One Voice for Tech in Ottawa

A Call for Greater Collaboration, United Leadership and Collective Action

In the ever-changing landscape of the tech industry, Ottawa has been both a witness to remarkable successes and a victim of disheartening losses. Since 2000, we have seen many publicly traded tech companies in the region acquired, privatized, or lost – almost 40 companies. This month’s speaker characterizes the effect as a “significant hollowing out,” and suggests this trend should raise questions about the state of local tech entrepreneurship, the city’s ability to retain existing companies (as they scale globally), and its capacity to attract new talent.

Over the years there has been an on-going discussion amongst many different voices on how Ottawa should be better unified in its voice for the tech sector. One such voice is Sacha Gera, CEO of JSI who is calling for greater collaboration, united leadership, and collective action to help Ottawa reclaim its former tech glory.

With multiple successful years of business and tech experience in both start-ups and multinationals, Sacha has held leadership roles at Ribbon Communications, IBM, Nortel, Kandy.io and most recently with Calian, a Kanata-based global success story. New in the role as leader of JSI, a leading provider of lawful intelligence and AI-enabled analytics solutions, Sacha has been rallying several important community leaders to examine the issues that have led to this concerning situation. From the state of downtown in the post-pandemic world, coupled with the lack of transborder and international connectivity to our airport – all are hampering the attractiveness of the National Capital Region to retain and attract talent.

Join us for what should be both a frank and inspiring discussion on how to harness our collective creativity, influence, and efforts to ensure we unify our voice for tech and drive a cohesive story to advocate for the growth and prosperity for our tech community in Ottawa.