BlackBerry L-Spark

BlackBerry has a long history of working with various organizations to help drive technology advancements. Their latest partnership announced earlier today is with L-Spark and will see BlackBerry help medium-sized technology enterprises grow their businesses using BlackBerry QNX technology.

"Partnering with BlackBerry to accelerate the growth of high-potential Canadian SMEs is the most effective way to grow the next great, global, technology company," said Leo Lax, executive managing director, L-Spark. "But more importantly, it is a great way to elevate the entire Canadian technology community to reach and thrive within the global marketplace."

"BlackBerry is proud to play an integral role in the growth of Canada's innovation economy," said Grant Courville, vice president of QNX engineering, BlackBerry. "The new accelerator program is a great opportunity for us to better interact and collaborate with Canadian software companies and help bring to market innovative products that will shape the way we'll live, work and play in the future."

According to L-Spark, six companies will be chosen for the accelerator program and BlackBerry QNX will provide them with free licenses and training to use BlackBerry QNX operating systems. There are a number of specialized industries that are being considered such as Robotics and Autonomous vehicle Software and Engineering Services as well as Safety Software Products and Related Engineering Services. You can check out the full list and details right here.

BlackBerry and L-SPARK Launch New Accelerator Program to Fuel Canadian Technology Innovation

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – September 20, 2018 – BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) and L-SPARK, Canada's largest software-as-a-service accelerator, today announced they have partnered to help small and medium-sized technology enterprises (SMEs) grow their businesses and bring new products to market using BlackBerry QNX technology.

As part of the program, BlackBerry will help participating companies research and develop product prototypes in areas such as robotics, device security, sensor fusion (e.g. lidar, radar, cameras and GPS), functional safety, analytics, medical devices and autonomous vehicles.

"Partnering with BlackBerry to accelerate the growth of high-potential Canadian SMEs is the most effective way to grow the next great, global, technology company," said Leo Lax, executive managing director, L-Spark. "But more importantly, it is a great way to elevate the entire Canadian technology community to reach and thrive within the global marketplace."

"BlackBerry is proud to play an integral role in the growth of Canada's innovation economy," said Grant Courville, vice president of QNX engineering, BlackBerry. "The new accelerator program is a great opportunity for us to better interact and collaborate with Canadian software companies and help bring to market innovative products that will shape the way we'll live, work and play in the future."

L-SPARK will turn to the expertise of the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), and its network of Industrial Technology Advisors, to reach out to companies with business models and technologies that could benefit from working with the BlackBerry QNX product group. Ultimately, six companies will be selected to join the accelerator program for six months of intensive, one-on-one, training aimed to grow and scale each company and bring new products to market.

From nuclear power plants, surgical robots, and life-critical medical devices to connected and autonomous vehicles, trains, and traffic lights – BlackBerry's QNX technology powers safe, reliable and secure systems for global companies like Audi, Cisco, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, General Electric, Intuitive Surgical, Lockheed Martin, and Siemens. For more information, or to apply to the accelerator program, please visit https://www.l-spark.com/accelerator/blackberry.

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