AeroWR and the Accelerator Centre welcomed over 500 attendees to the first Waterloo Region Aero Expo on Wednesday, September 16th at Catalyst 137 in Kitchener. The event featured nearly 40 companies who are building the future of aerospace, defence, and dual-use technologies. The exhibitors included companies working in autonomous aviation and marine vehicles, advanced manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence, sensing, automation, and other cutting-edge technologies.
The event was made possible thanks to new provincial funding for AeroWR to help identify market gaps, diversify export markets, strengthen local manufacturing, and position Waterloo Region as a globally competitive hub for aerospace and investment.
“AeroWR is a collaborative effort that connects industry, academic institutions, and government partners to support business growth, talent development, supply chain connections, and investment in the region,” said Laura Philippe, Manager, Business & Industrial Development at Region of Waterloo International Airport. “The event reflects the momentum building in this sector and the strength of the partnerships behind it.”
The expo took place during Waterloo Tech Week, a student-run tech festival that included events focused on networking, hackathons, funding, and showcasing the builders across Waterloo Region.
While this is the Aero Expo’s first year, Waterloo Region’s aerospace ecosystem has been around for over three decades. Pioneers like Dalsa, Raytheon Canada, and COM DEV laid the foundation for the sector’s growth into unmanned autonomous vehicles, satellite systems, and aviation.
Today, companies like Avidrone Aerospace, ENVGO, and Skywise are continuing the region’s strong tradition of building the future of aerospace and related technologies. Accelerator Centre CEO Ruth Casselman noted that the Aero Expo was also an opportunity to put the spotlight on the region’s defense and dual-use companies.
“Companies like Teledyne FLIR (formerly Aeryon Labs) were doing defence work in Waterloo well before today. BlackBerry was doing defence work in Waterloo before that, too. We have decades of experience in defence technology in Waterloo Region, and now we’re working together as a group to grow our ability to collaborate,” Casselman said.
Many of the exhibitors included graduates of the Aerospace Accelerator program. The program, which is run in partnership between AeroWR, the Accelerator Centre, the Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF), and Skywise, started in 2023 as a pilot project. At the expo, Casselman announced the ten companies joining the program for its third cohort starting this fall, including AeroGalactica, Forward Robotics Inc., and Stratodynamics.
“Our aerospace journey started back in 2023, when we worked with the Region of Waterloo and AeroWR to set up the first aerospace accelerator in Canada. Over time, this pilot has turned into so much more, and a lot of that is in this room today,” Casselman said.
Expanding from aerospace to defense and dual-use
The success of the program led to a new question—how to bring more attention to the talent and innovation that already exists here. Casselman recalled how more and more founders were coming to the Accelerator Centre team with questions on how to navigate the defence ecosystem.
“We started with eight companies in Waterloo Region doing work in technology and defence. As of today, we have 65 companies doing work in aerospace and defence in Waterloo Region, and they’re working together to grow our collective capabilities,” she said.
Karen Redman, Chair of Waterloo Region, said that aerospace, defence, and dual-use industries represent an important opportunity for the Region of Waterloo both locally and nationally.
“We build on capabilities already thriving here. A strong, advanced manufacturing base, leading research institutions, and skilled talent in companies developing solutions to complex challenges. These strengths are increasingly relevant to the future of aerospace, defence, and dual-use technology supply chains. These sectors support high-value jobs and investment, and they also strengthen Canada’s economic resilience and our capacity to develop and produce critical technologies here at home,” she said.
The Region of Waterloo International Airport is owned and operated by the region and is a unique asset for the area’s growing aerospace ecosystem.
“As the airport continues to grow, it represents a strategic asset for our community, supporting connectivity, aviation activity, business investment, and future opportunities for aerospace and innovation,” Redman added.
Cambridge MPP Brian Riddell spoke to the crowd about the sector’s impact on the local and national economies. He pointed out that advanced manufacturing employs more than 25,000 people across 200 companies and supports nearly 24,000 additional indirect jobs in the province. Additionally, the province’s defence sector includes over 300 companies, employing more than 13,000 people and generates over $5 billion in annual revenue.
“This is about more than just one industry. It’s about jobs. It’s about economic security. It’s about national security. And it’s about making sure Ontario has the manufacturing strength, technology, and skilled workforce we need to compete in a changing world,” said Riddell.
New opportunities take flight
Aero Expo was also a chance for companies and attendees to learn more about what’s happening across the ecosystem. Francis Yao, a University of Waterloo graduate student and member of the Waterloo Rocketry team was there to talk about the team’s recent world-record launch of a liquid rocket to 63,497 feet.
“This is really great because we’re purely focused on the rocket space. We don’t get a good grasp of what’s going on in the wider industry until we come to events like this. It’s great to see what else is out there, what other opportunities exist beyond rocketry, what other people are doing, and what they’re providing,” Yao said.
Exhibitor ENVGO might have seemed out of place at the Aero Expo, but the electrified boat company has been making waves in dual-use cases, including inspection and defense. Paul Masojc, the company’s co-founder and COO said the number of defence companies in Waterloo Region is “mind-blowing” and has opened new opportunities for the company.
“Since we’re the only marine-based company in the region, it actually helps us build partnerships with other companies. A lot of robotics companies like to team up — whether that’s aerial drones plus marine drones plus ground robotics — so we’re a natural fit for a lot of these partnerships,” Masojc said.
Airbus-owned Skywise was another one of the exhibitors at Aero Expo. The company has been part of the region’s aerospace sector for years, first as NavTech in the early 1980s. The company was acquired by Airbus in 2016, named NAVBLUE, and merged with another acquisition to become Skywise earlier this year. Dana Teschke, program director for Skywise, said the Aero Expo is an important initiative to bring more attention to the region’s aerospace sector.
“A lot of people believe there’s really just one aerospace company. There are so many more. It’s a really exciting time in the sector, and until I was in it, I didn’t realize the scale of it,” she said.
Smooth skies ahead
The new funding from the Government of Ontario is helping AeroWR expand its mission.
“That infusion of money is really going to allow us to fly — pun intended. We’ve got a big sector study underway that’s going to help identify some of the gaps, so we can focus our programming on filling them locally,” Philippe said.
AeroWR is hosting an industry roundtable in December with more than 40 members attending, and they’re ready to support the next cohort of the Aerospace Accelerator to continue supporting the industry’s growth.
“We just want to get really loud about aerospace in Waterloo Region and let everyone know we’re here and we’re a force to be reckoned with,” she said. “We’ve got all the right ingredients: talent, post-secondary institutions, partnerships, the airport, and manufacturing. We’ve got it all here, and we’ve got land available to support companies that want to come here, invest, and help us expand the sector.”
