Introducing Project Northward
Exploring a design-first future for Canada's prosperity
🇨🇦 Canada is standing at an economic and cultural crossroads.
We are a land mass with some of the most coveted natural resources on the planet. A people who are the most educated population in the world. An identity ranked in the top global brands.
A country with every ingredient to be an economic, cultural, and quality-of-life powerhouse. Yet historically, we’ve exported our potential instead of fully harnessing it.
Right now our prosperity feels fragile and our fate feels uncertain. Too often, we stand waiting, watching, hoping our future isn’t dictated by a decision made elsewhere or by policies that aren’t in our interest. Too often our inherent strengths are capitalized on by others.
If Canada wants to shape its future, we need to own our future. We can no longer define our economy by what we extract from this land, or our identity by saying who we aren’t rather than who we are.
If we want a Canada that is prosperous, resilient, and ambitious, we need to find our voice, our identity, and the value we as a nation offer our people and the world.
I believe we do that through design.
Design is the economic and livability multiplier Canada is missing
Compared to the world’s leading economies and most livable nations, Canada lags significantly in recognizing and leveraging design as a strategic tool for economic growth and social well-being.
For two decades, I've been immersed in design in Canada, but have always felt that Canada is misunderstanding and under leveraging design’s strategic and economic power. This national blind spot is costing us.
Germany doesn’t just produce steel and aluminum—it designs precision-engineered automotive and transportation systems that move millions safely and efficiently every day.
Sweden doesn’t just harvest timber—it designs sustainable homes, globally iconic furniture, and user-centric digital services that improve daily life.
Japan doesn’t just manufacture electronic components—it designs consumer electronics and robotics that redefine daily interactions, as well as urban transit and housing that lead the world in efficiency and livability.
Design turns resources and ideas into meaningful experiences, world-changing industries, and improved everyday life. It bridges our economic potential with human outcomes, transforming "raw potential" into real progress.
Canada already excels at extraction. But now, we need to become equally skilled at turning resources—whether natural, digital, or human—into things that improve our lives and drive our economy. We spend money to incubate technology, engineering, and innovation—but without design, these efforts can struggle in finding product-market-fit, commercialization, or solving real valuable needs. We have an immense wealth of resources, talent, and education—but without design driven human-centred thinking, we struggle to translate those into better experiences for the people who live here.
This is Why I’m Launching Project Northward
Project Northward is a vision for Canadian design-led innovation. It is about applying design as a national strategy—not just for economic diversification, but for defining Canada’s place in the world and improving the daily lives of the people who call it home.
Northward is about recognizing design as the bridge that moves us from extraction to value creation, from good intentions to great execution, from raw potential to real progress.
Northward will:
Profile Canadian builders, designers, and innovators.
Document successes and challenges in moving Canada up the value chain.
Explore what a design-driven Canada can achieve.
Northward is a mindset shift and a call to action to stop looking to the South, East or West but instead to look inward and embrace what we are as Canada.
To look Northward to our collective future.
If you believe in this future, join me.
