Research In Motion Opens R&D Facility in Bochum
Research In Motion (RIM), announced the official opening of its Research and Development (R&D) facility in Bochum, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. ?RIM Founder and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis was joined for the opening by special guests, Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag and MP for Bochum, Christa Thoben, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and Dr. Ottilie Scholz, Mayor of the city of Bochum. Guests were invited to unveil an opening plaque at RIM’s new facility in the Uni-Tech-Center on the campus of Ruhr-Universität and celebrate with RIM’s new employees.
The Bochum R&D facility represents an investment of $45 million in the first year of operation. It opened with 140 new employees and has plans to grow this to up to 500 people. The facility focuses on hardware and software development for the BlackBerry® wireless solution.
“At RIM we are committed to innovation and excellence and I am very pleased to open our world class R&D facility in Bochum,” said Mike Lazaridis, Founder, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion. “This new R&D facility will play a pivotal role in extending RIM's leadership in the smartphone market as we continue to focus on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers,” he continued. "I am pleased to announce today that Research In Motion will sponsor a scholarship program at Ruhr University Bochum to encourage bright students to pursue areas of study in Engineering and Computer Science that are of interest to the wireless industry."