Nventure at OCI DiscoveryX 2026
Productive, Inspiring Meetings at OCI’s Annual Conference
Nventure's COO John Hayden as well Chris Gillis, Director, were at DiscoveryX this week at the Enercare Centre in Toronto for two days of intensive innovation ecosystem coslea
ordination and entrepreneurial advancement. The annual event (the seventeenth edition) was convened by the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) who were recently at Venture13 as part of new Canadian tech entrepreneurship outreach across the region with TBDC and Brampton B-Hive.
DiscoveryX 2026 this year was an exceptional opportunity to sync up with colleagues and partners and to catch up with many successful thriveFORWARD-funded start-ups that are now scale-ups (such as Vessl, Symbient, Neptune Nano, Foqus, Food 4 Good et al.). The conference keynote from Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Geoffrey Hinton on AI was a highlight of the agenda, encouraging everyone to deeply consider questions of comparative subjectivity ("how are they like us?) and assess what disruption could ultimately mean for humanity in an era of artificial intelligence.
The atmosphere at the conference balanced enthusiasm with thoughtful composure, facilitating important discussions between partners while committing to deliverable outcomes for founders, namely: investment, funding, connectivity, strategy and collaboration. While the Provincial innovation ecosystem was showcased (post-secondary, non-profit and government networks, centres, accelerators and incubators), speakers like Eddie Bissoon from FedDev Ontario and Pauline Walsh from NRC-IRAP ensured entrepreneurs were keyed into federal programs and priorities as well.
CF Ontario East was present on the tradeshow floor, highlighting the success of SOFII and how non-dilutive debt financing is filling a critical gap in the continuum of funding in southern Ontario for early commercialization-stage technology companies that are ready to grow, to create jobs and to contribute to economic development by building out the Ontario Made industries of the future.
A priority for Nventure at events like these is always to connect with new and emerging women-owned ventures. Some attending DiscoveryX 2026 were already backed by our DELIA Women Entrepreneurship Loan Fund (e.g. Sleaks, Maman Biomedical) while others are now in conversation, with the innovation arm of DELIA represented by our Access to Capital Initiative for Accelerators (ATICA) with partners like York University YSpace (ELLA), Bioenterprise Canada and Boundless Accelerator which is part of the Province of Ontario's Regional Innovation Centre or 'RIC' network). Women entrepreneurs also benefit from free StrikeUP Canada resources and events powered by Nventure. DELIA is made possible with the support of ISED Canada.
The closer and more efficiently the ecosystem collaborates, the more value we can collectively deliver to leading entrepreneurs whose mission and vision are critical to Ontario and Canada's economic future. The team at Nventure is very much looking forward to continuing conversations coming out of DiscoveryX 2026, with special thanks to the team at OCI for their work to plan and present this important annual event.
