As Canada’s geomatics and Earth Observation leaders gathered in Calgary for the C-Suite Panel at GoGeomatics Expo 2025, the timing couldn’t have been more fitting. The session had been planned around a clear signal from Ottawa — the government’s plan to dedicate 5% of GDP to defence, including a historic 1.5% for the critical infrastructure systems that keep the country running.

While the panel was debating national preparedness in Calgary, Canada’s federal Budget 2025 was being unveiled in Ottawa. It would later be revealed that the federal plan centred on sovereignty, infrastructure, and digital capacity as the drivers of Canada’s next stage of growth. 

The conversation on stage had already moved in that direction — toward the systems, data, and industries that keep the country running but rarely make headlines. The tone was open and thoughtful, at times frustrated, but mostly hopeful that this moment might finally bring the kind of follow-through Canada’s geomatics community has been waiting for.

Procurement: Unlocking Innovation at Home

Wade Larson, Senior Vice President, EarthDaily, opened the discussion on a familiar note about innovation and competitiveness in Canada: “We have world-class capability, but our systems haven’t always made it easy for innovation to take root at home. That needs to change.”

The comment resonated quickly. Canada’s geospatial industry has no shortage of talent or ambition, yet systemic hurdles, from procurement practices to workforce gaps, still limit how that expertise translates into homegrown success.

Nowhere is that tension sharper than in procurement. Many of Canada’s most advanced technologies, including satellite programs built here at home, have depended on foreign investment. The success of those projects demonstrates that Canadian innovation can compete on the world stage, yet also highlights how challenging it remains to find backing at home.

Wyvern’s Chief Product Officer Kurtis Broda gave the examples the WildFireSat mission that awarded no major contracts to Canadian firms. “It was a missed opportunity to strengthen sovereign capability,” he said.

Larson contrasted this with the U.S., where the government tends to support its innovators early by acting as an anchor customer to buy from domestic startups and help them grow. Those first contracts might be modest, but they give young companies something invaluable: credibility, a steady client, and the confidence to attract private investors. In Canada, public procurement has rarely played that role. “We’ve built a system where 400,000 civil servants build careers around not making mistakes.” That risk aversion, Larson warned, is as much an obstacle to productivity as any regulation.

GeoVerra’s Chief Operating Officer Ashley Robertson described similar challenges in infrastructure delivery, where increasingly complex procurement models make it harder for firms to innovate.

However, new initiatives such as the Defence Investment Agency and the Buy Canadian policy are seen as early steps to reconnect public spending with domestic capability.

BigGeo Chief Executive Officer Brent Lane added that the industry also shares responsibility: “We talk about technology, but not enough about the outcomes it enables.”

The takeaway was hard to miss: if Canada wants to compete globally, procurement has to move beyond gatekeeping and start driving growth, linking innovation, investment, and real outcomes.

From Physical to Digital Infrastructure

That shift is especially critical as Canada’s concept of nation-building evolves beyond roads and pipelines to the digital systems that underpin everything. The panel agreed that while the country has always excelled at building physical infrastructure, the next step is building the data infrastructure that makes those assets smarter and more resilient.

Larson pointed to EarthDaily’s new ten-satellite constellation now under construction, a next-generation change-detection Earth Observation system designed to set a new standard for global monitoring.

Lane saw that opportunity as part of a larger economic transformation. With the right investment in digital infrastructure, he argued, Canada could link its strengths in energy and data to power a next-generation spatial analytics economy worth hundreds of billions globally.

Robertson noted that such progress also depends on efficiency and interoperability, which means using larger, integrated datasets to deliver infrastructure that performs better across its lifecycle.

Together, their perspectives described a future where geospatial and digital infrastructure are not background utilities but central drivers of national competitiveness.

Workforce: The Global Pull and the National Pipeline

If procurement and policy form the structure of that future, the workforce is its foundation. Here, the tone turned introspective. Larson spoke about the gravitational pull of the U.S. economy, where the space and technology markets dwarf Canada’s. “The U.S. space market exerts enormous pressure on Canadian firms and talent alike. We can’t always compete on compensation, but we can compete on purpose.”

For this purpose, many companies aim to address problems that matter, ranging from food security to climate resilience. Even so, Larson cautioned that Canada’s immigration and innovation policies must stay open enough to attract and retain global talent rather than constrain it.

Robertson observed the workforce has long moved in cycles — a shortage one year, a surplus the next. Breaking that pattern, she said, depends on steady commitment: universities that keep programs running through the lulls and companies that stay connected to training. Trimble’s support for a University of Calgary lab is one example, giving students access to current tools and methods. But technology isn’t the whole story. What really builds capacity, she said, is mentoring and field experience.

Lane pointed to outdated career structures. Many geospatial professionals now perform AI-level work under job titles and salary bands that have remained unchanged for years. Updating those classifications and the pay that accompanies them would help retain skilled individuals in the field. 

Broda added that Canada also lacks mid-stage management talent — leaders who have scaled companies from a few dozen to a few hundred employees. Without that layer, startups struggle to grow into true global players.

Collaboration as a Competitive Advantage

Near the end of the session, Prashant Shukle, former head of the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, brought the room back to a simple idea: collaboration. True progress, he argued, will come when Canada’s geomatics and Earth Observation sectors start building together as confidently as they compete. 

American firms, Shukle noted, compete fiercely but still rally behind a shared national agenda — an ‘American flag’ — for innovation. Canada, he argued, needs to build “a coalition of the willing”, a network of companies and institutions prepared to collaborate on a shared national agenda.

The panel agreed. Many Canadian companies have had to look abroad for capital and customers. That global reach is an asset, but it also highlights the significant potential that remains untapped at home. 

Larson pointed to the 1990s in the U.S., when the creation of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency gave rise to an entirely new industry: geospatial intelligence. Within a few years, an idea that barely existed had drawn in thousands of companies and professionals. “That kind of alignment and persistence is something we should emulate,” he said.

The conversation ended where it began — with cautious optimism. Canada’s geospatial sector has the depth and capability to meet the nation’s infrastructure and climate goals. What remains is alignment: between policy and procurement, innovation and investment, as well as between the public and private sectors.

As Budget 2025 reminded everyone that same afternoon, sovereignty and competitiveness now depend on the same foundation — the ability to build, measure, and manage Canada’s digital and physical systems together.

(The author is an employee of EarthDaily Analytics Corp.; however, the material is written in an individual or outside capacity. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of EarthDaily Analytics Corp. or its affiliates.)