FedDev Ontario and Rogers Communications are both providing $10 million in funding for the Brampton, Ont.-based facility, with the municipal government and Royal Bank of Canada contributing $5 million each. The Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst will provide training to government and private-sector workers on cybersecurity, host a cybersecurity accelerator and match academics with companies for R&D partnerships. (The Logic)
Talking point: The Ontario provincial government is notably absent from the funding announcement. In April 2018, Ryerson announced that a cybersecurity centre would be part of its planned Brampton campus. But in October, the new Progressive Conservative provincial government cancelled the previous Liberal government’s $90-million pledge for the satellite site. Recently, the federal government has stepped in to provide funding to Ontario innovation projects that the provincial level has reduced its support to. In April, Ottawa announced $52.4 million for MaRS, Communitech and Invest Ottawa; Ontario’s funding cuts to those innovation hubs were revealed shortly after. And, in May, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains told my colleague Jessica that the federal government would look into additional funding for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Vector Institute following Ontario’s cuts to their funding.