BlackBerry and L-SPARK, Canada’s largest software-as-a-service accelerator, have announced the four winning companies that will make up the third cohort of their joint accelerator program, which aims to grow Canadian technology companies focused on connected vehicle technologies.
This year, the accelerator has provided select companies with access to Blackberry IVY enabling them to deliver connected vehicle use cases leveraging in-vehicle data with a view to improving driver and passenger experiences. IVY (Intelligent Vehicle Data Platform) is a scalable, cloud-connected software platform that enables auto makers to provide a consistent and secure way to read vehicle sensor data, normalize it, and create actionable insights from that data both locally in the vehicle and in the cloud.
The companies that make up the third cohort of the program include Montreal firm Deeplite, which provides an AI inference optimization platform for the millions of developers struggling to deploy edge-AI to products in vehicles, smart cities and 5G IoT applications; and Raven Connected, based in Ottawa, which has developed a comprehensive video telematics platform that incorporates an array of sensors, communication modules and direct connection to the vehicle’s onboard computer to capture images, video and other data elements. Other awardees are deep neural networks developer Sensor Cortek and Wedge Networks, which is working on cybersecurity solutions.
“The four companies selected for this very special BlackBerry IVY-focused accelerator program with L-SPARK represent the very best of the Canadian smart mobility ecosystem. Each brings with them a wealth of talent, innovative technology and a drive to deliver high-impact, data-driven services and solutions that will one day transform the in-car experience,” said Peter Virk, VP of IVY Product and Ecosystem, BlackBerry. “We look forward to working with them in the weeks and months ahead and are confident that their offerings will resonate with OEMs as we continue to build out the breadth and depth of our BlackBerry IVY ecosystem.”