From left: President and CEO of Centennial College Craig Stevenson; Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, and Head of the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network at OCI Raed Kadri; Dean of the School of Transportation Alan McClelland of Centennial College; Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli; Associate Dean, School of Transportation David Weatherhead, , Centennial College; Vice-President Research and Innovation Amir Asif, York University; and CEO, Ontario Centre for Innovation Claudia Krywiak are given a tour of some of the electric vehicles at Centennial College. PHOTO courtesy York University.
The Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), with support from the Ontario government, announced $1.5M in funding to York University in partnership with Centennial College to support small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups in developing and testing innovative automotive technologies and smart mobility solutions.
Overall, OVIN is supporting an investment of $4.77 million including the Province’s $1.5 million contribution.
This investment launches York University’s Smart Mobility Applied Research and Testing – Toronto (SmartTO) as the newest OVIN Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS), located in the Greater Toronto Area. As part of the RTDS network, SmartTO will directly support entrepreneurs, SMEs and startups in the automotive technology and mobility sector, through access to industry-leading resources such as specialized equipment, supports for testing and piloting, business and technical advisory services, and opportunities for collaboration with regional partners.
SmartTO will enable SMEs in the province to move the dial on sustainability and work towards reducing the province’s carbon footprint by speeding up the development, testing, and commercialization of new technologies and driving developments in the field.
SmartTO will operate in partnership with Centennial College’s School of Transportation, Canada’s largest transportation training facility, leveraging the power of research expertise, engineering, and unrivalled access to state-of-the-art equipment, cutting-edge labs, vehicles, facilities, and expert technicians. SmartTO will also utilize resources from York University’s Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, Lassonde School of Engineering, and YSpace, a pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub, to support startups and SMEs in the GTA on their journey from technology development to commercialization.
“Having secured over $43 billion in new electric vehicle and EV battery manufacturing investments over the last four years, our government continues to recognize the economic potential of advanced automotive technologies,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “We congratulate York University and Centennial College on the launch of their SmartTO RTDS, and look forward to seeing their partnership with OVIN inspire innovation across the auto and mobility sectors.”
