If Kanata North wants to continue leading the pack in developing connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology, it’s going to take a village to build it.
That’s why L-SPARK and BlackBerry are welcoming a third cohort of Canadian tech companies into the Connected Car Accelerator Program they co-founded in 2018, a “joint accelerator program which aims to grow Canadian technology companies focused on connected vehicle technologies.”
This year’s cohort includes Raven Connected, Wedge Networks, Deeplite and Sensor Cortek.
These four companies were selected from 25 applicants and will receive $50,000 in matched funding through the program’s partnership with the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), in addition to access to BlackBerry’s intelligent vehicle data platform, BlackBerry IVY.
“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,” said Peter Virk, Vice President of IVY Product and Ecosystem, BlackBerry. “Each brings with them a wealth of talent … to deliver high-impact, data-driven services and solutions that will one day transform the in-car experience.”
Two of the four are returning and two are newcomers. Together their tech includes video telematics, cybersecurity, neural networks, and an “AI inference optimization platform.”
Newcomers are Raven Connected of Ottawa and Calgary-based Wedge Networks. Raven Connected provides a video telematics platform that is able to capture images, videos, and other data elements. Wedge Networks, founded in 2002, is a cybersecurity SaaS company that specializes in intelligent real-time threat prevention.
The returning companies are Montréal-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Deeplite and Ottawa vehicle AI company Sensor Cortek. Deeplite provides an AI inference optimization platform for the millions of developers struggling to deploy edge-AI. Sensor Cortek uses deep neural networks to develop AI-based perception systems.
“The BlackBerry L-SPARK Accelerator has not only propelled connected vehicle technology forward, but has also paved the way for collaboration and partnership between the participating companies and BlackBerry,” said Leo Lax, Executive Managing Director at L-SPARK. “We are thrilled to be at the forefront of innovation in the connected vehicle technology space alongside the incredible team at BlackBerry for the third consecutive year.”
Best of luck to this year’s village of CAV innovators!