OTTAWA, ON – DECEMBER 3, 2020 – L-SPARK, a leading Canadian business and technologyaccelerator, in collaboration with TELUS, has released details of the first cohort of its medicaltechnology (MedTech) accelerator program, in conjunction with BlackBerry, Solace, and theCanadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).

Announced in July 2020, the TELUS L-SPARK MedTech Accelerator program provides a technology platform for MedTech innovators to enable the creation, integration, and commercialization of highly secure connected medical devices and related software, includingAI-enabled applications.

The companies were part of a rigorous selection process that culminated in pitches to a12-member selection panel that included corporate partners along with representatives of theCanadian health ecosystem and experienced MedTech investors.

Kelly Holman of Genesys Capital, a member of the panel, shared that, "the quality and diversityof the pitches reinforced that the MedTech industry is certainly alive and well in Canada. Beinginvolved in the selection panel was an exciting opportunity to see the incredible innovation ofCanadian startups addressing emerging healthcare needs first hand."

The program’s first cohort is set to include:

About the MedTech Market and Accelerator

Connected medical devices are a subset of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). The globalIoMT market accounted for US$24.4 billion in 2019 and is estimated to grow to US$285.5 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 28.0%.

“The TELUS L-SPARK Medtech accelerator is a prime example of the power of Canadian technologies to protect our communities and ensure we all have access to safe, quality healthcare,” said Ibrahim Gedeon, Chief Technology Officer, TELUS. “This inspiring first cohort of innovators are bringing solutions that will improve societal outcomes through better healthcare experiences, increased efficiency for health professionals, seamless information flow, and by strengthening the prevention and treatment for fellow Canadians.”

“With L-SPARK and our fellow accelerator companies we have assembled an impressive group of disruptive, unique startups who hope to address the countless needs of a healthcare industry still grappling with a once in a lifetime pandemic,” said Charles Eagan, CTO, BlackBerry. “With the BlackBerry® QNX® operating system as a strong foundation and the collective expertise of some of the country’s leading healthcare players, we have all of the necessary ingredients to help accelerate the development of highly secure, 5G enabled medical devices and applications with a view to improving patient care and strengthening the overall Canadian supply chain of leading-edge healthcare solutions. We look forward to working with each of these innovative companies over the months ahead.”

“COVID-19 has made it urgent for healthcare providers and pharmaceutical firms to adopt innovative medical technology solutions that help them collect and distribute real-time data so they can remotely monitor and treat patients, introduce new delivery models that improve access and outcomes, and optimize the supply chains through which medicines and vaccines are delivered,” said Paul Fitzpatrick, Solace’s Chief Business Development Officer. “We are excited to give the innovative Canadian companies of the TELUS L-SPARK MedTech cohort access to powerful event streaming and management technology that will help them build and bring to market solutions that meet this urgent need.”

"While the Internet of Things has the power to transform healthcare for the better, it also comes with a new set of risks,” said Jacques Latour, Chief Security and Technology Officer at theCanadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). “We are excited to see how these great companies leverage the power of CIRA's Secure IoT Registry to keep their medical innovations safe and secure."

In addition to receiving pre-commercial access to the MedTech technology platform, the participating companies will also benefit from business mentorship by L-SPARK to accelerate their growth, as well as facilitated access to feedback from an advisory council of health sector leaders and medtech experts.

"It is inspiring to see Canada enhance its innovative capabilities in the health tech sector through collaboration," says Leo Lax, Executive Managing Director of L-SPARK. "This accelerator highlights collaboration at its finest by combining the technical expertise of fourCanadian global companies, the innovation sector, along with support through the Scale-UpPlatform funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDevOntario) . We will continue to demonstrate our progress in the coming months. ”

L-SPARK is Canada’s leading accelerator for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies. The accelerator offers a cohort program focused on future innovative B2B and B2B/B2C companies, as well as targeted programs which partner with leading corporations in Connected Cars (AV),IoT and CyberSecurity.Since the launch of their first cohort in January 2015, L-SPARK has accelerated 61 companies across Canada. With more than 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.

Since the launch of their first cohort in January 2015, L-SPARK has accelerated 61 companies across Canada. With more than 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.

TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications and information technology company with $15.3 billion in annual revenue and 15.7 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP, voice, television, entertainment, video and security. We leverage our global-leading technology to enable remarkable human outcomes. Our longstanding commitment to putting our customers first fuels every aspect of our business, making us a distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty. TELUS Health is Canada's largest healthcare IT provider, and TELUS International delivers the most innovative business process solutions to some of the world’s most established brands.

Driven by our passionate social purpose to connect all Canadians for good, our deeply meaningful and enduring philosophy to give where we live has inspired our team members and retirees to contribute more than $700 million and 1.3 million days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most giving company in the world.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com , follow us @TELUSNews on Twitter and @Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.

BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including more than 175M cars on the road today. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security management, encryption, and embedded systems. BlackBerry’s vision is clear - to secure a connected future you can trust.

BlackBerry. Intelligent Security. Everywhere. For more information, visit BlackBerry.com and follow @BlackBerry.

Solace provides the only unified advanced event broker technology that supports publish/subscribe, queueing, request/reply, message replay and streaming using open APIs and protocols across hybrid cloud and IoT environments. The company's event streaming and management platform rapidly and reliably routes event-driven information between applications, devices and people, as well as across public and private clouds. Established enterprises such as SAP, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Canada, as well as high-growth companies such asVoiceBase and Jio, use Solace to modernize legacy applications and successfully pursue analytics, hybrid cloud and IoT strategies. Learn more at https://solace.com

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services—such as CIRA DNSFirewall and CIRA Canadian Shield—that help support its goal of building a trusted internet forCanadians. The CIRA team operates .CA, one of the fastest-growing country code top-level domains (ccTLD), a high-performance global DNS network, and one of the world’s most advanced back-end registry solutions. One of their latest projects is an innovative framework to securely provision generic Internet of Things (IoT) devices. CIRA’s Secure IoT Registry will allow the world’s IoT devices to seamlessly and securely connect between any manufacturer, owner, service provider and network operator.

For more than 10 years, FedDev Ontario has actively worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation and growth in Canada’s most populous region.

In April 2019, FedDev Ontario announced $16.9 million for Invest Ottawa as part of a $52.4 million investment to create the Scale-Up Platform, an innovative collaboration aimed at helping high-growth Ontario companies scale up. Learn more about the Scale-Up Platform here.

Dispension Industries Media Relations, +1 833 801 9333, info@dispension.ca