The New Brunswick government has announced a new 135,000-square-foot building in Fredericton’s Knowledge Park to house office space and labs for the province's growing cybersecurity industry.

The $37-million dollar project, called Cyber Park, is set to be constructed by Greater Fredericton Knowledge Park Inc., a Fredericton property management company. To support this, Knowledge Park Inc. is eligible for a $30-million loan from Opportunities New Brunswick, a Crown corporation that supports services for business across the province.

“Being able to break ground on Cyber Park is a great moment for the City of Fredericton and a great day for the cybersecurity ecosystem in our province,” said Knowledge Park CEO Larry Shaw in a statement

Earlier last  week the federal and provincial governments announced investments over $3.1 million to support this project.

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The New Brunswick government has identified cybersecurity as one of the key planks of its economic strategy. The province has a strong cybersecurity community concentrated in Fredericton, which was driven largely by Q1 Labs, a cybersecurity company that was bought by IBM reportedly for more than $600 million in 2012. IBM's global cybersecurity R&D operations are still based in Fredericton. 

Cyber Park will be just 500 metres from existing buildings that make up Knowledge Park. The site, which will be twin four-story towers, will be constructed with a high level of security due to the nature of the industry.

The building will be designed to be energy efficient and is intended to be occupied by high-technology users.

“This new building will be an enormous step forward in all your government’s efforts to establish New Brunswick as a leader in the field of cybersecurity,” said Deputy Premier Stephen Horsman in a statement. “Cyber Park will have all of the facilities needed to play home to the world’s leading cybersecurity companies, some of whom are already located here in Fredericton."