Dual-Use and Emergency Technologies (DUET) – A Proposal
The Government of Canada has committed to securing Canada's sovereign capabilities in design and manufacture of advanced technologies, strengthening our international relationships and industrial capacity.
The semiconductor sector is essential to Canada’s future, strengthening technological sovereignty, national security and supply chain resilience.
A formidable contribution to Canada
Canada will invest in emergency preparedness, defence, and strategic investments to increase domestic resilience. It underscores the strategic importance of semiconductors in enabling secure, resilient, and sovereign national capabilities.
CMC Microsystems’ DUET initiative — Dual-Use and Emergency Technologies — provides fuel for innovation in these technologies to build a stronger, more self-sufficient Canada.
The Vision
DUET is a pan-Canadian research and development network that develops innovative, cost-effective solutions addressing both military and civilian threats. DUET will harness the combined expertise of academic specialists, small and medium enterprises (SME), and large multinationals. Technologies will be leveraged through CMC Microsystems’ extensive network of global partners.
DUET will subsidize companies and provide technical expertise to develop products for civil emergencies first (fires, floods, storms, first responders, police, firefighters) and to enable companies to sell these products to early adopters worldwide to ensure their financial success. The program will extend to field trials so that products are mature and manufacturable (LAB to FIELD).
Dual Use and Emergency Technologies (DUET)
Authored by CMC Microsystems
[email protected]
February 1st, 2026
Background
Canada is committing to spending much more on defence, but these investments must benefit Canada and make our own industries more resilient, ensure sovereignty, and enhance our GDP. Many dual-use projects could provide benefit to the public in emergencies (fire, flood, storms) as well as provide security for Canada. These projects may require a multi-disciplinary blend of technologies from different providers while providing training for highly qualified personnel (HQP). Few organizations can provide the national scope and support for a breadth of technologies.
The Project
CMC Microsystems serves a pan-Canadian research and development network of 69 post-secondary institutions, over 1000 research groups, and over 1000 companies to find innovative, cost-effective solutions to civilian or military threats. The network may require technology from friendly countries, and so CMC’s international network in over 20 countries will also be exercised.
CMC manages the FABrIC project, a $220M five-year effort to onshore manufacturing in key advanced technologies (compound semiconductors, photonics, electromechanical sensors, and quantum) and subsidizes Canadian SMEs to commercialize Internet-of-Things (IoT) products made in Canada.
The DUET project will be unique in several aspects:
1. AGILITY – The approach will use lessons learned in FABrIC to get underway very quickly with an external panel of experienced reviewers to select and approve the proposed projects.
2. SUSTAINABILITY – Projects will focus first on technologies that are useful for civilian emergencies, which will make it possible for smaller companies to get revenues quickly while they negotiate defence purchasing protocols. Defence buyers will then be able to see proven technology and not just prototypes.
3. VIABILITY – Projects will go from LAB to FIELD (not from LAB to FAB). Field testing of hundreds or thousands of devices will be subsidized to ensure that the product is at a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and ready for sale.
4. GROWTH – The project will include subsidies for STEM students to design, build, and test devices built in advanced technologies to ensure a solid base of experienced and highly qualified personnel for the future.
The funding proposal is for 1B$ over 5 years, of which 500M$ would come from federal and provincial funds, and the remainder from contracts related to ITBs or contributions from the industrial partners.
DUET Partners
Prototype manufacture of MEMS, photonics, nanomaterials, superconductors, chip packaging and circuit board.
4D LABS
AIoT Canada
Industry association representing and fostering the Canadian AIoT (fusion of AI and IoT) ecosystem of providers, adopters, and other stakeholders.
aiRadar Inc
aiRadar Inc. develops high‑performance phased‑array imaging radars, including ultra‑lightweight synthetic aperture radar systems for small UAVs with sub‑5 cm resolution. The company is also a world leader in quantum‑enhanced radar technology.
The Accelerator Centre
Empowering tech founders to build businesses, accelerate their growth, and thrive.
Ambature
High-temperature superconducting microelectronics for quantum sensing (magnetic, RF, photonic) and high-performance computing (interconnects, logic).
Axonal Networks
Development and manufacturing of distributed networking technology designed to meet the performance, security, and scalability demands of modern digital infrastructure.
C2MI
Prototype and low‑volume manufacturing of components in advanced technologies, including photonics, MEMS, superconductors and semiconductor packaging.
Celesta Capital
A venture capital firm specializing in deep tech. Investing in early disruptive technologies and innovative businesses, and mentoring young companies to create long-term value for their investors.
Cantronic Systems
Design and manufacture cooled and uncooled infrared cameras, EO/IR cameras and sensors, gimbals, thermal imagers, night vision security and surveillance systems, etc.
CMC Microsystems
Project Prime, provides support for building components in advanced technologies, including microelectronics, photonics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and superconductors, also quantum computation and high-performance computation as a service.
CodeSScientific
Photonics Chiplets
Quantum Secured Photonics Chiplets for Hyperscale AI Data Centres and HPC.
CYBERDEFENSE AI
Most platforms detect attacks after they begin. CYBERDEFENSE AI’s preemptive platform detects the conditions that create them before exploitation occurs. Behavioral AI. No signatures or static rules. Proven autonomous defense against AI-driven threat
Digitho Technologies
Digitho offers a direct-write technology for semiconductor manufacturing to pave the way to a secured semiconductor supply chain within friendly countries, and for smart physical AI devices in low-cost systems.
DistriQ
District developed Espace Quantique with 21 companies and 160 employees in quantum technology
Edge Signal
Edge Computing and sovereign Edge AI company, with advanced ML and Gen AI capabilities.
Edgewater Wireless Systems Inc
Edgewater Wireless develops Wi-Fi 8-ready semiconductor solutions and patented Spectrum Slicing™ technology for high-reliability, low-latency wireless performance in connected homes, enterprises, drones and dual-use systems.
Emergent Solutions Inc.
Emergent Solutions delivers modular, AI-enabled compute and communication systems designed for dual-use applications in industrial and defence environments, as well as new UHF spectrum capacities.
Emtar Tech
Vancouver-based fabless IC design company focused on LEO satellite communication terminal chipsets
Enablence
Provider of solid‑state photonics devices for LiDAR, and a major global supplier of optical devices for data centers. Enablence ranks among the world’s top providers of optical chips and also delivers advanced chips for the AI compute market.
Formic AI
Formic AI provides Boreal: a neuro-symbolic AI governance layer. Utilizing sovereign, patented technologies, we deliver hallucination-proof AI with absolute information provenance and radical hardware efficiency.
Halpie Technologies
Halpie is developing a continuous vital sign monitoring platform designed for hospital-to-home transitions, first responders, and extreme environments, anywhere critical clinical decisions must be made without hospital infrastructure.
IBM
IBM Canada’s plant in Bromont, Quebec, is one of North America’s largest chip assembly and testing facilities, transforming advanced semiconductor components into state-of-the-art microelectronic solutions.
Innovation Network Canada
Innovation Network Global
Canadian nonprofit developing sovereign AI governance architecture and on-device, privacy-preserving AI platforms through its for-profit subsidiary Sapius Inc. INC co-chairs the Dynamic Coalition on Emerging Technologies at the UN Internet Governance Forum and leads Canada’s first sovereign Indigenous AI health deployment in partnership with indigenous communities.
KT Photonics
Volume manufacturer of cooled infrared FPA chips, detectors, and modules; as well as III-V based compound semiconductor photonic devices including infrared photo detectors and VCSEL chips.
Lawrence Semiconductor
Provider of advanced epitaxial growth, materials characterization, and device development for photonics, sensing, and quantum technologies, with deep expertise in Group IV semiconductors and operations in the United States and Canada.
LightSail Ltd.
LightSail is a spinoff from Western University, turning world-class photonics research into commercial products. We are developing Vela, a space qualified, chip-scale optical phased array for intersatellite classical and quantum communication.
MEMS Vision
MEMS Vision invent and manufacture disruptive environmental and ultrasound intelligent microsensors for the industrial, automotive, consumer, and medical markets for a better quality of life – health, energy efficiency, safety, and comfort.
nanoFAB
Prototyping and production of semiconductor and photonic devices, including materials device characterization.
OSCP
Develops integrated optical gyroscopes for use in low-power, low-size, and lightweight applications such as drones
Palitronica
Provides cyber and quality assurance solutions. Electronics testing platform rooted in physics and AI
Phantom Photonics
Provides quantum LIDAR and RADAR technology. Advancing quantum coherence technology for unmatched remote sensing capabilities in space, underwater, and ultra-long distance applications.
Quantum Valley Ideas Lab
Quantum Valley laboratories in Waterloo, Ontario, for development and manufacture of quantum sensors
Stratford Intellectual Property
Stratford IP, a division of Stratford Group ltd, is a full-service IP agency that understands IP is more than just patents. In addition to our expert roster of agents that deliver the highest-quality work in drafting and prosecution, we also specialize in working with innovative companies to implement cost-efficient proactive and pragmatic IP strategies that cover all forms of intellectual property.
Teledyne MEMS
High-volume manufacturer of MEMS devices for a broad range of applications
ventureLAB
ventureLAB is a leading Canadian lab and accelerator supporting hardtech founders in building and scaling globally competitive companies. With advanced lab infrastructure, specialized technical expertise, and strong industry partnerships, ventureLAB enables the development, validation, and commercialization of deep tech companies.
Wesley Clover
Wesley Clover International is a global, private investment management firm, with active interests in innovative new technology companies as well as real estate, hospitality, and entertainment.
International DUET Partners
Australian National Fabrication Facility
ANFF assists in both the development of new products and improvements to current production methods through access to micro- and nano- fabrication tools and expertise. Our focus areas include advanced materials, nanoelectronics, optics, quantum & photonics and nano-bio applications.
REWIRE
REWIRE combines the skills, techniques and facilities of the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Warwick with industry expertise to accelerate next-generation wide-band-gap power semiconductor technologies.