The Ottawa-based defence contractor wants to help smaller ones work better with the Canadian Armed Forces in joint lab facilities, said Chris Pogue, the president of Calian’s defence and space division. “The Canadian government deploys a lot of capital into R&D and innovation development, but sometimes what’s missing is that last mile to get it into the customer’s hands,” he told The Logic. (The Logic)

Talking point: Pogue wouldn’t say how much of the $100-million Calian will put up itself—some of it is to come from governments and other companies. The company aims to establish the labs with existing organizations around the country, though it might need to build something new in the North, he said. Calian Ventures, which the company thinks of as a defence “orchestrator” and not a venture capital arm, is leading the effort. It is to focus on command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting systems, or “C5ISRT,” the electronic pipeline between incoming data and outgoing orders.