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Kanata has started rebounding from the decline of Nortel, thanks in large part to the telecom multinationals that eventually moved in to scoop up the pieces of that company.

Those companies — Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco — have name-brand recognition, but most of Kanata’s other tenants do not. In fact, the average person has likely never heard of many of Ottawa’s most successful companies. That’s because they’re mostly B2B (business to business) companies that make components of other, more famous technology, such as the sensors, software and networks that make autonomous vehicles and space travel possible. They’re unsexy stories to tell in a consumer-driven news market, and media real estate is assigned accordingly.

As we’ve seen from other tech-heavy cities, though, narrating your own story — and doing it well — is essential to attracting investors, entrepreneurs and tech workers. Toronto has positioned itself as the nation’s tech capital. The University of Waterloo is the MIT of Canada. Montreal has a young, edgy energy with European flair that attracts risk-takers.

So what is Ottawa?

It’s a beautiful city surrounded by greenspace with a pretty good housing market, decent entertainment options and a nice quality of life — a perfect mix to attract out-of-province and international talent.

But if you ask other Canadians, it’s The City That Fun Forgot; a government town where things are mostly predictable and boring. This general lack of awareness of and appreciation for what’s really happening in Ottawa’s tech scene is one of the biggest barriers the city faces when trying to compete against other Canadian ecosystems to get onto the world stage.