Ottawa’s largest convention facility becomes the Cohere Centre Friday following a naming rights deal with a fast-growing Toronto-based AI company.
Cohere, founded in 2019, describes itself as specializing “in large language models and products to solve business challenges in regulated industries such as finance, health care and manufacturing.” It has offices in New York, London, Paris and Seoul.
The 200,000-square-foot convention centre on Uplands Drive adjacent to Ottawa International Airport opened in 2012 and has hosted a wide variety of corporate and government events, including conferences, consumer and major public shows.
Among other large events, the centre has become known as the home of the CANSEC (Canada’s Global Defence and Security Trade Show) and ComicCon conventions.
“We are proud to align our centre with a company that represents the best of Canadian technology, and we look forward to welcoming clients under this exciting new name,” Neill Bales, general manager of the Cohere Centre, said in a news release Wednesday.
Dave Ferris, vice-president of global public sector at Cohere, said the “partnership reflects our shared commitment to Canadian innovation, collaboration, and creating spaces where important ideas and meaningful connections can thrive.”
There was no monetary value revealed in the release.
