Nokia Launches $1.5 Billion 'Smart Cities' Initiative in Canada

The new program offers cities access to $2 billion CAD in financing as well as a network of technical support.

1 minute read

April 19, 2018, 9:00 AM PDT

By Elana Eden


Toronto

Javen / Shutterstock

Nokia has partnered with investment firm Smart City Capital to help foster the growth of data-rich "smart cities" throughout Canada.

The firm has made available more than $2 billion CAD ($1.5 billion USD) to cities seeking to adopt high-tech approaches to public safety and transportation, particularly autonomous vehicle technologies. The joint program also offers access to an ecosystem of companies offering funding packages, technology, communications infrastructure, architecture and engineering services, and other capacity support. It is designed as private-sector counterpart to Canada's Smart Cities Challenge, according to Nokia.

"Canada has huge smart city potential," Chris Teale writes in Smart Cities Dive, citing Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs in Toronto. And this is not Nokia's first foray into the smart city industry, he notes. The Finnish telecommunications company already offers "an Internet of Things (IoT) operations center, blockchain-based data analytics (dubbed ‘Sensing as a Service’) and a secure mobile virtual network operator (S-MVNO) for public safety agencies," per Teale.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 in Smart Cities Dive

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Wastewater pouring out from a pipe.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage

Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

April 13, 2025 - Inside Climate News

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Black and white photos of camp made up of small 'earthquake shacks' in Dolores Park in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees

More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

April 15, 2025 - Charles F. Bloszies

People walking up and down stairs in New York City subway station.

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving

Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

April 18 - Scientific American

White public transit bus with bike on front bike rack in Nashville, Tennessee.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan

Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

April 18 - Bloomberg CityLab

An engineer controlling a quality of water ,aerated activated sludge tank at a waste water treatment plant.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding

The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.

April 18 - Smart Cities Dive