LATVIA – Canada was one of eight allied nations at the table as Latvia launched AlliedTechLabs, a public-private centre to develop and validate defence and dual-use technologies, in the country that hosts Canada’s largest overseas military mission.

The centre will focus on next-generation 5G and 6G networks, sensing and signal processing, artificial intelligence, edge computing and integrated communications. Partners from the FutureG Office of the U.S. Department of War and European defence AI firm NestAI joined Latvian officials for the launch at the Cabinet of Ministers in Riga.

Government, NATO and industry representatives from Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Sweden and the United States attended. Organizers said several technology companies at the launch are in talks to join as industry partners, but did not name them or say which Canadian organizations took part.

About 1,600 Canadian Armed Forces members are deployed in Latvia under Operation REASSURANCE, most with the NATO Multinational Brigade Latvia, for which Canada is the framework nation. Col. David Brassard took command of the brigade at Ādaži Military Base in June, the third Canadian to lead it since its full standup in 2024.

Ādaži is also home to the 5G military test site that has hosted NATO’s Digital Backbone Experimentation (DiBaX) every year since 2022. AlliedTechLabs builds on that track record, offering NATO, allied operators and industry realistic environments to test integrated systems against real-world challenges.

“DiBaX has shown what Latvia can do: companies from across the Alliance working together for six months to turn promising products into demonstrated capabilities. AlliedTechLabs makes that permanent,” said Juris Binde, president of LMT Group.

Canada has extended its military presence in Latvia to 2031 and confirmed its role as a framework nation in NATO’s Multinational Division North. That timeline gives Canadian forces in theatre a direct interest in which networks and AI tools get validated there.

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs cast the centre as a shift from buying allied technology to building it.

“In Latvia, we must be able not only to acquire technologies developed elsewhere, but to develop, test, and turn our own innovations into competitive products. AlliedTechLabs is an important step in that direction,” he said.

Thomas Rondeau, principal director for FutureG in the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, said future conflict demands “resilient, software-driven networks capable of delivering real-time data to the tactical edge.”

“Initiatives like AlliedTechLabs are essential for breaking open legacy architectures and driving transparent, standard-aligned 5G and 6G technologies,” he said.

The centre will operate as a dedicated unit within Latvia’s Institute of Electronics and Computer Science (EDI). It is backed by telecom operator LMT Group, Latvia’s ministries of defence and of education and science, and Riga City Council.

LMT, EDI and NestAI signed a memorandum of understanding at the launch that sets out steps toward NestAI’s intended contribution of up to €1 million over three years. NestAI, which develops the NestOS battlefield operating system, works with European forces including the Finnish Defence Forces.

The centre also plans to work with Ukrainian partners to turn combat and civil resilience experience into testing standards and proposals for NATO and the EU. It will connect Latvian developers to the Allied Tech Stack and to EU, NATO and U.S. 6G initiatives.

The launch comes as Ottawa builds its own model for moving defence research into the field. Under the Defence Industrial Strategy unveiled in February, the Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science (BOREALIS) has opened Defence Innovation Secure Hubs for uncrewed systems in Mirabel, Que., and quantum technologies in Calgary, following a maritime pilot announced in November 2025.

Like AlliedTechLabs, the hubs aim to close the gap between laboratory research and operational capability. Whether Canadian firms plug into the Latvian centre, given Canada’s footprint in the country, is a question the launch left open.