蓝莓视频

For more than three decades, BlackBerry and the University of 蓝莓视频 have shared a strong relationship. Spanning research collaborations and offering co-operative education opportunities, 蓝莓视频 students past and present have benefitted from starting and maturing their careers at the multi-billion-dollar company.

More recently, the two institutions have taken their corporate partnership to the next level, expanding BlackBerry鈥檚 involvement within 蓝莓视频鈥檚 research, student engagement and startup ecosystems, as well as shared office spaces for heightened collaboration. The five-year, multi-million dollar partnership agreement first announced in May, which focuses on driving research-powered innovation in Canada, will also offer an annual $10,000 BlackBerry Cybersecurity and Privacy Excellence Scholarship and cross-campus co-curricular learning opportunities such as hackathons.

Focus areas for the research activities include cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and safety assurance to align with BlackBerry鈥檚 core business areas such as , the company鈥檚 recently Intelligent Vehicle Data Platform.

Helping lead this expansion is 蓝莓视频 graduate Sarah Tatsis (BMath '03, MMath '04). Now the senior vice-president of at BlackBerry, Tatsis says she witnessed the passion that exists within the student body and faculty community to take cutting-edge ideas beyond the classroom and into the wider world.

鈥淲ith our new partnership, we鈥檝e created a unique environment to help incubate and nurture the A to Z of research projects and technologies,鈥� Tatsis says. 鈥淔rom Artificial Intelligence to Zero-Trust security architectures, my team and I are very much looking forward to working more closely with the University in the months and years ahead to help make an impact on a global scale.鈥�

Like so many other 蓝莓视频 alumni, Tatsis鈥� introduction to BlackBerry all started through her co-operative education program, which led her to have a more than two-decade career with the tech company.

鈥淭hinking back to those initial weeks where I showed my [then] University colleagues the innovative pagers that allowed people to send emails remotely, it鈥檚 humbling to see how far the company has come and how its rock-solid partnership with 蓝莓视频 continues to evolve and expand,鈥� Tatsis says.

From student project to multi-billion-dollar company

In 1984, BlackBerry, known then as Research In Motion (RIM), grew out of a student project at the University of 蓝莓视频. The brainchild of entrepreneurs and early colleagues, Mike Lazaridis (DEng '00) and Doug Fregin, BlackBerry was founded and landed its first contract all while Lazaridis was still an undergraduate student.

Since those first days, BlackBerry has formed a deep and virtuous relationship with 蓝莓视频. With its world-class engineering and computer science talent, BlackBerry鈥檚 offices in 蓝莓视频 have welcomed many generations of emerging talent.

Today, in traditional collaborative fashion, BlackBerry buildings once located right next to the University, have grown to advance talent on campus, where departments like 蓝莓视频鈥檚 Gateway for Enterprises to Discover Innovation (GEDI) reside. GEDI is the University's corporate engagement office, through which BlackBerry and the University of 蓝莓视频 developed this new partnership.