SMARTBUILD launches energy, infrastructure and defence subsidiary

SMARTBUILD Energy Infrastructure Defence brings seven years of field-tested software and 30 years of construction experience to Canada's nation-building programs

BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, SEPTEMBER 1, 2026 – SMARTBUILD Construction Solutions Inc. today launched SMARTBUILD Energy Infrastructure Defence (EID), a Regina-based subsidiary that will deliver construction management software to defence, energy and critical infrastructure programs in Canada and allied NATO countries.

The timing is deliberate. Under NATO's Defence Investment Pledge, Canada has committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence and security-related priorities by 2035, including up to 1.5% on defence readiness and related infrastructure, and is fast-tracking a national slate of energy, infrastructure and defence projects under its nation-building agenda.

"As investment grows, Canadian companies will be competing for the same trades, engineers and project staff," said Zulq Malik, Chief Executive Officer of SMARTBUILD. "Every additional asset brings more inspection and reporting. SMARTBUILD EID is designed to reduce that burden on the teams responsible for delivering the work."

Built on a track record

SMARTBUILD EID will hit the ground running with the technology and the built-world knowledge of its parent company, including more than 30 years of founder Zulq Malik's construction experience across energy, infrastructure and defence projects. To date, the SMARTBUILD platform has managed more than $250 million of public infrastructure across 54 projects in 31 Canadian communities, and the team has spent seven years developing artificial intelligence tools for the sector, including a voice-first field documentation tool that works offline in more than 240 languages.

SMARTBUILD also brings its longstanding relationship with Microsoft and its Cloud Solution Provider standing to the new subsidiary. Microsoft delivers its cloud products through certified local partners rather than selling directly, and SMARTBUILD EID will provide licensing, implementation and support for Microsoft 365, Copilot, Dynamics and Azure, allowing the energy, infrastructure and defence ecosystem to grow on already trusted digital infrastructure.

What the new subsidiary delivers

SMARTBUILD EID supports construction programs from commissioning through to the long-term sustainment of the asset. It creates a centralized project record for each trade working on the project, including:

Drawings, materials, procurement details, schedules, workforce competency and other project information, held under configuration control with a full revision history.
Inspections, non-conformance reports and daily records documented as work progresses and tied to the approved drawing revision.
Audit and compliance reporting generated directly from the project record, removing the need to compile or reconstruct information after the fact.

Field capture is voice-based and hands-free, with offline functionality and automatic synchronization once connectivity is restored. The platform can be configured to the security, screening, reporting and procurement requirements of individual programs.

"Every program in this sector has its own processes and requirements," said Malik. "The platform is built around the needs of the program, not the other way around. If a client requires a specific process or workflow, our development team incorporates it directly into the system."

Security and sovereignty

SMARTBUILD EID is Canadian-owned and developed, with its intellectual property and source code held in Canada and all project data hosted on Canadian servers. Deployment is matched to program sensitivity, including on-premises options and dedicated secure infrastructure.

"For a prime contractor working to meet Industrial and Technological Benefits obligations, where the software comes from has a measurable impact," said Malik. "It is a matter of sovereignty and security, and buying Canadian keeps that value in Canada."

About SMARTBUILD

SMARTBUILD Construction Solutions Inc. is a 100% Canadian-owned construction technology company headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, with an office in Regina, Saskatchewan. Founded in 2019, SMARTBUILD builds software for the industrial, commercial and institutional construction sector: smrtAE for architects and engineers, smrtGC for general contractors, smrtSUB for trade subcontractors, and smrt-E, an AI voice-first tool for field documentation. The company hosts all project data on Canadian servers. Learn more at smrtbld.com.