Waterloo-based BlackBerry has made the cut to be included in the annual Thomson Reuters World’s Top 100 Most Innovative Organizations for 2013.
This is a solid distinction as not only is BlackBerry the sole Canadian company, but also the only organization in the ‘Telecommunication & Equipment’ category. However, other companies like Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Google, Sony and LG all made the list. Reuters notes that the list ‘honors the 100 corporations and institutions around the world that are at the heart of innovation as measured by a series of proprietary patent-related metrics.’
This was the first year for BlackBerry to appear on the Top 100 Innovators list and was ‘driven by a 38 percent surge in patent filings between 2010 and 2011, and 17 percent growth in patent filings between 2011 and 2012.’ BlackBerry was selected largely due to the inclusion of assisting ‘Smartphone Patent Wars Drive New Innovation.’
BlackBerry has a number of important patents, mainly for its popular keyboard, but is also part of the group that paid $4.5 billion acquire Nortel’s patent portfolio. Reuters says ‘the rapid expansion of the company’s patent portfolio is certain to be a factor in BlackBerry’s recently-announced plans to pursue strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.’
Source: Reuters
Via: PRNewswire
