AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition
Washington, D.C. / United States
The anchor event for anyone selling to the US Army. Program offices and primes are present in force; ideal for SMEs seeking subcontracting and teaming opportunities.
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North AmericaConferences & summitsHybridPast event
4–5 Mar 2026
Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence
Fairmont Château Laurier · Ottawa, Canada
- Dates
- Wed, 4 March 2026 – Thu, 5 March 2026
- Venue
- Fairmont Château Laurier
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada
- Organizer
- Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) Institute
- Cost
- paid
- Scale
- regional
- Recurrence
- annual
- Format
- Hybrid
Market intel
Moderate pricingmedium confidence
The Ottawa Conference is a policy-and-procurement-focused conference rather than a large trade show; its exhibitor floor is small but highly curated, with confirmed 2026 industry participants drawn directly from the published speaker and agenda list including TKMS, General Atomics ASI, Cohere, UFORCE, Helsing, and Dominion Dynamics.
- Sponsorship and exhibitor spaces are sold on request with limited availability, and pricing is not publicly listed.
- Confidence in exhibitor identities is high (sourced from the official agenda PDF and speaker biographies), but floor-space and per-sqm cost data are unavailable.
Notable exhibitors
TKMS (ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems)General Atomics Aeronautical SystemsCohereUFORCEHelsingDominion Dynamics
AI-researched Tue, 25 August 2026. Estimates from public sources. Verify with the organizer.
Why it matters
With ~2,000 registered guests including cabinet ministers, the Chief of the Defence Staff, all service commanders, and representatives from 20+ federal departments, this is the single highest-density government-military decision-maker gathering in the Canadian defence calendar — making it the most direct access point for suppliers seeking to shape procurement priorities and policy.
- The 2026 theme of a historic 5%-of-GDP spending commitment signals a multi-year surge in Canadian defence budgets, creating immediate pipeline opportunities across all capability domains.
- For SMEs and startups, the conference's exhibitor floor and sponsorship tiers offer rare direct visibility to senior DND officials and allied delegations in an intimate, dialogue-driven setting.
Registration
About
The Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence is Canada's longest-running and premier annual defence and national security forum, now in its 94th year (est. 1932).
- Held over two days at the Fairmont Château Laurier and hosted in cooperation with the Department of National Defence, it convenes senior government decision-makers, military commanders, parliamentarians, allied partners, academics, and industry leaders for keynotes, panels, and closed sessions.
- The 2026 edition centred on the theme 'The Road to 5%', examining Canada's historic commitment to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 and its implications for the Canadian Armed Forces, defence procurement, and sovereign industrial capability.
- Sessions are broadcast live and archived free of charge via CPAC, Canada's parliamentary cable network.
Topics
ProcurementC2 / Battle ManagementISR & SensorsAIAutonomy & Robotics
Who it's for
PrimesSMEsStartupsInstitutions
Funding behind this kind of event
Instruments with a call window open right now, tracked with their deadlines.
- CASSINI — CASSINI Space Entrepreneurship InitiativeEuropean Commission (DG DEFIS), with EUSPA and the EIF
- DEF — Defence Equity FacilityEuropean Investment Fund with the European Commission, under InvestEU
- EIB — EIB Group Security and Defence FinancingEuropean Investment Bank Group
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