Nokia announces new Canada R&D campus
Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia on Monday unveiled plans for a new research and development center in a suburb of Canada’s capital Ottawa to advance cyber security and mobile technologies.
Alongside laboratories, the 26-acre facility in Kanata, west of downtown Ottawa, will include office and residential towers, as well as space for restaurants and retailers.
“This is a project that will build a world class R&D hub that will transform the wireless technologies we rely on every day,” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a joint news conference with Nokia chief executive Pekka Lundmark.
Lundmark said the R&D center “will be among the top five in the whole world for Nokia,” which has operations in more than 30 countries.
Nokia is investing Can$340 million ($248 million) in the project, which is expected to create 340 new jobs — bringing the company’s total number of staff in Canada to 2,500.
The federal and Ontario governments, along with the city of Ottawa, are pitching in a combined Can$72 million.
Article continues after this advertisementThe facility is scheduled to be completed in 2027.
Article continues after this advertisementCanada’s embrace of Nokia comes after it banned China’s Huawei from its 5G wireless networks in May over national security concerns.