Finnish telecom company Nokia has announced plans to tear down its Canadian facility in Ottawa and build a new, 26-acre 5G research and development centre in suburban Kanata, roughly 20km outside the National Capital Region.
More specifically, the facility will be located at the Kanata North Business Park, one of Canada’s largest technology parks with other companies, including BlackBerry, Cisco, Siemens and Ciena.
Nokia reached a funding agreement with the federal government, as well as Ontario’s provincial government and the City of Ottawa, for the project. Nokia will invest $340 million in the project, while $72 million in total funding will come from the three levels of government.
That includes up to $40 million from the Strategic Innovation fund (although the Globe and Mail noted that the federal government provided Nokia with a separate $40 million from the same fund in 2019). The Ontario provincial government will continue $30 million through Invest Ontario, while the City of Ottawa will contribute $2 million through Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc.
Construction on the research hub will start next year, and the hub is expected to open in 2026. The facility will include residential towers and commercial spaces and aims to help extend Nokia’s 5G wireless network, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) portfolios.
The project will create at least 340 new jobs in Ottawa, expanding Nokia’s total staff in the city to about 2,160 (and about 2,500 total in Ontario).
Header image credit: Shutterstock
Source: CPAC Via: The Globe and Mail
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