Foresight Canada spotlights the dual use advantage of Canadian cleantech innovation

“Cleantech is not a vertical market segment. Rather, it's a horizontal segment that cuts across all verticals, including defence. Dual-use technologies serve not only civilian, commercial, and environmental goals but also military requirements. The very same innovations designed to decarbonize Canadian industry or power remote communities are often what the military needs to enhance operational resilience.”

– David Sanguinetti, Interim CEO, Foresight Canada

Interview with David Sanguinetti

By Suzanne Forcese

WT: Please introduce yourself to our viewers, giving us some insights into your background, your position at Foresight Canada and how your vision aligns with the Foresight ethos.

Sanguinetti: I am the Interim CEO of Foresight Canada. For those unfamiliar, Foresight is the nation's largest cleantech innovation and adoption accelerator.

Our mission is centred on de-risking and accelerating the adoption of the world’s best clean technologies to enhance productivity, improve operational efficiency, and increase profitability across sectors.

My own background, which includes over 25 years from engineering through to executive management, gave me firsthand insight into just how complex integrating new technology into existing operations can be. That is why my vision aligns perfectly with the Foresight ethos: our entire suite of programs and services is fundamentally designed to simplify that process and make cleantech adoption easier, faster, and beneficial for everyone.

WT: You have said that "Political instability, national defence, and climate resilience are inextricably linked" Please explain that statement.

Sanguinetti: A lack of climate resilience leads directly to global political instability, which in turn increases the demand and necessity for robust national defence.

Protecting Canada means protecting our critical assets and our environment—national defence and the defence of our planet truly go hand-in-hand.

By investing in dual-use cleantech, we create an essential advantage: achieving operational strength for our forces while simultaneously securing a sustainable, resilient future for the nation.

WT: Ottawa has committed $81.8B over 5 years to re-invent the Armed Forces. In your professional opinion and in the Foresight Canada view -- what will this require and how do you envision a seamless approach?

Sanguinetti: To reinvent the Armed Forces, the federal government must prioritize the integration of modern technology.

Many clean technologies inherently bring significant military advantages: for instance, electric motors are quieter and cooler than internal combustion equivalents, making them harder to detect; instrumentation used to track whales in the oceans can also detect submarines; and re-shoring supply chains reduces environmental footprint while increasing control and security.

Water treatment innovations developed for mobile defence purposes also offer solutions for remote communities.

As global militaries adopt sustainable technologies to strengthen operations, Canada must follow suit, leveraging existing homegrown solutions to keep pace.

These concepts of dual-purpose technology must be central to our sourcing decisions for the military to bring the maximum possible value to the country as a whole.

Working directly with Canadian organizations that already curate, vet, and provide access to vast portfolios of market-ready cleantech will ensure a seamless and efficient approach to technology integration.

WT: ."Cleantech is not a vertical market" -- explain this statement and how Canada's resources and position in cleantech are valuable assets to the objective of reinventing the armed forces.

Sanguinetti: Cleantech is not a single, isolated industry sector (like “Software,” “Healthcare,” or “Mining”). Instead, it is a horizontal segment—innovation that applies across all industries.

This horizontal nature is crucial because the same cleantech innovations designed for a civilian vertical (like decarbonizing a factory or powering a remote community) can be directly adapted for a defence vertical (like powering a forward operating base or enhancing maritime surveillance).

Canada’s existing cleantech sector is a major strategic asset for reinventing the Armed Forces because it offers a large, ready-made catalogue of commercially proven, dual-use technologies.

This allows the military to quickly adopt advanced, sovereign solutions—such as clean energy storage, environmental monitoring, and autonomous systems—to enhance operational resilience, gain a strategic advantage, and bypass the long, costly research and development cycles typically associated with procurement.

Foresight alone has a portfolio of over 1,700 cleantech companies.

This represents a large catalogue of commercially proven technologies that can be leveraged to support and enhance our national security.

WT: Please give our viewers a snap shot of some of our Canadian dual-use innovators.

Sanguinetti: Three categories of dual use/dual impact would include:

Advanced Energy Solutions for Defence

Advanced energy storage technologies enable cleaner cities, but also quieter, longer-lasting military equipment.

AlumaPower’s quiet, reliable, and zero-emission generators provide mobile power solutions, perfect for reducing the acoustic and logistical footprint of deployed military applications.

SolarSteam’s integrated solar thermal technology generates reliable, dispatchable power for applications like large-scale desalination, making it ideal for powering remote or forward operating bases and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. (NATO DIANA 2026 Participant)

Grengine’s patented Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) provides rapidly deployed, scalable, and zero-emission power, which could reduce military reliance on noisy diesel generators and secure energy independence for mobile camps. (NATO DIANA Participant)

Environmental Monitoring and Maritime Surveillance

Open Ocean Robotics’ advanced maritime surveillance capabilities directly support naval forces with critical oceanic monitoring and intelligence gathering.

Autonomous Systems and Data Intelligence

Drone imaging and geospatial data technology, often developed for forest management, wildfire monitoring and response, or precision agriculture applications, are transferable to defence and intelligence.

• Flash Forest and TreeTrack Intelligence’s drone-based reforestation and AI-driven land analysis technologies are transferable to military intelligence and logistics for highly accurate topographical mapping, anomaly detection in satellite imagery, or small payload deliveries in challenging terrains.
• FireSwarm’s ultra heavy-lift autonomous aerial system and AI-driven swarm technology, initially for wildfire suppression, provides dual-use capabilities for critical defence logistics, remote infrastructure protection, and emergency response in extreme environments. (NATO DIANA Participant)

WT: . How is Foresight bridging the gap -- what are: the Acceleration programs; Adoption Services; LCAs etc.

Sanguinetti: Think of Foresight as the crucial matchmaker connecting Canada’s top cleantech innovators with key industries and sectors. We are actively bridging the gap between “dual-use” technologies and the sectors that need them most—including defence. Our role is a comprehensive pipeline for dual-use technology:

• Acceleration Programs guide cleantech companies to identify dual-use applications. Through mentorship, strategic guidance, and industry connections, we ensure these innovative companies are market-ready for both conventional and defence sectors.
• Adoption Services validate the technology for new applications. We provide custom research, conduct rigorous Lifecycle Assessments (LCAs), build detailed business cases, and link companies directly to pilot projects to prove viability.

Everything we do at Foresight is designed to ensure the scaling and adoption of Canadian-made tech. This means that the technologies we support, even if originally intended for civilian use, are capable of being adapted to quickly and affordably meet the tough demands of Canada’s vast industries and sectors—including its military.

WT: Moving forward…what is the vision?

Sanguinetti: Foresight’s mission is to do more with less, sustainably—that is what we see in Canada’s future. Canada is more competitive because it has adopted sustainable technologies that are good for the economy, our defence sector, and the environment. Industries are more productive but pollute less, and the economy is stronger due to increased investment and job creation. The innovators and industry leaders we work with daily are demonstrating that adopting cleantech allows us to achieve everything: a thriving economy, healthy communities, and a robust defense sector safeguarding the things that are important to us—including our fragile ecosystems. This is the vision Foresight is working toward.

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