Kanata North Innovation District

Kanata North, Canada’s largest innovation cluster, originally took root in a 1970s greenfield, single-use office park outside of Ottawa. After decades of rapid growth, this model no longer attracts the necessary talent or supports an innovation ecosystem. Something needed to be done, and that’s where we came in.

Our team worked with the City of Ottawa, Kanata North Business Association, and research and development and human resources directors from many of Canada’s leading innovation companies to develop a vision and planning framework. The goal was to guide transformation of this auto-oriented office park into a globally competitive, higher density, mixed-use, innovation district. The plan focuses around an autonomous vehicle transit network that provides companies and employees spread out over 1,300 acres with direct—car free—access to two high density, walkable, amenity-rich nodes.

Future growth over the next decade includes adding thousands of housing units and millions of square feet of innovation space. Most importantly, we’re creating a lively public realm that celebrates Kanata North’s culture of innovation, attracts talent, and promotes the informal “creative collisions” that power 21^st century innovation.