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L-SPARK and BlackBerry Announce Second Accelerator Cohort to Develop Connected Vehicle TechnologiesOTTAWA, Ontario and WATERLOO, Ontario, Dec. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- L-SPARK, Canada's largest accelerator for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, and BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today announced the six companies selected for the second cohort of their joint accelerator program, which aims to advance Canadian technology startups that are focused on vehicle-connected services and cloud connectivity to the vehicle. The startups selected for the second cohort include:
"With L-SPARK's help, we have assembled another impressive group of disruptive, unique startups who hope to enter the connected vehicle market," said Grant Courville, VP, Product Management and Strategy, BlackBerry QNX. "Transportation, mobility and smart cities are some of the hottest sectors of the economy and present a great opportunity for technology innovation and new business development. We look forward to working with each of these innovative companies over the coming months to help enable the development of next-generation vehicle connectivity products and services." "After the success of our first BlackBerry/L-SPARK Accelerator cohort, it is my pleasure to introduce the second cohort. After a Canada-wide search, we have identified the best next generation companies to be a part of the BlackBerry connected car ecosystem," said L-SPARK's Executive Managing Director, Leo Lax. "The industry is rapidly evolving with advancements in all aspects of autonomous and connected car applications. This cohort will demonstrate how the leadership of BlackBerry can be leveraged to power the rest of the Canadian ecosystem." Committed to the highest safety, reliability and security standards, BlackBerry QNX has a portfolio of embedded software and services and a proven record of helping developers deliver critical, complex and connected solutions on time. BlackBerry QNX technology is used in over 150 million vehicles and 100 million embedded systems, including medical, industrial automation, energy, defense and aerospace applications where safety and reliability are paramount and failure isn't an option. Applications were received from across Canada with senior representatives from BlackBerry and L-SPARK ultimately narrowing down the highly competitive field based on the startups with business models and technologies that aligned best with the BlackBerry QNX mission to create safe, secure and reliable solutions for companies building trusted mission-critical systems, such as autonomous vehicles. L-SPARK will, once again, turn to the expertise of the National Research Council of Canada-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), to support the companies involved in this program. About BlackBerry About L-SPARK Media Contact: L-SPARK View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/l-spark-and-blackberry-announce-second-accelerator-cohort-to-develop-connected-vehicle-technologies-300970490.html SOURCE BlackBerry Limited |