Ottawa is putting $23M into Siemens' battery-production R&D centre at its Oakville headquarters
The federal government is investing $23 million in a $70-million Siemens Canada project to scale up its global AI research centre for battery production, based at its Canadian headquarters in Oakville. Minister Mélanie Joly announced it on 21 April 2026.
The details
What happened
On 21 April 2026, at the Hannover Messe trade fair in Germany, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced a $23-million federal investment, through the Strategic Response Fund, toward a $70-million Siemens Canada project. The federal government describes the project as part of a broader $150-million Siemens investment to scale up its Global AI Manufacturing Technologies Research and Development Centre for Battery Production.
What the centre does
The centre is based at Siemens Canada's headquarters in Oakville, with related work in Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo. Its focus is advancing battery efficiency and production methods — deploying industrial artificial intelligence to optimise battery manufacturing and reduce waste — and developing and commercialising technologies meant to address barriers in the global battery sector.
- $23 million (Strategic Response Fund)
- $70 million
- $150 million
- 3,310
- 90
- 625
- 21 April 2026, Hannover Messe
Why it matters
Oakville trades on being a place companies choose, and the town's own investment reporting leans on this project as a marquee example. Beneath the headline figures, the substance for Oakville is an anchor: a multinational keeping its Canadian headquarters and a global research mandate in town, with thousands of jobs attached and a fresh reason — public money with conditions — to keep them here. That matters for the employment land this publication tracks, which is finite and under pressure as the same designations are eyed for housing.