CENGN Living Labs test what deployment requires

A floor-scrubbing robot will undergo design enhancement to pass EU regulations. A network analytics tool will test what level of connectivity remotely operated heavy equipment needs. A soil moisture sensor network wants to put a number on how much water it can save by moving from a conventional irrigation schedule. 

These are just three of six new CENGN Living Lab projects, announced Aug. 27, valued at a combined $4.5 million. The projects are also receiving $1.7 million in federal funding through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Strategic Response Fund.

The goal of the initiative, announced in Dec. 2024, is to help over 100 Canadian startups and scaleups get their products and solutions ready for commercialization and eventual adoption in their respective markets and industries. 

This type of testing, for a tech leader who’s thinking about buying an unfamiliar product, can show what real deployment looks like, including infrastructure requirements, operating limits, compliance needs, and whether the promised results hold up to real-world environments.

The six Canadian startups and scaleups will use the Living Labs to validate their products in end-user environments, making sure their product/service meets the user’s actual needs, solving the correct problem. They will work out of CENGN’s Smart Mobility, Connected Robotics, and 5G Advanced Living Labs.

CENGN’s labs provide services, expertise, and infrastructure so that startups and scaleups can make sure their products and/or solutions are ready for commercialization and industry adoption. 

The new cohort includes:

• Avidbots, making changes to its Kas autonomous floor-scrubbing robot so it can meet European regulations, opening up a “significant share of the global commercial cleaning market.”
• JPlug will test its software that lets businesses manage EV charging across different hardware. 
• Konnexio, testing a UV-C treatment module on its agroTRAX autonomous robotics platform, for table-top strawberries grown in tunnel environments.
• SoilTeck, using a real, connected farm environment, will measure their soil moisture sensor network and irrigation decision support system.
• LatenceTech will assess the network conditions required to remotely operate overhead cranes, mining equipment, and other heavy machinery over private 5G. 
• Zighra will validate GenesysInsights, their AI-powered sensor intelligence platform for autonomous and uncrewed systems that detects Global Navigation Satellite System disruptions, spoofing, and jamming in real time.

This is CENGN’s second cohort of Living Lab projects. Nine startups were approved for commercialization projects in February 2026, with a combined value of $6.5 million.

This validation work, testing a product where it’s meant to be used, produces the kind of evidence a vendor demo can’t, showing what’s needed for deployment, and what claims hold up once the technology is in use.

Final shots

• A useful product validation needs evidence about infrastructure, operating limits, compliance, and measurable results.
• Living Lab testing can give buyers some of that evidence before they commit their own budget, systems, or operating environment.