Over the next decade, we’re helping to build for the metaverse to drive a new generation of immersive online social experiences that have the potential to unlock access to creative, social and economic opportunities. Canadians are already building for this future and will play an important role in shaping it from the start.
Today, we’re announcing the creation of a new engineering hub in Canada based in Toronto, alongside increased hiring across Canada. This is expected to create up to 2,500 new jobs over the next several years, with recruiting already underway. The majority of roles are engineering-focused and expected to span across building extended reality experiences and Meta technologies. We’re also establishing the first Canadian WhatsApp, Messenger and Remote Presence engineering teams and growing our Canadian Reality Labs and AI Research teams.
These new, highly-skilled jobs will offer a blend of in-office and remote work options, creating economic opportunity for Canadian talent in every region of the country. This growth will be anchored by an engineering hub in Toronto, one of the most multicultural cities in the world, as we set out to help build the metaverse with diversity, equity and inclusion from its inception.
Hundreds of employees across our four Canadian offices have already helped millions of Canadians and businesses connect, create and grow. The country is home to a vibrant pool of tech talent focused on building innovations that have the potential to change the world. Canada is poised to have a critical role in building for the next evolution in social technologies, so we plan to help further establish the country as a global leader in this effort.
Investing in Canada’s Innovation Ecosystem
Today, we’re also announcing an additional $510,000 in unrestricted grants to 17 Canadian research labs working on research that will advance innovations needed to build the metaverse. Unrestricted grants provide maximum flexibility for labs to pursue their mission, and once published, their research becomes publicly accessible to drive further innovation across the industry.
This work builds on the company’s investments in the Canadian innovation ecosystem over the years, from opening Meta’s AI Research Lab in Montreal and Reality Labs Research hub in Toronto to the funding of high-performance computing capability for the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s chair in AI research. As we’ve built out the Reality Labs Research teams in Canada over the last several years, we have spent more than $30 million with local suppliers. In addition, we’ve committed nearly $1 million of unrestricted funding to Canadian universities from coast to coast.
Unlocking the full potential of the metaverse will require multiple major technological breakthroughs and collaboration by researchers, industry partners, policy experts, creators and others all over the world. Having Canadian voices and values represented early on will be vital to creating inclusive digital spaces that we can all enjoy together. As we embark on this journey of innovation together, thousands of Canadians will find opportunity in helping build for the metaverse — both at Meta and alongside us as creators.
