Province gives $21M to establish defence program, spur development across Alberta sectors

Alberta's government is spending $21 million to help Alberta companies find new markets in the defence sector.

The Alberta government is spending $21 million to establish a defence program connecting the province’s post-secondary institutions, companies and Canada’s armed forces in the development and testing of military technology.

The Dual-Use Ecosystem for Future Engineering, National Defence and Sovereignty (DEFENDS) program will be led by the University of Alberta, which is home to several related research programs and facilities.

“Our goal is simple: to transform innovative dual-use ideas into practical, real-world tools for the Canadian Armed Forces by providing access to state of the art facilities,” Amina Robinson Faye, the university’s vice president of research, said Tuesday during a media conference at the Edmonton post-secondary institution. “We are helping local businesses test and refine their products, while giving our students hands-on training with the latest technology.”

Robinson Faye said the investment, which is part of a $127-million initiative over 10 years, “allows us to build the necessary pathways for local companies to expand into the defence and aerospace sectors by advancing a connected ecosystem that links universities, industry, innovators, government, and military end users.”

The province’s minister of technology and innovation said his ministry is talking with federal counterparts about investing in the effort.

“Given the size of the province’s contribution of $21 million over a multi-year commitment, I’m hoping we’ll see something substantial, but I’m feeling cautiously optimistic, Minister Nate Glubish said Tuesday. “We’ve had a good relationship with our counterparts over there. The federal government has made a significant commitment to defence spending, and I do believe that research, development and innovation in defence is going to need to play a role in that.”

Research facilities at the U of A involved in the program are the Centre for Applied Research in Defence and Dual-Use Technologies, the open-access micro and nanofabrication facility nanoFAB, and a North Atlantic Treaty Organization Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) Test Centre.

The province said it projects DEFENDS will support 8,000 jobs and more than 200 companies in Alberta.