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HardTech Summit

Canada’s Premiere Technology and Innovation Summit Supporting the Hardware, Semiconductor, MedTech, AI, and Auto-mobility Ecosystem.

HardTech Summit, hosted by ventureLAB in partnership with York Region, is Canada’s premiere technology and innovation focused summit supporting Hardware, Semiconductor, MedTech, AI, and Auto mobility. The summit brings together global industry leaders, founders, investors, and innovators as we explore the necessary ingredients to build a strong, connected hardware and semiconductor ecosystem in Canada: access to capital, talent, commercialization, IP, and customers. We’ll look at how hardware technology is helping us push the boundaries of what’s possible, why inclusivity is crucial to innovation in this sector, and what we need to do to elevate Canada’s semiconductor leadership on a global scale.

Now in its 7th year, HardTech continues to be a global connector, bringing together a global audience to explore ideas, opportunities, and challenges surrounding hardware and semiconductors. Attendees include new and established tech founders and CEOs, investors and advisors, academic partners, government and media.

Day 1 of this two-day summit will include a day filled with thought-leadership panel discussions, opportunities for breakout sessions, technical exhibitor booths, elevator pitches from the selected finalists and networking with passionate industry leaders from across the country.

Day 2 of HardTech features ventureLAB’s signature event, the HardTech Gala, returning with an exciting new format. Three finalists from eight competing companies will pitch live at the Gala Dinner for a chance to win a share of $50,000 in cash prizes, showcasing the next wave of groundbreaking hardware innovations.

With elevated entertainment, expanded networking, and a focus on global connections, this year’s Gala will be the most dynamic yet.

Don’t miss your chance to attend. Get your tickets today and join us at our new larger venue, Paramount EventSpace.

Location

Paramount EventSpace

222 Rowntree Dairy Rd, Woodbridge, ON L4L 9T2

Date & Time

April 7 & 8, 2027

Panels and Schedule

Wednesday November 8, 2023
09:30 AM

09:30 -10:00 AM

Opening Remarks


10:30 AM


11:30 AM


01:00 PM


01:30 PM


02:00 PM


03:30 PM


Thursday November 9, 2023
05:00 PM

05:00 - 11:00 PM

Pitch Competition Gala


To watch the HardTech Summit panels and learn more about the speakers, exhibitors, and the Pitch Competition Gala CLICK HERE

Past Speakers

Raed Kadri

Head of OVIN

Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN)

Mark Miller

Executive Chairman

Volaris Group

Jim Bark

Partner

DNA Global

Conway Fraser

CEO/Founder

Fraser Torosay

Prof. Arvind Gupta

Professor, Academic Director, Professional Programs, Department of Computer Science

University Of Toronto

Mona Eghanian

Assistant Vice-President; Deputy Head

Ontario Centre of Innovation; Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN)

YJ Lin

Sr. Program Manager

Dell for Startups

Hilary Kilgour

Managing Partner & Co-Founder

AudaxaVentures

Richard "Dick" Thurston

Owner, Chairman and CEO

RLT Global Consulting LLC; Hudson Valley Fast Fab

Garry Chan

Advisor, Founder Services

ventureLAB

Hon. Victor Fedeli

Government of Ontario

Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

Tony Chan Carusone

Chief Technology Officer; Professor

Alphawave Semi; University of Toronto

Siri Agrell

Chief Executive Officer

BetaKit

Paula Cruickshank

Senior Vice President, Fund Investments

Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)

Maggie Lo

Senior Vice President (Life and Health Technology)

OASES

Tina Mah

Executive Director

Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging

Gayle Seddon

Executive Director, Community Strategy and Operations

Southlake Regional Health Centre (SRHC)

Mayor Frank Scarpitti

Mayor of Markham

The City Of Markham

Lynn McNeil

VP, FABrIC

CMC Microsystems

Dan Herman

Chief Executive Officer

Intellectual Property Ontario

Alex Grbic

Vice President of Software Engineering

Mitch Debora

Co-founder; CEO

Mosaic Manufacturing Ltd.

Melissa Lantsman

House of Commons of Canada

Abhi Rampal

Solid State AI

Adesh Shah

Manager

Lambton College

Alan Ho

Regional Councillor & Chair of Economic Development Committee

City of Markham

Brandon Fenton

True Search

Caitlin Siu

Program Specialist

Ontario Brain Institute

Cheryl Hart

CEO

ONTASK Strategies Inc.

Chloe Archambault

Quantacet

Daniel Hengeveld

Toronto Global

Dejana Dua

ventureLAB

Dylan Horvath

Cortex Design

Gary Lee

Megalab Group Inc

Hamid Arabzadeh

Ranovus Inc

Hugh Chow

CEO

ventureLAB

Jarrod Hicks

ventureLAB

Jason Lee

Ontario Centre of Innovation, CIT

Josh Richmond

Grey Matter Neurosciences

Jumana Fathima

Kiwi Charge

Kamal Hassin

ventureLAB

Kelly Stewart

Rowand LLP

Leila Kheradpir

ventureLAB

Mayor Steven Del Duca

City of Vaughan

Meena Hassanali

York Region

Michael Uster

Liberty Development Corporation

Mohsen Asad

Hyperlume Inc.

Nathan Fitzpatrick

University of Waterloo

Pierre-Luc Labelle

Finalta Capital Inc.

Rahul Goel

NordSpace

Reza Chaji

VueReal

Steve Paikin

The Paikin Podcast

Sylvain Charbonneau

Canada Foundation for Innovation

Ted Graham

Tim Warland

FABrIC

Gordon Chiu

Sr. Director, Software Engineering

Intel

Nizar Rida

Canada Country Manager

Marvell

Erin Bury

CEO

Willful

Phil Vokins

Director Channels, Alliances & Cloud

Intel

Alison Drader

Head of Corporate Canada

Google Cloud

Kirk Ouellette

VP of Corporate Strategy

STMicroelectronics

Chris Smith

Corporate VP, Platform Software

AMD

Colin Hung

Editor

Healthcare IT Today

Peter Suma

Co-CEO

Applied Brain Research

Warren Ali

Senior Vice President of Innovation

Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association

Manjula Selvarajah

Journalist, Podcast Host and Tech Columnist

CBC News

David van Slingerland

CEO

Sterling Industries

Robin Orford

Lead, Venture Capital Partnerships

Google

Matthew Burns

Global Director, Technical Marketing

Samtec

Yuri Navarro

Managing Partner

Kanata Ventures

Shelley Kuipers

Co-Founder and Co-CEO

The51

Erik Saarenvirta

Data & AI Specialist

Google Cloud

Sagar Satish

Director of Engineering

Astera Labs Canada

Brent Roberts

VP of Life Sciences Strategy

Siemens Digital Industries

Gem Shoute

CEO

Zinite

Chris Cory

Sr Advisor, Capital Investment Program

ventureLAB

John George

Sector Manager, Automotive & Mobility

Ontario Centre of Innovation

Gregory Ogorek

Partner

iGan Partners

Steve Hikida

VP of Compiler Engineering

Intel

Kazem Zandi

CEO

One Silicon Chip Photonics

Dr. Karolina Papera Valente

CEO & CSO

VoxCell BioInnovation

Bolis Ibrahim

CEO

Argentum Electronics

Nic Boileau

CEO

Ekidna

Colin Webster

Co-Founder

RiSC Capital

Huayi (Edward) Gao

Co-founder and CTO

VCycene

Julia Elvidge

Co-Founder

Chipworks

Alexandra Kutilin

Director of Operations

Daanaa

Robert Dennison

Director, Growth & Transition Capital

BDC

Mustafa Jaffer

Industrial Technology Advisor

National Research Council of Canada

Ashkan Beigi

CEO

Qoherent

Amirreza Amighi

CEO

Mazlite

Reece Hiland

Partner, Technology & Media

MNP

Paul Rivett

Advisor

ventureLAB

Nick Kepler

COO

Silicon Catalyst

Melissa Chee

CEO

ventureLAB

Yuri Navarro

Managing Partner & Venture Advisor

Kanata Ventures & ventureLAB

Phil Vokins

Intel