OTTAWA, 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:
- Preteckt (Hamilton,
Ontario) – Predictive diagnostics for commercial vehicle
fleets (trucks and buses) with cloud-based software that uses
telematics data to predict maintenance issues, their severity, and
root cause.
- TRAINFO (Winnipeg,
Manitoba) – Technology that facilitates safe operations
for automated vehicles at rail crossings.
- Northstar Robotics (Winnipeg, Manitoba) – Intelligent control
systems that power networks of autonomous vehicles (ie: automated
snow removal on airport runways).
- Sensor Cortek (Ottawa,
Ontario) – AI software solutions that enhance autonomous
vehicle perception systems.
- Deeplite (Montreal,
Quebec) – AI software powered by reinforcement learning
to make Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) faster, smaller and more
energy-efficient from cloud to edge computing.
- Passenger (Toronto,
Ontario) – AI software monitoring solutions designed to
detect and resolve incidents in driverless cars and shuttles.
Launched last year, the cohort program aims to help small and
medium-sized technology enterprises (SMEs) grow their businesses
and bring new products to market that are built on BlackBerry QNX
technology. The first cohort included startups in a range of
industries, from cybersecurity to 3D imaging.
"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
BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) is a
trusted security software and services company that provides
enterprises and governments with the technology they need to secure
the Internet of Things. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company is unwavering
in its commitment to safety, cybersecurity and data privacy, and
leads in key areas such as artificial intelligence, endpoint
security and management, encryption and embedded systems. For more
information, visit BlackBerry.com and follow @BlackBerry.
About L-SPARK
L-SPARK is Canada's leading accelerator for Software as a
Service (SaaS) companies. Since the launch of their first cohort in
January 2015, L-SPARK has accelerated
36 companies across Canada. With
over 10,000 investors, corporate partners and startups now in their
network, L-SPARK has curated a forceful Canadian tech community for
participating companies to join.
Media Contact:
BlackBerry Media Relations
(519) 597-7273
mediarelations@BlackBerry.com
L-SPARK
Jacob Crompton
Schreiber
646-480-0356
jacob@publicize.co
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SOURCE BlackBerry Limited