The Council of Canadian Innovators’ (CCI) board of directors appointed Patrick Searle (photo at right) as CEO in December 2025.

CCI, co-founded in 2015 by Jim Balsillie and John Ruffolo, is a national business council representing more than 175 of Canada's fastest-growing companies. CCI's mission is to help Canadian technology companies scale globally and create the jobs of the future.

Searle joined CCI in 2017. Most recently as vice-president of corporate affairs, he oversaw CCI’s communications, events, executive programming, membership engagement, and partnership development efforts.

Searle led the development and expansion of CCI’s flagship programs, including the award-winning Innovation Governance Program to develop the next generation of innovation board leaders. He also spearheaded Canada’s CEO Summit, now the premier annual gathering for the country’s technology leaders.

"Patrick knows the organization inside and out, understands our members' needs, and has the vision to lead CCI into its next era. As we continue to evolve from a technology advocacy organization into Canada's business council for the 21st century, Patrick is the right leader at the right time," said Jim Balsillie, chair of CCI.

Earlier in his career, Searle worked as an advocate for access to postsecondary education and later served as a senior advisor to several cabinet ministers in the Ontario Government. 

Searle talked with Mark Lowey, Research Money’s managing editor, about his priorities for CCI, the federal government’s “Buy Canadian” policy, the need to compete in today’s digital economy, and for Canada to respond to the recently released U.S. National Security Strategy.

R$: Have you identified any top priorities for CCI in the short term and longer term?

PS: First off, it's exciting to take the lead of this organization. I'm excited because for 10 years we were building what has become CCI, which was initially an advocacy engine for scaling technology companies. I think 10 years into it, we've really become Canada's business council for the 21^st century.

I think the most exciting thing in front of us is how do we continue to bring more people into our fold. Much of the work that we've been doing at the council has been focused on economic sovereignty, about prosperity, about building winners and making sure that high-growth homegrown companies have the strategies they need from government to succeed, be it talent, capital procurement or the freedom to operate.

For nine years, people respected and understood what CCI was rooting for, but believed that the world order was working against the view that CCI had, which was that we had to really build up our own domestic capacity. We had to make sure that we were building winning companies in Canada that had a shot at global success. Then really last year [with the Trump administration’s actions and shifting geopolitical environment] blew everything out of the water as everyone started saying “Elbows up!” People started rereading what we had been talking about for nine years. So now in this discussion we are inundated and it's a really positive reaction to the research we've been putting out, the policy recommendations, the events, the networking and the programs that we do throughout the entire calendar year to bring together this community to build capacity. That's what I'm most excited about.

One or two things that are on the radar is how do we meet the moment and how do we do more because public servants, innovators, business leaders, investors and journalists are trying to wrap their head around how does Canada emerge in this [environment] as a smart, critically thinking strategic actor that understands the long game and the new world order that's evolved.

R$: When it comes sovereignty, the federal government’s “Buy Canadian” policy gives foreign firms with subsidiaries in Canada the same preferential access to government contracts as homegrown companies headquartered in this country. Does this concern you in terms of Canada having a sovereign economy and is there anything CCI can do to change this federal approach?

PS: I’m deeply concerned about it, about what it means to be sovereign when our definitions of sovereignty are murky to allow non-Canadian actors to be counted as Canadian actors. If the government’s stated intention to reform procurement is to come true, it must start with reevaluating the definitions. Who owns the and controls the IP is critically important, and you don't have to read much into the [recently released] national security strategy from south of the border to see how they see the game being played. I don't think I've seen yet from Canada a real comprehension of that new world order. A lot has played out in the past few days and weeks that make people realize that the “Don-roe” or Monroe Doctrine outlined in the U.S. National Security Strategy is coming true, and we have to play catch up and we have to take it very seriously.

I'm grateful for the clarity of the national security document though, because it really shows where the government of the United States sees their net and goal priorities and should give a very clear road map for Canada to figure out what's important for them to focus on. It's not every day that you get such a very clear descriptive document, so I really hope to see a clear descriptive document from Canada. 

R$: How should the Canadian government respond to the Trump administration’s moves and the need to compete in the new digital economy?

PS: I think the shift that we are looking for in the government's comprehension of the world we're living in is that they've chased a job strategy for a very long time and they haven't really paid attention to a wealth creation strategy or a prosperity strategy. CCI has really spoken about prosperity and how do we fuel the critical infrastructure of the future and the critical infrastructure of today's schools and bridges and roads and transit. They’ve stayed very focused on a job strategy, which as we've seen through some of the EV [battery] deals [with foreign-based subsidiaries] just doesn't bear the fruit, as we see other countries that focus on IP that are much more prosperous and much more wealth-generating focused.

So I think the opportunity there is to look around the world and realize that we've been 30 years out of date about how this new economy is working. The domestic spillovers will still occur when we choose the sectors we wish to be more tangible in, but every tangible [goods] sector also has an IP strategy playing out in it. To be ignorant to that would be to say that we will continue to do what we've been doing for all of these years and thinking that we're going to get a different result.

R$: You’re familiar with CCI and its operations. What are CCI’s strengths and biggest challenges?

PS: We’ve got a great team and they're hungry and they're eager in resourcing this organization so that we can meet the demand of both the members and the [tech innovation] ecosystem, but also the growing demand for policy recommendations from the policy community. I think that we've been able to dust off some of our old playbooks that we've been talking about since we were founded in the early days, because to our heart we've always believed that the strongest way to grow the Canadian economy is to make sure that there are stronger firms that are creating great-paying jobs that are investing the earnings back into their communities and are playing the long game when it comes to this intangible economy.

We were fortunate to be able to have a lot of literature within our organization that we have been able to resurface and talk about. But the bigger opportunity is how do we speak to new audiences and bring more people along for the fold. There were more people who joined our mailing list in the past year because of our focus on sovereignty, on economic security who don't have [horse] in the race or a stock in their portfolio of a Canadian company, but are looking to understand this kind of guiding light that CCI can provide. We’ve got 175 companies that are members of CCI, fantastic leaders from across the federation who care deeply about the country that they have chosen to build their businesses in. I think that is a testament to the platform we've built at CCI, not just a government relations lobbying firm for scaling technology companies, but a platform that has more opportunities to do programs that bring people together and build capacity, like our innovation governance program we did this past fall, a Canadian procurement defence readiness program.

With all of the decisions that are going to be rolling out of Ottawa, how do we make sure that Canadian dual use technology [civilian and military uses] companies are prepared and ready and have done all of the necessary steps to be procurement ready? Meeting the moment through programs like that or through signature events like our Canada CEO [Summit] where we bring together the leaders of Canada's fastest-growing companies. We do an innovation governance summit in the middle of the summer where we bring together the board members of Canada's fastest-growing companies. And in the spring we bring them together for Canada's Capital and Growth Summit [where] we bring together the investors and the CFOs and the leaders of Canada's fastest- growing companies. So we’re meeting the talent. We’re meeting the capital. We're meeting the sales and the procurement priorities.

The evolution of CCI was we started with this vision of scaling technology companies and then the COVID pandemic came and we widened [our programming and initiatives] to make sure that we're lifting all boats, because startups were really left behind by a lot of those early pandemic programs. So we brought in that and over the years we've brought in more capacity-building events. And more of a platform for storytelling. All of our members have  great stories to tell. They're great companies to work at. And I think CCI is a great beacon of that. 

R$: Toronto-based venture capital firm Leaders Fund recently did a survey that found that startups and their founders are leaving Canada at an accelerating rate. Just 32.4 percent of Canadian-led “high-potential” startups launched in 2024 were headquartered in Canada. Is there anything more that government can do to stop this startup drain of our most promising companies?

PS: I think the government can roll back the red carpet they've rolled out for many foreign competitors of the Canadian firms that are exiting, and pay attention to the home team. You know, we're in an “Olympics” here. How do we own the podium is top of mind of CCI, of the people that are members of CCI, and the partners that have been engaged in our work. How do we own the podium? And it it's not a new concept. We see it in our athletes. You see it by saying, “We’re not going to pick the winners, but we're going to make sure we're building the winners and the market will determine who are the successful companies.” But we want to make sure that all of our companies have [in Canada] what they are leaving Canada to get. So last year we  launched “Cannector” to help our companies and those in our network find people who have had that experience where they have scaled other businesses or they've served on boards that have navigated uncertain economic times. How do we create a community where you are leaning in and leaning on one another? Because a lot of times we understand that people are  leaving and they're moving closer to where their investments might be located or where their investors are located or they're  moving closer towards where talent is located, but talent is very virtual these days. And what we've heard is that there's nothing more powerful than the ability to come together. That’s why we host over 45 events a year. Our big summits are national, but we also do regional events. We do online events, we do very hyper-local events. So I think the government needs to know their home team and needs to understand what they need to be strong and sovereign, secure and successful.

[Government needs to] double down, and not be afraid of not keeping everyone happy. Because  all of what we've seen for the past 30 or so years is a complacency to pick a lane, to dive deep into that lane. We’re starting to see it more with discussions around sovereign approaches to AI or sovereign approaches to other sectors. But we really need to pick the lane we want to be in, understand the players in that, and determine that is the best course for prosperity and security for Canada. It’s [making] hard decisions and it doesn't make everyone happy. But I think that everyone has seen for as long as I've been talking the “spreading of the peanut butter” – trying to keep everyone happy and please everyone and do everything. [That approach] allows other leaders around the world to emerge and it squashes the opportunity that Canada could have if we were more decisive and selective. 

R$: Do you think you’ll be working closely with (former CCI CEO) Benjamin Bergen in his new job as head of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association on the issue of access to capital for startups and scale-ups?

PS: I'm so happy for Ben. Ben's perfect for that role and it's an important organization for Ben to go and lead after being  here at CCI for as long as he was. Definitely access to capital is still one of the most important priorities of our members. It's how you can afford the talent that is like rocket fuel for your company. I think Ben’s mantra going into his role is better firms, better returns, and access to capital is one of our key pillars at CCI alongside talent and procurement. There’ll be lots of opportunities to partner, I imagine.

R$: Jim Balsillie has argued that U.S. protectionism and the U.S. National Security Strategy has thrown CCI’s priorities into even sharper relief. He has also talked about Canada needing to wake up and take steps to compete in today’s predatory economy driven by intangible assets, where there are fewer or no domestic spillovers (such as a tax base, local management and domestic supply chains) compared with the old tangible goods economy. How can Canada “wake up,” especially as we renegotiate the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement with the U.S.?

PS: The U.S. National Security Strategy has made it clear. It’s identified that technology, intellectual property, cloud computing, data and AI. dual use – all of these are now deemed as national security assets. They’re not just innovation assets. They're not just companies. They're not just poster children for the tech sector. They are part of what it means to be sovereign to the U.S. They need these companies. They view these companies as integral to their ability to be dominant and to be successful and to be prosperous and to be secure.

Canada needs our own view. I'm not saying Canada needs to do what the U.S. National Security Strategy is doing. What I'm saying is that Canada needs to understand that is not a Trumpian approach. That is how the Americans have approached Canadian-U.S. relations for years under Democratic presidents and under Republican presidents. To believe that we can sit out the Trump presidency and that the next [president] might be more sympathetic to a Canadian cause would be to miss the moment that we're in when we're starting to see around the world, though this geopolitical tension, a recalculation of priorities of alliances and allegiances.

I think what Canada needs is a strategic reset that responds with urgency and clarity and a domestic strategy built around sovereign capability, an inventory and audit of what are we really able to win and succeed and support partners and carve out our own space. In order to do that, the government needs to be very open and collaborative with the business community and figure out how do we integrate security, economic trade, economic strategies, IP strategies, AI strategies all together, and not silo this out that an AI strategy is separate from a defence strategy that is separate from a talent strategy, that is separate from a trade strategy.

There’s not much talk about trade in the free trade agreements these days. Most free trade agreements are about maintaining one’s entity control and figuring out if you can get any other control. So the U.S. is very firm as we go into this trade negotiation on where they want their technology to be dominant, where they want the U.S. to be dominant. I think it's very important that Canada takes positions that helps the world see that Canada is believing in itself that it can own the podium. And that it can be a global champion in certain sectors and in certain industries and in certain approaches. I don't think that has been communicated yet clearly to the business community. I think that's at the doorstep of the prime minister's office, of the industry minister's office, of the finance minister's office, going into a spring when we're not going to have a federal budget, which is new. How do you use these spring moments to talk about the priorities of Canada, of the Canadian government? It’s going to be a doorstop issue if there's going to be a bunch of byelections coming up. So you can count on CCI for talking about these things, as we have been for years. And we're delighted to continue to build this coalition around a stronger, more sovereign Canada. 

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