The Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) announced a new partnership with the University of Waterloo and Rogers Communications to advance Canadian innovation through its Living Lab Initiative.
The partnership between CENGN, Waterloo and Rogers will provide a home for Canadian startups and scaleups to test and validate their cutting-edge products and services in critical sectors like defence, robotics and applied artificial intelligence, accelerating their path to market readiness.
"By partnering with CENGN, our university will be taking a leading role in supporting the Canadian innovation ecosystem," said Dr. Mary Wells, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo. "Providing access to our facilities and our deep expertise in research and development will help drive Canadian startups to greater successes and will introduce new transformative technology across Canada's key economic sectors."
Supported by a $45 million investment from the Canadian Government's Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), CENGN's Living Lab Initiative aims to help more than 100 Canadian startups and scaleups looking to prepare their innovative products and solutions for commercialization and industry adoption.
By offering access to advanced infrastructure, expert support and real-world testing environments, the CENGN Living Lab initiative drives technology adoption across key economic sectors. It plays a critical role in boosting Canadian industry competitiveness, fostering new intellectual property and fueling the growth of the country's most promising technology ventures.
"By combining our technology expertise and CENGN Living Lab infrastructure with our partner's controlled and real-world robotics testing environments, we're helping Canadian innovators bring their ideas to life faster and more reliably," said Boris Mimeur, interim president and chief executive officer of CENGN.
"This initiative strengthens Canada's position as a global leader in the critical digital and applied AI technology that is transforming how we leverage connected robotics across industry, supporting the country's economic resilience and long-term growth."
CENGN was established to drive the innovation and adoption of advanced networking technologies in Canada through connected infrastructure, technical expertise and services, talent development and the nurturing of a thriving innovation ecosystem.
The organization has expanded its services to include access to the Connected Robotics Living Lab, which includes the University of Waterloo's RoboHub facilities. The Living Lab combines indoor lab spaces and outdoor testing areas for robotics solutions that boost productivity, increase work safety, optimize fleet and multi-robot coordination, create more effective human-to-robot interactions, and drive robotic improvements through data and applied AI. With support from Rogers Communications, these facilities combine controlled and real-world testing environments with advanced connectivity infrastructure, including LTE and 5G networks.
"As Canada's largest and most reliable 5G+ network provider, Rogers is proud to be working with the federal government on CENGN's Living Labs to advance new 5G technology in Canada for robotics and industrial applications through our 5G testbed at the University of Waterloo," said Mark Kennedy, chief technology officer at Rogers Communications.
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED)'s $45 million investment in CENGN aims to expedite the technology transformation of Canadian industry while directly supporting Canadian innovators through Innovation and Adoption Projects. Each Innovation Project includes up to $250,000 in co-investment funding to the startup or scaleup, a number which increases up to $500,000 for Adoption Projects.
"Strengthening Canada's leadership in robotics, AI and advanced connectivity is essential to our country's innovation competitiveness agenda. By supporting inclusive, collaborative initiatives like the CENGN Living Lab partnership, our government is investing in the growth of highly skilled Canadian tech talent, fostering the development of transformative products, and ensuring entrepreneurs can confidently test and deploy solutions that will power our industries for years to come," said the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.
