GM Canada announced on Tuesday that it has formed an innovation research outpost at Communitech among other research initiatives in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

In a speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto, GM Canada president and managing director Steve Carlisle also said the Canadian subsidiary of General Motors Corp. will support the University of Waterloo's Engineering Faculty by providing $1 million to fund a Research Chair in advanced materials. The company will also sponsor engineering student Capstone design projects involving software development, which Carlisle said is key to GM Canada's work on "the connected car."

The move reflects a growing trend in automotive innovation. As software plays a greater role in modern automobiles, corporations are searching for more new innovation from startups and university researchers. In fact, Carlisle called on Canada to play a greater role in researching the car of the future.

"No company, country or government owns this space, but we see that Canada has distinct advantages in mobile technology, engineering skills, applied research and a strong automotive history," said Carlisle. "As Canada prepares to invest billions in much needed urban transportation infrastructure, we need to understand how new automotive technologies and urban mobility approaches can increase infrastructure ROI, accelerate environmental benefits and anchor new high skilled Canadian jobs at the forefront of a new automotive innovation supply chain."

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GM will join other global corporations like Google, Thomson Reuters, TD Financial, and Deloitte that have a presence in the Communitech Hub in Kitchener.

"Communitech has developed a unique innovation ecosystem that allows enterprise companies and startups to collaborate and innovate together," said Communitech CEO Iain Klugman in the statement. "General Motors Canada is a great addition to this ecosystem, as our startup and mid-sized companies will benefit from having access to a world class automotive company, while GM Canada will be exposed to new concepts, technologies and ways of thinking about opportunities in the automotive sector."