AccelerateOTT 2026: Built for the Age of AI
A one-day event for Ottawa's entrepreneurs to build, connect, and turn ideas into opportunity.
Join us for AccelerateOTT 2026, Ottawa’s most anticipated entrepreneurship event of the year! As part of Ottawa Innovation Week, the one-day summit for entrepreneurs, founders, and fearless builders shaping the future returns. Join us for a day of insightful discussions, impactful presentations, unparalleled networking opportunities, and Startup World Cup Ottawa Regional Competition.
AI is changing how startups launch, validate, and scale. This one-day experience is designed to help you move faster, make smarter decisions, and connect with the people who can accelerate your path to growth. With sessions focused on growth, funding, and innovation—and the high-stakes Startup World Cup pitch competition—this is where ambition meets opportunity.
For over a decade, we’ve fueled the fire of founders, owners, investors and aspiring entrepreneurs. This year is no exception – with an agenda packed with incredible sessions.
Secure your spot today for this event and take the next step towards entrepreneurial excellence!
About Startup World Cup
The Startup World Cup is a series of global startup conferences and pitch competitions powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures, featuring 100+ regional events across 60+ countries. These events culminate in our 2026 Grand Finale hosted in Silicon Valley (USA), where winning startups from each regional event will compete for a $1M prize in November.
Hosted by Invest Ottawa's Venture Path
This event is hosted by Invest Ottawa’s Venture Path, a program designed to support high-growth founders as they build, scale, and lead successful businesses. IO Venture Path provides entrepreneurs with access to expert mentorship, tailored programming, and a strong peer network, helping founders navigate complexity, accelerate growth, and make confident, informed decisions at every stage of their journey. Learn more.
Additional Information
- Complimentary catering will be provided.
- Your event ticket also includes complimentary access to the OC Transpo network on the day of the event. Attendees may present their printed or digital event ticket for no-charge access on OC Transpo routes across the network from 3 hours before the event start time until 3 hours after the event ends.
- Should you have any specific mobility requirements or accommodations, please contact Melissa McMahon at mmcmahon@investottawa.ca. Our team will be pleased to work with you to make all the arrangements required for a great experience.
- Special moments and memories will be recorded during this event and shared with our community via our website and social media.
Privacy Notice
By registering for this event, you acknowledge and agree that your personal information (such as name, email address, organization, and other registration details) will be collected and used for the purposes of event administration, communication, and attendee engagement.
Your information may be shared with event organizers, partners, and sponsors strictly for purposes related to this event, including event logistics, updates, and relevant follow-up communications. You may opt out of communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in our emails.
If you have any questions about how your information is used, please contact us at accelerateott@investottawa.ca.
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Highlights
- 10 hours 30 minutes
- In person
Refund Policy
Location
Horticulture Building
1525 Princess Patricia Way
Ottawa, ON K1S 3W7
How do you want to get there?
Agenda
Opening Remarks
Co-MCs Erin Blaskie, Founder & CEO of Willow Grey Agency, and Patrick White, Director of Corporate Programs at Solink, will kick off the day and guide attendees through a program focused on how companies are being built in the age of AI.
Keynote: The Future of Tech and AI
In this keynote, Alistair Croll, Founder, bestselling author, and organizer of Fwd50, explores how shifting constraints are redefining startups, investment, and competitive advantage. For decades, startups have followed the same playbook: raise capital, scale fast, monetize later. That model built the modern tech ecosystem, but it is beginning to break down. As software becomes cheap and abundant, technology is no longer the advantage, it is the baseline. Drawing on the idea that abundance creates new scarcity, Alistair offers a fresh lens on where the next generation of winners will emerge and what comes next for founders, investors, and innovators.
Panel: Building in an AI Era
Aydin Mirzaee, Co-Founder & CEO at Fellow, Dr. Ellen Campana, Co-Founder & CTO at Compose Health, Rob Imbeault, Founder & CEO at Backboard.io, Mike Potter, Co-Founder & CEO at Rewind, and Vanessa Galarneau, Co-Founder, COO & CFO at Pluvo, come together for a discussion on what it means to build an AI-native company today. Over the past few years, AI has fundamentally changed how startups are formed, validated, and scaled. These founders will share how they are actively building and succeeding under this new model, offering a realistic look at how the startup playbook continues to evolve and what it takes to win in this era.