The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has announced the seven independent research and knowledge translation projects financed under its 2025–26 contributions program, including two intending to address data collection practices and protection measures concerning connected cars.
According to the OPC, the University of Windsor secured $80,012 for “Driving Privacy Forward: Homomorphic Encryption and Oblivious AI in Smart Mobility,” which seeks to explore the processes enabling data analytics on connected cars while protecting consumer privacy.
The OPC said the Automobile Protection Association got $43,005 for “Evaluating Privacy Permissions and Consent Requested to Use a New Motor Vehicle,” which aims to study the personal information automakers require from customers to access onboard features and connected applications.
“Smart devices are all around us: we wear them, we carry them, we have them in our homes and in our cars, and it is important to continue to examine and address the privacy implications that they may pose,” said Philippe Dufresne, Canada’s privacy commissioner, in a news release.
The OPC noted that the recent round of approved research projects responded to its call for proposals on the theme “Connected but exposed: exploring smart devices and privacy.”
The OPC said the selected research projects seek to raise Canadians’ awareness and knowledge of how smart devices deal with their personal information, with a focus on the privacy implications of devices that constantly collect a lot of personal information regarding their users.
“These research projects will help to explain how the personal information that is collected by these smart devices is used, so that Canadians can benefit from these technologies while still protecting their privacy,” Dufresne said in the OPC’s news release.
Funding amounts
According to the contributions program projects page, apart from those regarding connected cars, the other funded projects secured the following amounts:
- $90,986.85 for Toronto Metropolitan University’s “Losing your voice to AI: Privacy risks of health-related machine listening,” which aims to identify potential applications and privacy risks concerning health-related machine listening
- $89,700 for the University of Ottawa’s “Connecting young women, but at what price? FemTech and privacy,” which seeks to discuss the privacy implications of apps that track menstruation, pregnancy, or breastfeeding and similar apps that collect sensitive health information
- $80,000 for Université de Sherbrooke’s “Analysis of the management of sensitive data by smartwatches: Privacy issues and recommendations for stakeholders,” which aims to address the mechanisms managing smartwatch-collected sensitive information
- $80,000 for Vancouver Island University’s “Empowering Young Canadians in the Smart Device Era: A Privacy-by-Design Research and Public Engagement Initiative,” which encompasses the unique privacy challenges and opportunities encountered by those aged 16–24 as smart devices increasingly collect, use, and sometimes share their personal information, frequently with minimal transparency or user control
- $49,988 for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s “Smarter Privacy—A Service Design Approach to Public Engagement for AI Literacy of Smart Devices,” which seeks to promote public awareness of the data collection practices of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices
The OPC said its contributions program finances independent privacy research and initiatives intended to inspire new ideas and approaches for organizations to protect personal information and for Canadians to make more informed decisions to safeguard their privacy.
The OPC noted that the program sets aside $100,000 in maximum funding for every chosen project and $200,000 for the maximum contribution payable to any individual organization.
The recent round of selected projects will conclude by Mar. 31, 2026. The OPC plans to post a summary of these completed projects and links to their outcomes after reviewing them.