St. Laurent Shopping Centre to test cutting-edge AI, robotics technology in ‘living lab’

October 6, 2025

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St. Laurent Shopping Centre will become a testing ground for smart-city technology as part of Ottawa’s second “living lab” funded by the Kanata-based Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks. Morguard, which owns the east-end mall, said Monday it is partnering with CENGN and telecom giant Nokia to install advanced 5G networking systems at the shopping plaza. Morguard said the cutting-edge infrastructure will allow emerging startups to use the mall as a real-world proving ground for smart-city technologies such as AI systems that predict equipment failures, robotics that automate maintenance, and sensors that reduce energy use in real time. St. Laurent is one of three sites chosen to host the $6.5-million project, along with The Bay Club, a multi-suite residential property in Toronto, and Place Innovation, an office complex in Montreal. “These labs reflect our commitment to advancing smart, sustainable properties while accelerating technologies that improve the everyday lives of the people who live, work and shop in our communities,” Morguard president and chief operating officer Angela Sahi said in a statement. Monday’s announcement comes a couple of weeks after CENGN said it was joining forces with Ericsson and Invest Ottawa to create a new facility at Bayview Yards aimed at helping emerging companies in fields such as robotics and AI develop cutting-edge technologies. The projects are among eight “living labs” CENGN plans to open over the next several years in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec where startups from across the country can test, validate and certify emerging technologies and IP. Ericsson, Nokia and Rogers will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure such as advanced 5G networking and cloud technology for the test labs. The federal government announced late last year it was contributing $45 million to the program. Jean-Charles Fahmy, the organization’s president and CEO, told Techopia last December the new facilities will bring together “like-minded” partners from industry, post-secondary institutions and the startup community to commercialize new products. CENGN said it hopes to assist more than 100 Canadian startups and scaleups through the program, which will focus on areas such as smart mobility, smart buildings, advanced manufacturing, robotics, smart agriculture and network technologies.