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“The regional technical site program is meant to generate a cluster of startups, small and medium-sized enterprises that are developing new technology and solutions that will serve the future of the mobility sector,” Kadri said.
“It’s about knitting everything that’s happening in a region together.
“It sounds like that cluster is growing very successfully.”
WEEDC president Stephen MacKenzie said the region is beginning to see years of preparing the ground produce results.
“The province of Ontario, through OCE, gave us the first shot in the arm,” MacKenzie said.
“The Virtual Reality Cave was the first tangible asset. It was key and we’ve leveraged that.”
Institute for Border Logistics and Security executive director Matt Johnson said the organization is working with 14 companies digitally twinning programs or products for testing using the Virtual Reality Cave.
The cave has also boosted Windsor’s profile in attracting partnerships with American organizations such as the Detroit Mobility Lab and M City in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“We’re getting recognized as a regional tech site, “ Johnson said.
MacKenzie said landing Vehiqilla is some validation the decision to create the Auto Mobility Initiative was a wise choice.
The four pillars of the initiative are developing activity in auto connectivity, autonomous vehicles, security and electrification.
“Vehiqilla isn’t the end of the announcements,” MacKenzie said. “We’ll be having more of them in the coming weeks and months.”