Ericsson Canada announced Wednesday the extension of its long-standing collaboration with Montreal’s Concordia University through a newly awarded NSERC Alliance grant.
“This new five-year project will focus on advancing research to enhance secure cloud-native telecommunications networks, a critical step forward in ensuring the resilience of mobile networks as part of Canada’s national infrastructure, and further positioning Ericsson as a trusted partner,” an Ericsson press release said.
The program will foster Canadian technology talent by creating 16 new graduate research positions, the release said, adding the research “will engage industry experts from Ericsson, Concordia University professors, and graduate students, to develop innovative security technologies and solutions for mobile networks focusing on radio access and core.”
The project will be led by Lingyu Wang, affiliate professor at the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, as primary investigator, with professors Mourad Debbabi and Suryadipta Majumdar serving as co-investigators.
“Their research will address the security and stability of cloud-native technology as it becomes central to the evolution of 5G and the transition to 6G. The grant will advance innovation in cybersecurity while creating new opportunities for highly skilled graduate researchers in a strategically important field,” Ericsson’s press release said.
“As a trusted ecosystem partner, Ericsson Canada is committed to leading the development of secure, resilient, and future-ready mobile networks,” Nishant Grover, Ericsson Canada’s recently appointed president, said in the press release. “This new project continues our collaboration with Concordia University and brings to life our shared vision of creating security solutions that address the changing environment of cloud-native telecommunications.”
“The relevance of security and availability is emphasized as mobile networks become an integral part of society,” said Eva Fogelström, director of security at Ericsson Research. “Our long-standing and fruitful collaboration with Concordia University contributes to defining security solutions for 5G and 6G, preparing for future needs.”
Ericsson’s first Tier 1 university partner in North America, Concordia University is part of Ericsson’s global academic network. This new chapter of their partnership builds on the achievements of the 2019-2024 NSERC Industrial Research Chair program, which, according to Ericsson, “delivered high-impact research on privacy, attack investigations, and vulnerability patching, with findings shared at leading global security conferences.”
