OTTAWA, Oct. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On October 28, the Kanata North Business Association will host global leaders in finance, academia and technology for the grand opening of Hub350, the physical gateway for Canada’s largest technology park, where technology talent will have a space to converge and explore opportunities to live, work, play and learn.

Anchor partners at Hub350 include TELUS, RBC, Salesforce, Education City and world-leading post-secondary institutions including University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College and Queen’s University. Hub350 will enable access to partnerships that form the foundational elements of growing local businesses and Ottawa’s economy.

Details:

When: October 28, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

• 3:00 p.m.: Ribbon-cutting ceremony

Where: Hub350 – 350 Legget Drive
RSVP: jmadigan@syntaxstrategic.ca
On-site contact: Jennifer Madigan

The grand opening will feature:

Main Stage Presentations

Hear from TELUS’ Chief Technology Officer, Ibrahim Gedeon, on the power of 5G in driving Canadian innovation. Also taking to the stage will be senior executives from RBCx and Salesforce and local leaders including Wesley Clover Chairman Sir Terry Matthews, Invest Ottawa CEO Michael Tremblay, and Education City partners including the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College and La Cite Collegial.

The main stage agenda runs from 9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

5G Innovation Zone
At the heart of Hub350 is the TELUS 5G Innovation Zone, powerered by Canada’s fastest mobile network. 5G represents one of the most significant new advances in communications technologies to date, making the 5G Innovation Zone ideal for conceptualizing, developing, testing and, now, commercializing 5G.

The 5G Innovation Zone will allow Ottawa businesses to test their products for real-world applications on a 5G network, working alongside the 500+ businesses in the park.

Demonstrations showcasing the power of next-generation connectivity, such as an autonomous drone, connected smart glasses enabling remote healthcare, and more, will be available for interested media following the 3:00 p.m. ribbon cutting.

A group of early-stage technology companies will also have displays and demonstrations available for visitors during the afternoon, highlighting the innovation and energy of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. This includes Cliniconex, InitLive Inc., Neurovine, and Teldio Corp.

Official Hub350 Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony and remarks

Merilee Fullerton, MPP for Kanata-Carleton and Minister for Children, Community and Social Services, will be joined by Jenna Sudds, Member of Parliament for Kanata-Carleton, Mayor Jim Watson, Sir Terry Matthews and others for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony and remarks.

Ribbon-cutting photo op will take place at 3:00 p.m.

More information about Hub350:

RBCx Finance Quarter

Anchored by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Hub350 will establish a new financial industry cluster in the heart of the technology park. The Kanata North Financial Hub programs will encourage communication and connectivity amongst financial institutions, investors and government funders through shared interests, improved accessibility, and the creation of welcoming public spaces and events.

Investors such as Wesley Clover have partnered on the Finance Quarter project. Wesley Clover, a private, global investment management firm and holding company under the direction of founder, Chairman and serial technology entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews, has a portfolio with more than 45 investments under active management around the globe. This includes start-ups in the incubation stage, first-product firms in the accelerator phase, and more mature companies that now trade publicly. All are focused on next-generation Cloud and SaaS applications for fixed and mobile communications, video analytics, security, customer engagement, business enablement and more. The solutions target at least 10 industry vertical markets in more than 20 countries.

Salesforce

Hub350’s partnership with Salesforce will help drive innovation across Ottawa’s business community. Salesforce’s support will empower local technology entrepreneurs and start-ups to collaborate with industry experts and thought leaders, fostering the digital transformation required for businesses to succeed in today’s digital-first, work-from-anywhere world.
Salesforce is the #1 CRM provider, bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of every size and industry to take advantage of powerful technologies – cloud, mobile, social, voice and artificial intelligence – to create a 360-degree view of their customers. For information, please visit www.salesforce.com.

CENGN

Hub 350 also includes a partnership with CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks and key enabler of commercial growth and talent development in the digital economy. CENGN drives technology innovation and supports industry growth through its commercial grade network testbed, engineering resources, and expertise in technology validation. The CENGN testbed enables the commercial growth of Canadian tech startups as well as the talent development of professionals and students in the highly skilled sectors of cloud computing and networking. CENGN also fosters a large ecosystem of partners, including private companies, the federal government, and the Ontario government.

Digital Media Lab

Hub350 will open a state-of-the-art Digital Lab with the support of local technology company Ross Video to promote innovation and broadcast news, events and history from Canada’s largest technology park. KNBA is establishing a live broadcast newsroom and Digital Lab to deliver integrated and experiential learning opportunities in the KN technology park.

Member companies will have access to a state-of-the-art digital lab and studio to deliver virtual customer events, user conferences and industry leadership keynotes.

Finally, the lab will also serve as a space for local, national and international media organizations to soft land and produce first-to-market technology news stories and interviews with executives from the heart of Canada’s largest technology park.

Corporate and Academic Collaboration

KNBA and Hub350 are proudly partnered with academic anchors including uOttawa, Carleton University, Queen’s University, La Cite and Algonquin College to support and acquire top talent for our member companies. 

Hub350 will offer a site where corporate and academic institutions, and emerging students, can explore opportunities to live, work, play and learn in Canada’s largest technology park.

Our academic partners provide students with access to member companies offering exceptional career opportunities through hackathons, recruitment roadshows, career fairs and more. In fact, both uOttawa and Carleton have recently opened Kanata-North campuses, supporting the vital integration of post-secondary institutions into the technology park.

These academic partnerships will accelerate programs that will enable a deeper integration of local, national and international academic institutions, providing a space to soft land in the technology park in order to accelerate access to people skills, and global talent for member companies.

Area X.O / Invest Ottawa Lounge

Learn about Area X.O, a state-of-the-art R&D complex established and operated by Invest Ottawa, that enables and accelerates the safe and secure development, testing, and application of next-generation smart mobility, autonomy and connected technologies. These applications span intelligent transportation; telecom; smart agriculture; defence, security, and public safety; unmanned aerial vehicles; and smart cities. It is catalyzing new regional, national and global R&D, business and investment opportunities for companies in the tech park and throughout the Ottawa Region.

Kanata North Technology Park will continue to serve as the home of the Area X.O Public Innovation Facility and Test Track managed by Invest Ottawa, with supporting collaboration space at Hub350. Featuring 9 kilometres of public roads for testing, 5G and a wealth of connected, live city infrastructure including a smart intersection, the Area X.O Public Track enables the implementation of smart mobility and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies in a real-world environment. Following rigorous testing and validation at its gated Private Test Facility, Area X.O can implement approved innovations safely with collaborators in the Public Track. Hub350 is an ideal venue for collaboration with the 540+ members of the technology park and stakeholders across the Ottawa Region.

City of Ottawa

The City of Ottawa has committed to prioritizing and designating the Kanata North Technology Park as a Special Economic District in its next official plan. This designation will play a critical role in strengthening Ottawa, Ontario and Canada’s global competitive position.

In order to attract talent from around the world and across the country to live, work, play and learn in Canada’s largest technology park, we must transform from a single-industrial-use to a mixed-use, complete and connected community.

In the future, the Kanata North Innovation District will transform into a well-planned innovation district with residential and commercial development, sustainable green spaces, entertainment, culture and next-generation mobility solutions which will attract world-class talent to our area.

Ottawa Tourism

Hub350’s partnership with Ottawa Tourism will foster collaboration between the technology sector and Ottawa Tourism to attract world-class events to Canada’s capital, where the Kanata North Technology Park is situated. Hub350’s partnership with Ottawa Tourism includes access to newsletters, events, and physical space. The goal is to highlight tools and resources that are available through Ottawa Tourism—such as bid preparation assistance, images and video, site inspections, and more—to companies in Kanata North who wish to showcase their expertise by hosting conferences, meetings, product demonstrations, global training seminars, and the like in Ottawa.

Queensway Carleton Hospital

Our partnership with the Queensway Carleton Hospital will allow the hospital to extend its work beyond its physical walls, prioritizing much-needed mental and physical health education for employees and their families within the technology park. It will also create a direct connection between the experts at the Queensway Carleton Hospital and the technology being developed in Kanata North that could make a major impact on the way healthcare is delivered in Canada and around the world.

COVID-19 Safety Protocols

All interested media are asked to pre-register for the event and must show proof of vaccination upon sign-in.