Huawei ban makes research partnerships difficult to maintain: Editorial

Brian Owens of University Affairs reports that the ban on Chinese electronic companies from Canadian 5G networks has had a chilling effect on research. Director of the Waterloo-Huawei Joint Innovation Lab Tamer Özsu states that university administrators are killing research projects and collaborations without remaining accountable to faculty members. For example, the Waterloo-Huawei lab at the University of Waterloo was set up in 2018 with $6.5M from Huawei, but has been frozen since June 2021 and unable to start any new projects. Huawei spends around $25M a year on research projects at Canadian universities, reports Owens, and some universities, such as the University of Toronto, have stated that they do not plan to end their partnerships unless they are told to do so by the federal government. The federal ban follows NSERC’s 2021 implementation of National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships. Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.

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