Canada’s automotive technology clusters are key to the advancement of the broader automotive sector. These clusters contribute to manufacturing capability and support the development of new product technologies and enhancements to product quality. 

In this series of reports, we observe the contributions of Canada’s six automotive technology clusters located in Vancouver, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Kitchener Waterloo-Cambridge (KWC), Windsor, Ottawa and the Greater Montreal Area (GMA). In doing so, we shed light on each regional cluster’s domains of technological expertise, its employment and skills distribution, and the factors that sustain its development. Moreover, we examine the pivotal role played by Canada’s automotive technology clusters in the advancement of the country’s broader automotive sector through their contributions to its manufacturing capability, development of new product technologies and enhancements to product quality.

This report focuses on the automotive technology cluster located in KWC. It examines the distribution of automotive technology companies and organizations in the region, highlighting the cluster’s domains of technology focus. Furthermore, using the APRC’s1 comprehensive automotive database and through an establishment-level approach, it maps the regional distribution of employees that are engaged in advanced automotive technology manufacturing and research & development (R&D) activities. It sheds light on the concentration of labour and skills in specific technology fields within the cluster. Finally, through a survey of occupational profiles within selected companies, this report provides details on the occupations and skill streams that are in most demand in the local labour market.