Ottawa drone-makers create plenty of buzz at Area X.O technology showcase

As Charles Barlow watched a drone buzz overhead on Tuesday, Canada’s sovereignty was top of mind for the former military officer. “There have been a lot of warnings coming out of NATO and eastern Europe especially that we’re headed towards a potentially more conflict-ridden time,” Barlow, the founder and CEO of drone manufacturer Robotics Centre, […]

As Charles Barlow watched a drone buzz overhead on Tuesday, Canada’s sovereignty was top of mind for the former military officer. “There have been a lot of warnings coming out of NATO and eastern Europe especially that we’re headed towards a potentially more conflict-ridden time,” Barlow, the founder and CEO of drone manufacturer Robotics Centre, said. “The best thing that we can do as a country in my opinion is turn ourselves into a bit of a hedgehog so that we’re not an easy target.” Barlow had just finished a demonstration of his company’s products at GCXpo, an annual showcase of unmanned technology at Area X.O, a 1,866-acre facility on the former site of the Ottawa Biotechnology Incubation Centre on Woodroffe Avenue that has been turned into a proving ground for drones, self-driving vehicles and other autonomous tech.  Invest Ottawa operates the site, which opened in 2019 and is now home to dozens of drone-makers and other autonomous tech firms. Robotics Centre was one of about 100 exhibitors at Tuesday’s event, which attracted more than 1,600 government officials, investors and industry leaders who came from across Canada to check out the latest drone, autonomous systems, robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, communications systems, cybersecurity and smart agriculture technology. GCXpo offered attendees a first-hand look at equipment such as Robotics Centre’s unmanned aerial vehicles, which weigh about two kilograms and can fly at speeds of up to 120 km/h. Ukraine is using similar drones in its war with Russia, Barlow noted, and they’re quickly becoming a standard part of Canada’s military arsenal as well.

That makes a site like Area X.O, which gives Robotics Centre all the airspace it needs to put its drones through their paces, an especially valuable resource for his company. “The ability to go out and fly around in a bit of an urban environment, that’s really awesome,” said Barlow. “That doesn't exist in, say, Toronto. I think Invest Ottawa’s done a really great job of turning this whole place into a centre for defence-tech in this part of the country.” Still, the entrepreneurs showing off their wares at Area X.O on Tuesday said the industry needs to ramp up in a hurry if Canada expects to pull its weight on battlefields of the future. Robotics Centre now churns out about 10,000 drones a month at its factory on March Road. But Barlow, who sells to military customers in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia, knows that’s a drop in the bucket considering Ukraine alone went through millions of drones in 2025.   “Ten thousand is like two days’ use in Ukraine right now,” he explained. “You’re seeing that rapid requirement to get this stuff into the field.” Hugo Hodgett agrees. The founder and CEO of Ottawa-based H2 Analytics, which tests its training and simulation software at Area X.O., said investors are slowly starting to jump on the defence bandwagon, while new federal initiatives such as the multibillion-dollar Defence Industrial Strategy show “the government is serious” about beefing up Canada’s military capabilities. H2 Analytics, which has supplied software to the Canadian Armed Forces since 2018, now has 47 employees and has grown its revenues by more than 550 per cent in the past three years. Hodgett said who’s testing technology at Area X.O is just as important as what’s being tested there. It’s a place to tap into other entrepreneurs’ wisdom and get advice on issues such as navigating the military procurement system or knowing the right person to call when you need special security clearances, he explained.

Close to DND

“We don’t have a full-time presence here, but we consistently use this place when we're going to meet other people, demonstrate something, show capabilities,” he said. “Getting the collective brain trust of defence-tech together in one place is always going to result in benefits. That can be anything from M&A opportunities … to just swapping stories. It’s a lot less about the formal (testing) infrastructure for us and much more about the knowledge infrastructure that exists.”  Area X.O’s proximity to the Department of National Defence is another major selling point, added Lt.-Col. Nick Verreault, who heads the Canadian Armed Forces’ Joint Uncrewed Systems Office. Verreault is among the officials working on the new Defence Drone Initiative marketplace. Led by DND and the new Defence Investment Agency, the marketplace launched in late July after the Defence Industrial Strategy identified uncrewed and autonomous systems as one of 10 capabilities the feds want to prioritize building in Canada.  Under the new initiative, companies can apply to join a pool of suppliers that the CAF and Coast Guard can use for specific products and services such as testing and developing prototypes. In the first round of requests for supply arrangements, which opened in late July and closed in mid-August, 523 companies submitted bids, Verreault said. Area X.O, and specifically events like GCXpo, give DND decision-makers a chance to get an up-close look at emerging technologies and the companies behind them, he noted. “Some of these products are very technically complex,” Verreault said. “And until you actually see them, you don’t really have a notion of what it’s bringing to the table in terms of operational effect. It helps me sell to my chain of command that these are in fact capabilities that are absolutely necessary to support the Canadian military. Having everybody come to one place makes things a heck of a lot easier.” Invest Ottawa CEO Sonya Shorey said Area X.O helps create a “critical mass” of technology suppliers that customers such as DND can readily tap into. “Companies have gotten their first investments because of a relationship that happened here,” she said. “Area X.O is a huge part of that work and we’re looking to grow that and maximize our impact.”