Cisco Systems, Inc. has opened the new Cisco innovation center at Toronto, Ontario. The Cisco Innovation Centre Toronto, one of nine Cisco Innovation Centres worldwide, is designed to catalyze and showcase digital innovation and development. The Centre will bring together customers, industry collaborators, startups, application developers, accelerators, government organizations and universities to work on real world problems, with a focus on urban innovation (including smart cities, urban mobility, and environmental transformation), healthcare and financial services transformation.

The Cisco Innovation Centre Toronto is the culmination of several years of Cisco's investment in Canada, including: the Cisco Canada Innovation Program, which is investing up to $150 Million in Canadian companies and venture capital funds; the establishment of 12 University Research Chairs across Canada; the R&D job creation initiative with the Province of Ontario; the Pan Am/Parapan technology legacy program; and R&D centres across Canada. Located on the 29th floor of Cisco's new Toronto offices, this facility offers an open digital platform where customers, partners, entrepreneurs and academics can create, test and refine new solutions that have the capacity to change industries. The Innovation Centre is comprised of both purpose-built and flexible collaboration spaces.

Components include a dynamic classroom space where Cisco Networking Academy students and instructors can have hands-on access to the latest Cisco technology and mentorship from Cisco engineers It also includes a Solutions Lab, dedicated to the development of industry solutions and addressing specific customer requirements. In the lab, Cisco experts, together with partners and ecosystem startups, will develop proof of concepts and do rapid prototyping.