Calgary is set to become home to Canada’s first secure innovation hub dedicated to turning quantum research into defence and national-security capabilities.
The federal government announced that a University of Calgary-led consortium will receive $20.3 million over two years to establish and operate the Quantum Defence Innovation Secure Hub, or Quantum DISH.
Launched under the Department of National Defence’s Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science—better known as BOREALIS—the Calgary hub will provide a secure setting where government, academia, industry, and innovators can develop, test, and validate quantum technologies for potential use by the Canadian Armed Forces.
Quantum technology is expected to influence several areas of defence and security, including sensing, secure communications, navigation, computing, and decision support.
The federal plan organizes the Quantum DISH around four streams: quantum sensing, communications, algorithms, and hardware assurance.
Potential projects include navigation systems that do not depend on global satellites, tools for detecting spoofed positioning signals, quantum-secure communications and timing, and the testing of quantum devices and systems.
The hub is intended to help move Canadian quantum technologies beyond the research stage and toward practical, mission-ready applications.
“The consortium of post-secondary and industry partners that will innovate in this new facility is truly world class,” stated University of Calgary President Edward McCauley.
For Calgary, the award builds on a growing local cluster of quantum research, talent, and commercialization activity.
The University of Calgary established Quantum City in partnership with the Government of Alberta and Mphasis, an initiative Calgary.tech has previously covered as part of the city’s ambition to become a Canadian centre for quantum innovation.
Quantum City has been developing specialized infrastructure, talent programs, and pathways to help researchers and companies bring quantum technologies into real-world use. The new defence hub adds a secure, mission-focused layer to that ecosystem.
Minister of National Defence David McGuinty said the investment is designed to accelerate Canadian-made quantum technologies while strengthening the country’s domestic defence industry.
Quantum has been identified as a sovereign capability priority under Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy as governments worldwide invest in technologies that could reshape communications, navigation, and national security.
The Calgary-based Quantum DISH was selected through a competitive call for proposals. It joins the Maritime DISH pilot and the Uncrewed Systems DISH within Canada’s expanding network of secure, mission-oriented defence innovation hubs.
For local researchers, startups, and technology companies, the hub could create a clearer route from discovery and development to secure testing and operational deployment—placing Calgary at the centre of Canada’s push to build quantum capabilities at home.
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