The federal government is investing more than $20 million over two years to develop Canada’s first secure, quantum-focused defence innovation hub in Calgary.
The news: Speaking at the University of Calgary (U of C) today, Canada’s national defence minister, David McGuinty, said the investment would support a U of C-led consortium to establish a quantum Defence Innovation Secure Hub (DISH). The hub will be used to accelerate the transition of quantum technology into “mission-ready capabilities” for the Canadian Armed Forces.
From the source: “Quantum will shape the next generation of defence capabilities, and Canada must be prepared to lead—not follow,” McGuinty said in a statement on Thursday.
The context: The announcement marks the first time a DISH—which are mission-oriented hubs aimed at enabling government, industry, academia, and the military to collaborate—has been solely focused on quantum technology development.
The consortium establishing the DISH will bring together 13 organizations from Canada’s quantum, defence, and innovation sectors, including the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, University of Lethbridge, University of Saskatchewan, Lockheed Martin Canada, General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada, CAE, Dell Canada, and Calian.
Final thought: The University of Calgary has long been an academic leader in quantum development in Canada, going so far as to build a “Quantum City” research hub that opened in 2025. The cross-border collaboration with post-secondary institutions like the University of Saskatchewan—which is home to the Centre for Quantum Topology and its Applications and the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation—means the Quantum DISH project is building upon a growing quantum ecosystem in Canada’s Prairies.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Adrian Shellard.