Buying innovation: How public procurement can help Ontario companies grow
Ontario companies are developing innovative technologies and valuable intellectual property (IP). But realizing their economic potential depends on what happens next: finding customers, demonstrating value and building the track record needed to scale.
Public procurement can play an important role in creating those opportunities.
On October 1, 2026, Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON) brought together experts from government, industry and Ontario’s innovation ecosystem to explore how procurement can help Ontario capture greater economic value from its innovation, talent and IP.
The discussion, moderated by Elliot Fung, Vice-Chair of IPON’s Board of Directors, included Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, the Honourable Stephen Crawford, and leaders from Supply Ontario, the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), FACIT, NuanceEdge and IPON.
Minister Crawford highlighted the opportunity for strategic procurement to help homegrown companies turn their ideas into opportunities, grow in Ontario and ensure more of the value created in the province stays here.
At the heart of the conversation was an opportunity to build on the strengths of Ontario's innovation ecosystem and work together to support the growth and adoption of homegrown solutions.
Procurement as a pathway to growth
For an innovative company, developing a solution is only part of the commercialization journey. Finding customers willing to adopt it can be just as critical.
Participants discussed the role government can play as an early customer, giving promising Ontario companies opportunities to demonstrate adoption, establish reference customers and build the track record needed to grow.
One participant summed it up this way:
“We need to treat procurement as an economic development and commercialization tool.”
That shift in thinking could mean looking at the problem government needs to solve, the outcomes it wants to achieve and the broader economic value a procurement opportunity can create.
Participants also explored approaches to innovation procurement and the importance of building the capacity needed to put them into practice.
Making procurement more accessible to innovators
For smaller and growing companies, navigating public procurement is often a new business experience, whereas larger, multinational firms have specialized personnel dedicated to handling the procurement process.
For an early-stage company operating with limited capital and resources, time matters.
The discussion also reinforced that innovators and buyers often approach the same opportunity from different angles. Innovators can be understandably focused on the technology or solution they have created, while a potential government customer needs to understand the value it will deliver.
Earlier visibility into the problems government is trying to solve, along with clear evaluation criteria, could help companies understand where their solutions fit and better articulate their potential impact on outcomes, efficiency, quality and value.
Education can help too. One opportunity identified for IPON is to explore how procurement education could better prepare IPON-supported companies to navigate government processes and articulate the value of their innovations.
Where IP fits in
Intellectual property brings another important dimension to the procurement conversation.
Participants discussed how IP can be considered alongside innovation and Ontario economic benefit in procurement evaluation. But the discussion went beyond the question of where IP is created or even who owns it.
For companies in capital-intensive sectors, growth can require significant outside investment. The more fundamental question is how Ontario can continue to capture economic value from successful companies and their IP as they scale and attract that investment.
The conversation also challenged participants to think beyond where IP is created:
“It’s not just about IP staying, it’s about what can you do to capture value that stays.”
A strong IP strategy is connected to a company’s broader business and commercialization strategy: how its assets create value, enable growth and ultimately generate benefits from the innovation developed here.
Bringing expertise together
The scale and complexity of public procurement means there is no single solution. But there is significant expertise across Ontario that can contribute. As the discussion highlighted, government does not need to build all of that expertise on its own. Organizations across Ontario’s innovation ecosystem can bring different capabilities to the table.
The roundtable identified several opportunities for greater collaboration. IPON can make its IP expertise available to government partners as procurement approaches continue to evolve, including support for IP evaluation and consideration of IP and Ontario economic value in procurement criteria. IPON can also help innovators become better prepared to pursue public sector opportunities.
As the conversation concluded, one theme resonated strongly:
“There’s nothing but opportunity to work more closely.”
Looking ahead
Ontario innovators are developing real solutions to real challenges. Helping more of those companies move from innovation to adoption, and from adoption to scale, requires collaboration across government, industry and the broader innovation ecosystem.
Procurement can be one part of that pathway.
By bringing IP, commercialization and economic value into the conversation, Ontario has an opportunity to think more broadly about the value public purchasing can create and how more of that value can contribute to the province’s long-term growth.
IPON will continue to work with partners across the innovation ecosystem to help Ontario companies understand, protect and leverage their IP, and turn valuable ideas into commercial and economic success.
Pictured from left to right: Stephanie Hanna, Founder of NuanceEdge Inc.; Connie Chen, Senior Director, Strategy & Corporate Development at FACIT; Roula Thomas, Acting CEO, IPON; Jamie Wallace, CEO, Supply Ontario; Hon. Stephen Crawford, Minister, MPBSDP; Elliot Fung, Vice Chair, Board of Directors, IPON; Kristy Smith, Director, Policy, Government Relations & Partnerships, IPON and Claudia Krywiak, CEO, OCI.