top of page

Inspire The Next: How to Build a Better Ottawa




While many outsiders may view Ottawa as just a quiet bureaucratic town, those who live here are aware of the immense vibrancy that thrives within the nation’s capital.


A city home to top-ranked universities and colleges attracting talent from around the globe, a multitude of museums and galleries loved by art enthusiasts, and the innovative Kanata North Tech Park, contributing $13 billion annually to Canada’s GDP, all foster an entrepreneurial and cultural spirit that shapes the lives of many who call this city home. And that’s just scratching the surface.


Yet, despite this, students leave town after graduation for other major cities within the Laurentian corridor, culture aficionados seek art elsewhere, and many entrepreneurs and builders create in Ottawa only to later build elsewhere. Does this prove Ottawa is merely a government town, and nothing more? Definitely not, but it does prompt the question: How do we build a better Ottawa?


The Novas Group hosted its 3rd annual Inspire The Next event to answer this very question. Inspire The Next provides a platform where youth contribute their insightful voices alongside business and entrepreneurial leaders, and this year’s event proved to be the most thought-provoking yet. Panelists explored a broad range of opinions and innovative ideas on this matter.


Sasha Lapointe Lawless, a former architecture student at Carleton University and now a design student at Concordia University, began by advocating for a reimagining of how we approach the city from a design perspective. Sasha emphasized that purposeful, inclusive, and accessible design is vital for the overall well-being of everyone. His argument was simple: new graduates leave Ottawa for cities that prioritize design aesthetics, so why not incorporate that same mindset in our designs here?


One of Ottawa’s most innovative leaders, Melissa Reeves, COO of Linebox Studio, agreed with Sasha’s perspective and highlighted the importance of retaining young talent across all sectors in the city. How? By building a city that fosters mental stimulation and drives innovation. Melissa and her team at Linebox Studio combine innovation and design to transform the skyline and communities across the region.


Camille Arsenault, Manager at the Ottawa Economic Association, Co-Founder of Rise n' Run, and a joint law and business student at the University of Ottawa, encouraged more Ottawans to take risks and bring their ideas to life. As the Co-Founder of Rise n’ Run, Ottawa’s most talked-about Run Club, Camille shared that Ottawa is always ready to support anything new, bold, and captivating.


She’s not alone in experiencing this first-hand. Fellow panelist Lily Bond, founder of Spyce Girlz, shared that Ottawa has been incredibly supportive of her business. Thanks to the city’s backing, Lily’s products can now be found in stores across the region.


The panelists were imploring Ottawans with creative ideas to bring them to life. If we want to build a better Ottawa, we must be the change we want to see.


Also in attendance was Veronica Farmer, VP of Marketing at Wesley Clover, who spoke about the importance of cross-sectional collaboration. Ottawa, as the homebase of the nation’s government and largest tech park, offers a rare opportunity for cooperation that few cities can boast. Veronica knows tomorrow’s tech entrepreneur leaders today and emphasized that to keep the future unicorns here, Ottawa needs to provide more support from a government standpoint.


Jeff Kinder, Director of Science, Technology, and Innovation at the Council of Canadian Academies, echoed this point and encouraged further innovation within Canadian institutions as a whole.


These observations were timely, as the Liberal government recently announced that Toronto-based AI firm Cohere would receive up to $240 million from the federal government to support its growth—a decision that will help ensure Cohere remains in its current region.

These conversations were vital, reminding us that we must not settle or become complacent.


Building a better Ottawa requires a cross-generational team effort that involves all of us.

62 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page