in Kanata North as part of their commitment to offering talent, research and training directly to Hub350 members to accelerate the ability of companies to innovate and flourish.
In the recently released 2022 University Rankings published by MacLean, Carleton maintained a top 5 overall ranking in the comprehensive category — universities with a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including professional degrees.
Calian: It's been an exciting summer for Calian. In August, the Kanata-based firm took over Nunavut's COVID-19 hotline services, which provides telehealth services addressing the COVID pandemic such as COVID-19 screening, complete contact tracing and provide public health education. In a recent news release, it was announced that the Government of Nunavut has struck a $3 million deal with Calian to keep the hotline running for an additional 3 years.
On October 7, the company announced their third acquisition of 2021 with the purchase of affiliated local tech firms SimFront and SimWave. Calian, whose products and services include rapid COVID testing and antennas for satellite systems will add virtual-reality and training simulation software with the deal that could be worth up to $15-million.
In 2021, Calian worked on projects with Stratford Intellectual Property and Stratford Management Consulting.
KRP Properties: With one of the largest rental portfolios in Kanata, KRP Properties has done remarkably well during the past 18 months, all things considered. Of its 3 million square feet of office space, over 90% is currently leased and the company expects to see an influx of people as the city shifts back to more in-person activities. KRP owns the building at 350 Legget where Hub350 plans to open in the coming month and has been witness to a flurry of activity as the Kanata North Business Association works to unveil the tech hub.
KRP Properties has worked with Stratford on several projects, most recently with our Management Consulting team.
Martello For the second year in a row, Martello ranked on this year's Report on Business list of Top Growing Canadian Companies (put out annually by the Globe & Mail). Moving up 57 spots on the list to #148, the company saw a growth rate of almost 300% between 2017 and 2020. Headquartered in Ottawa, Martello develops digital experience monitoring technology and is partnered with Microsoft’s elite partner program to bring actionable data on the performance and user experience of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365.
Since 2018, Stratford has worked with Martello on several engagements with the Intellectual Property, Management Consulting and People & Culture teams.
ProntoForms: Another client to make the Globe & Mail's list of 2021 Top Growing Canadian Companies, Prontoforms entered this year's list for the first time at #379. With a growing base of over 75,000 active users worldwide, the company offers mobile form automation solutions that makes it easy for remote workers to collect data on a mobile device, access company data in the field, and automatically share the results with back-office systems, cloud services, and people.
A long-time client of Stratford Intellectual Property, ProntoForms has also worked with the team at Stratford People & Culture in 2020.
RBR: Our third client to make this year's list, RBR is another returning name to the Globe & Mail Top Growing Canadian Companies list (in 2019 they ranked on both the Globe & Mail list and Maclean's Growth 500 list). Landing at #401 on the 2021 list, the Kanata company develops water measurement instrumentation.
Since 2019, RBR has worked with Stratford on several projects with our Management Consulting and People & Culture teams.
thinkRF: ThinkRF was recently featured in the Ottawa Business Journal to discuss their partnership with the new uOttawa Kanata North Smart Connected Vehicles Innovation Centre. A leader in software-defined spectrum analysis platforms that monitor, detect and analyze complex waveforms in wireless landscapes, thinkRF has been a long-time client of Stratford's with multiple engagements spanning several years.
Of the partnership, Cliff Ellement, head of AI solutions, says, "Developing strong relationships with research organizations such as universities will be key as we develop new and innovative solutions at the intersection of AI, wireless and security. With 5G as the catalyst, wireless connectivity is increasing across industrial IoT and critical infrastructures, as such new methods to monitor and protect these networks will be required. Working with Dr. Kantarci and his research team will help us to move the innovation yardsticks forward in order to develop and commercialize real-world applications.”
We love celebrating with our clients on their achievements by sharing exciting news. A great way to stay updated on the goings on in the Kanata Tech Park is to follow #HUB350 on your favourite social network. You can find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
With their grand opening scheduled for October 29, 2021, Hub350 describes itself as a brand new ecosystem for industry, academic and finance partners to co-exist and collaborate in the heart of Kanata North. Named in part for its location at 350 Legget Drive, the space is set to be the primary node within Canada’s largest tech park that will emerge as a mixed use innovation district activity centre with ecosystem partners collaborating in this shared space.
The centre will be supported by and connected to three pillars - private sector, finance and academia - in order to connect members of the technology park to a wide range of resources that will support their continued growth. Hub350 will better facilitate introductions for member companies to funding resources, research, and new talent.