The federal government is investing in Alberta businesses developing defence technologies.
As part of the national Defence Industrial Strategy, more than $9 million in funding from Prairies Economic Development Canada will support six regional firms advancing innovation through the Regional Defence Investment Initiative.
“Canada’s sovereignty and security depend on a strong and resilient domestic defence industry,” remarked Eleanor Olszewski, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, “and Alberta and the Prairies are at the heart of that effort.”
“With world-class expertise in advanced manufacturing, energy, and innovation, Prairie businesses are uniquely positioned to deliver the made-in-Canada solutions our country needs,” the minister stated.
“By investing in home-grown technologies right here in Alberta, we are strengthening our national defence industrial base, creating good jobs, and ensuring Canadian companies can provide secure, reliable equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces—today and for the future,” Olszewski said.
Alberta is “playing an increasingly important role in Canada’s growing defence manufacturing sector,” agrees Corey Hogan, Member of Parliament for Calgary Confederation. “Calgary businesses have the skills, expertise and drive to scale-up to meet Canada’s national security needs.”
VizworX garnered $2M in repayable funding to commercialize its Virtual Operations Environment platform, which operates as a mobile control room by integrating maps and live feeds into collaborative 3D closed-communication to aidi in the planning and monitoring of missions.
“Recognizing the very stringent vetting and prioritization process that has gone into selecting RDII recipients, all of us at VizworX are extremely proud to have been selected for this support,” commented company president Jeff LaFrenz.
“We are excited to be able to accelerate the development and deployment of our Virtual Operations Environment , a Virtual Reality-based Command and Control solution, in support of the needs of the Canadian Armed Forces and our NATO allies,” he stated. “As a true dual-use solution, VOE will also enable significant enhancements to emergency and disaster response planning and logistics globally.”
3-Ci Manufacturing got $300K to expand production capacity to serve Canada’s defence industrial base with military grade cable and wiring systems. Microlynx Systems received $2M to improve high-power radio frequency amplifiers that support Arctic domain awareness, specifically advancing the transmit power amplifiers used in Canada’s Polar Over the Horizon Radar.
MRO Electronic Supply got $1M to launch the Defence Capacity Expansion Project, which aims to strengthen domestic production of mission-critical components and support workforce upskilling. With $3M, Canadian UAVs will deliver a deployable drone platform and intelligence suite that provides reconnaissance and situational awareness for defence and security applications.
And Technalogix garnered $1M to build high-frequency power-amplifier products that can be used to monitor airspace and waterways across large geographical areas and in harsh conditions.
The Canadian defence industry contributes $10 billion to the country’s gross domestic product and supports 81,000 jobs.
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