University of Waterloo to end research partnership with Chinese tech giant Huawei

The University of Waterloo says it will end its research partnership with Huawei this year.

Charmaine Dean, the university's vice-president for research, says the decision is part of a larger effort to "safeguard scientific research" at the school.

In a written statement, Dean says the university's current contract with the Chinese telecommunications giant is set to run out before the end of this year.

Dean says the university realizes the move will put some of its researchers' work at risk because they will be losing reliable funding.

She's calling on Canadian businesses and governments to partner with the university to help fill the gap.    

'I'll support their decision': Ford

At a news conference in Cambridge, Ont., on Thursday, Premier Doug Ford said he supported the decision of the university to cut ties with the company.

"I don't like meddling in the middle of their decisions, I don't dictate to the universities — if that was their decision, you know something, I'll support their decision," he told reporters, adding "we can make up those millions of dollars on the other end."

"It concerns me sometimes on some of the things that we're dealing with the Communist Chinese government," Ford said.

'Recognition that the world around us has changed'

Ian Milligan, the associate vice-president of research oversight and analysis at the University of Waterloo, said that they're unable to say exactly how much research money they're losing, but said it's "significant."

He said that there wasn't one moment that made the university cut ties with the telecommunications giant; that it was an "ongoing process", but it was a decision that "doesn't come without a cost." 

Milligan explained that "it's a recognition that the world around us has changed, that we're in a different geopolitical reality here in 2023, that some of the relationships and contracts and things that made sense five, six years ago in a very different context, they don't make sense for [them] now."

"We're doing active outreach to government, we're doing active outreach to Canadian businesses," he said. "I think we're already seeing encouraging signs of people realizing that maybe this is an opportunity to step up to the plate and help out our Canadian institutions."   

He found the words by Ford on Thursday in Cambridge "very encouraging." 

"We were thrilled to hear that commitment or that interest in supporting us," he said. 

The research partnership between the University of Waterloo, one of Canada's top research universities, and Huawei began in 2016.    

The federal government has banned wireless carriers from installing Huawei equipment in its high-speed 5G networks.