French digital technology and defence giant Thales Group is spearing the creation of a new cybersecurity hub at Fredericton’s Knowledge Park under a partnership with economic development agency Ignite and the University of New Brunswick’s digital technology hub, The McKenna Institute, with $8.6 million of federal and provincial funding.

The National Digital Excellence Centre, or NDEC, as Thales dubs the new facility, is the company’s second, with the first being in Wales. Both centres organize joint research and development work between large corporations and smaller, but high-growth businesses like startups.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is paying $1.8 million towards the NDEC through The McKenna Institute and another $1.2 million via Ignite, and Opportunities New Brunswick is contributing $5.5 million via a payroll rebate agreement. 

“Through this initiative, Thales will not only create value for its partners and customers, but also grow its Atlantic workforce; increase opportunities for learning and innovation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through numerous student opportunities and introduce a new cyber range to support access and development of advanced cybersecurity capabilities,” said Thales vice president of cyber defence solutions in a statement.

“Thales' successful experience in driving these public-private synergy projects is leading the group to replicate these innovation-driven initiatives to accelerate business transformation and strengthen the security of their facilities.”

The NDEC announcement comes as Thales is seemingly ramping up its presence in the Atlantic Canadian innovation economy. In March, the company announced a Naval Innovation Challenge under a partnership with Dartmouth’s Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship, inviting participants to develop methodologies for testing condition-based maintenance procedures, which use digital models of industrial components to predict equipment failures.