Carlton University in Ottawa and Research in Motion Ltd., opened a teaching and research centre aimed at boosting university students’ mobile technology skills and knowledge.
The RIM Teaching and Collaborative Research Centre will be used for research, teaching, outreach activities, technology demonstrations and short courses such as application development seminars for students and researchers working on mobile technology and wireless communication.
The Waterloo, Ont. smartphone maker will equip the centre with software, BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets on which students can experiment and develop apps.
“This partnership further connects RIM to our world-class researchers and provides our students with the opportunity to experience and explore new possibilities in wireless communications and application development,” Rafik Goubran, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design.
“Together we will train the next generation of leaders in this exciting field,” he added.
Mobile technology is increasingly in focus at Carleton.
Through innovative research projects and academic programs like those that will be conducted at the RIM Centre, students and researchers will expand the applications for mobile computing and wireless communication. For example, the work of Carleton researchers is enabling the use of smartphones for more efficient delivery of healthcare services. RIM has partnered with Carleton in a number of research projects in recent years.
“By working with Carleton’s outstanding students and researchers, we are finding important new opportunities, including innovations in industrial design, speech and audio processing, health-care applications and much more,” said Dave Dietz,