Navigating geopolitical storms: assessing the robustness of Canada’s 5G research network in the wake of the Huawei conflict

Amid geopolitical tensions over 5G technology, concerns about foreign firms like Huawei collaborating with academia have surfaced. This paper examines Huawei’s role in Canadian research, analyzing its impact on network robustness and research themes over time. Robustness in network research has been extensively explored, yet there remains a notable gap in understanding the influence of geopolitical factors and foreign corporate presence, such as Huawei’s, on these networks. The main results of this research show that: (1) The 5G network exhibits a decreasing trend in network robustness, with the potential for fragmentation increasing over time; (2) The impact of Huawei’s removal on the network’s Largest Connected Component (LCC) is relatively minor; (3) The network retains its small-world properties irrespective of Huawei’s presence, and its removal has a minor impact on knowledge transfer efficiency; (4) Huawei’s removal does not significantly affect network centralization, nor does it influence the prevailing trend observed over time; (5) Hierarchical clustering and specificity analysis identify Huawei’s strategic focus on the silicon and optical photonic domain within the 5G research; (6) The collaboration-topic network shows a high degree of robustness, suggesting that Canada’s research contributions in these areas are unaffected by the absence Huawei. This study provides a nuanced view of Huawei’s role in Canadian 5G research, suggesting that while the company is a significant player, its impact is in general neither singular nor irreplaceable within the academic network.