Algonquin College Officially Announced as a Founding Member of CENGN
Posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2014
Founders from left to right: Wahab Almuhtadi, Algonquin College; Jim Ghadbane, CANARIE; Tim McLaughlin, Allstream; Robert Keates, Telus; Dennis Weiss, EWA; Janet Walden, NSERC; Ritch Dusome, CENGN; Michael McCallen, JDSU; Chris Bachalo, Juniper Networks; Bruce Lazenby, Invest Ottawa; David Ritonja, Alcatel-Lucent; Germain Lamonde, EXFO; Sam Bucci, Alcatel-Lucent; Kimberly Matheson, Carleton University; Robert Keys, BTI Systems.
(Ottawa, November 10, 2014) At the launch of the headquarters for the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN), Algonquin College was announced as one of the founding members of CENGN. Algonquin College has been involved as a key player in establishing CENGN for the past two years – from the concept and proposal preparation, to winning the bid, and now to CENGN’s launch.
“Algonquin College is proud to be a founding member of CENGN,” says Claude Brulé, Vice President Academic, Algonquin College. “This innovative centre will create additional hands-on learning and research opportunities for our students, and new opportunities for research and collaboration between the College and industry.”
CENGN is a consortium of industry, academia and research institutes dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of next generation communications solutions. CENGN will help bridge the gap between research and commercialization – a key component to building successful startup companies. CENGN members are collaborating to lower the barrier to entry for small and medium companies and researchers.
CENGN is an Ottawa-based not-for-profit that aims to ensure Canada maintains its position as a world leader in next generation network technologies. It has acquired $11.7 million over five years in federal government funding and will be receiving contributions from industry (cash & in-kind contribution) and from the academia (in-kind contribution) with a total of $54.7 million.
The College is a CENGN academic partner and will conduct collaborative research with industry in next generation communications. The Ciena Optophotonics lab at Algonquin College will be connected to CENGN’s testbed with the aim of accelerating research to commercialization.
“CENGN will establish Canada as a global leader in the commercialization of the technologies that will underpin the next generation of converged global communication networks,” says Professor Dr. Wahab Almuhtadi, Algonquin College representative at CENGN. “The College will make a difference in conducting applied research and providing high qualified faculty and students who will help industry from conducting research to commercialization.”