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.

The facility is scheduled to be completed in 2027.

Canada’s embrace of Nokia comes after it banned China’s Huawei from its 5G wireless networks in May over national security concerns.