#United States #Las Vegas #MIT #BlackBerry #QNX Everywhere

QNX Everywhere: A New Era in Developer Ecosystems

At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, BlackBerry Ltd., through its QNX division, proudly announced significant achievements within the QNX® Everywhere initiative, launched in 2025. This movement has garnered tremendous support from the global developer community within just a year. The primary objective of QNX Everywhere is to democratize access to the QNX® Software Development Platform (SDP) 8.0 for non-commercial use, with over 12,000 non-commercial licenses issued to date.

Accelerating Learning and Collaboration

Notably, QNX Everywhere is rapidly integrating into academic environments. In a collaborative effort to incorporate QNX’s foundational tools and technology into engineering curricula, over 80 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) have been signed with universities across India, including agreements with renowned institutions in North America, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Dr. Gregory Long, the founding principal instructor of MIT's New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET), remarks, "Using QNX for student projects allows us to provide opportunities to leverage an industry-standard real-time operating system that many leading companies utilize. We anticipate that leveraging QNX will give our students a competitive edge in implementing advanced robotic systems."

In line with this initiative, QNX has launched free online training courses, catering to developers of all experience levels. The course aims to offer high-quality, accessible learning environments, evidenced by the over 6,000 hours of cumulative training completed since its inception. This reflects QNX's commitment to nurturing a vibrant developer ecosystem and ensuring that the next generation of engineers can innovate with confidence.

Fostering Innovation Beyond Commercial Borders

To stimulate further exploration and education in the embedded software domain, QNX is conducting a multi-stop tour across various engineering-related events. From major hackathons like HackaTUM in Germany to guest lectures and student-led projects at Queen’s University and McMaster University, QNX supports an array of initiatives that nurture curiosity among students and enthusiasts. Many participants experience QNX for the first time while taking on challenges traditionally faced by larger corporations.

Grant Courville, Senior Vice President of QNX Product Strategy, states, "Some of the most meaningful innovations emerge outside traditional commercial environments. Breakthroughs led by academic institutions, open-source communities, and independent researchers often catalyze industry-wide transformations. QNX Everywhere is not just an initiative but a movement. The enthusiasm generated over the past year showcases the developer community's eagerness to learn and experiment with foundational technologies, especially as industries transition toward software-defined architectures. We encourage students, educators, enthusiasts, and professionals to utilize these tools for exploring, building, and innovating."

Examples of Collaborative Open Source Projects

Several innovative projects have emerged through the QNX Everywhere initiative, showcasing its versatility:

• - York University Motorsport Club (UK): Integrated QNX into their Formula SAE racing car's instrument cluster.
• - University of Waterloo Robotics Team (Canada): Integrated QNX into the central control system for their competitive rover vehicle.
• - Fighting Game Development Project: Built on QNX, employing custom GPIO hardware input alongside QNX Screen Library for graphics.
• - Opp Detector: A system employing cameras and facial recognition ML to provide a water-spray defense against unauthorized intruders.
• - 3D Printing-Compatible Robotic Arm: Features gamepad control functionality using ROS2.

Looking Ahead: The Future of QNX Everywhere

Building on the interest and connections cultivated over the past year, QNX plans to deliver more pre-built software packages and optimized open-source ports available through oss.qnx.com and gitlab.com/qnx, including support for Raspberry Pi 5 and self-hosting capabilities. This will enable developers to advance their projects more efficiently, from inception to scaling.

QNX remains actively involved in leading industry consortiums, playing a crucial role in shaping the future development of in-vehicle software. As a voting member of the SOAFEE Special Interest Group and the foundational OS provider for the Eclipse S-CORE project, QNX contributes to defining open, safety-critical platforms that promote accelerated development and collaboration across the software-defined automotive sector.

Join Us at CES 2026

QNX will exhibit at CES 2026, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from January 6 to 9. Attendees can engage with live demonstrations, including two robotic arms running on open-source software and the QNX Developer Desktop with various open-source development tools. We invite you to visit our booth (#4024) or schedule a meeting with our team.

To join the QNX developer community and acquire a free license for QNX® SDP 8.0 for personal, non-commercial purposes, please find more information on our website. Academic faculty interested in a free multi-user license for QNX software can also explore options there.

For more details, visit QNX.com and follow us on Twitter @QNX News.