Alberta investing $23 million toward U of C's Quantum City
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The province is investing $23 million in a quantum physics hub headquartered at the University of Calgary, Premier Jason Kenney and announced Thursday.
Quantum City is a partnership between the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta and the University of Lethbridge, as well as the province and polytechnic schools in the province. Global tech firm Mphasis has also joined the partnership after setting up its Canadian headquarters in downtown Calgary earlier this week.
University of Calgary president and vice-chancellor Ed McCauley said the collaborative centre will help drive research in quantum technologies in Alberta and nurture local talent to fill jobs expected to be created in the next several years.
“The investment today is really to support talent creation in the province, as well as our ability to certainly deal and create in some of these technologies,” said McCauley. “We hope companies like Mphasis and other companies around the world will take up support in the area around building up fabrication facilities where we can collaborate with industry to prototype, scale and test those devices.”
Quantum City director Dr. Barry Sanders said quantum technology is needed as the province continues to diversify its economy. He said at least 20 nations have national strategies aimed at developing the field and Alberta has a chance to be a leader.
“Alberta has really good strengths, you know, natural resources, transportation, agriculture, tourism, etc., and those are all important. But as our province grows and increases its population, it also needs to diversify what it does,” said Sanders. “Where does it matter? It matters that our universities are great, people will want to study here, jobs will be created and we’re attracting companies and we also expect to generate startups.”
Sanders said quantum technology has applications related to climate change, medical technology and oil and gas among others. He said the field is an opportunity for young Albertans to consider for their studies, while others already in the workforce could look at it as an opportunity to re-skill.
Kenney said he doesn’t have a dollar figure on the amount of investment the province hopes to bring in through quantum technology but said the sector could produce thousands of jobs.
“All of the major tech companies with whom we speak about potential investments in Alberta, talk to us about connections to our research universities for the actual product, the actual research output, but also for the development of a skilled labour force,” said Kenney. “We are hoping to attract more federal and private sector investment.”
NDP economic development and innovation critic Deron Bilous said the UCP saw economic diversification as a luxury when they took office in 2019 and cut more than $600 million from post-secondary institutions in the province.
“As a result, we’ve lost years under the UCP, and as our province recovers from the pandemic we now face a skills and labour shortage that is holding back our economy,” Bilous said in a statement. “The UCP’s attempt to return a fraction of the funding falls well short of what’s required to make up for the cuts and lost years under their failed government.”
Kenney’s government has faced criticism from faculty and student groups in the past over funding cuts in previous budgets. Both the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary have been approved for ‘exceptional’ tuition increases. Among other hikes, there will be a 30 per cent tuition hike for domestic engineering students at the U of C.
Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has previously said the government has been bringing post-secondary education funding in line with other Canadian jurisdictions. On Thursday, Kenney said he was elected with a promise to rein in spending while noting a $600-million funding increase for in-demand programs.
“We challenged the universities to find efficiencies and I want to thank them, the boards and administrations for having done that,” said Kenney. “Alberta is now closer to the national average in terms of per-capita expenditures in post-secondary institutions.”
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