Mike Lazaridis

Career

In 1984, Lazaridis, while still a student, responded to a general call for proposals from General Motors (GM) to develop a "network computer control display system". GM awarded him a contract in response to his proposal. He dropped out of university, and with the GM contract, plus a small government grant and a loan from Lazaridis's parents, Mike Barnstijn, Douglas Fregin and he launched Research in Motion (RIM), the company whose assets are now managed as BlackBerry Limited.

One of RIM's first achievements was the development of barcode technology for film. It reinvested the profits from that product into wireless data transmission research, eventually leading to the introduction of the BlackBerry wireless mobile device in 1999, and its better-known version in 2002. Lazaridis would serve in various positions for RIM and BlackBerry, including as co-chairman and co-CEO of BlackBerry from 1984 to 2012, and Board Vice Chair and Chair of the Innovation Committee from 2012 to 2013.

In 1999, Lazaridis parted with a third of his fortune (at the time), to provide CA$100M to establish an academic research enterprise focused on theoretical physics, thereafter named the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, for which he formed a Board, and recruited Howard Burton as its first Director. He would also serve as Perimeter's board chair. In 2002, he provided the vision and funds that led to founding of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo (UW), under UW faculty member, Raymond Laflamme. to "provide financial and intellectual capital for the further development and commercialization of breakthroughs in Quantum Information Science".

Philanthropy In 1999, Lazaridis is reported to have donated a third of his fortune (at the time) to provide CA$100M to establish an academic research enterprise focused on theoretical physics, thereafter named the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (a founding sum that would grow over the years). Lazaridis and his wife Ophelia provided the vision and funding—a further over its lifetime—to found the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo, under its 2002 founding executive director, Raymond Laflamme.

In 2015, Lazaridis donated to Wilfrid Laurier University, for a new technology-focused management institute at the business school, which was renamed in his honour as the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics.

Lazaridis and his wife Ophelia have also been noted for their philanthropic work in the Waterloo area; in 2018, they donated ten million dollars to the Stratford Festival for the reconstruction of the Tom Patterson Theatre.

Awards and honours Lazaridis received an Emmy Award in 1994 for the technical advance of his development of a high-speed barcode reader used in film editing. The same invention received was honoured by an Academy Award in 1999, for technical achievement.

In 2000, Lazaridis received an honorary doctor of engineering degree from the University of Waterloo (UW), and in 2005, a further honorary doctoral degree from McMaster University. In UW's 50th anniversary year in 2007, Lazaridis was among the fifty alumni recognized by the UW 50th Anniversary Alumni Awards.

Lazaridis was listed on Maclean's Honour Roll as a distinguished Canadian in 2000,

In 2014 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His nomination reads:Father of what has become known as the smartphone, Mike Lazaridis is recognized in the global wireless community as a visionary, innovator and engineer of extraordinary talent... [The] founder of RIM and the creator of the BlackBerry... [he] made the primary donations establishing the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, the [University of Waterloo] Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and... Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre... [Perimeter] has already become an international beacon for theoretical physics and IQC is widely regarded as the leading centre of quantum information science worldwide. Together, these institutes have... made a major impact internationally.

In popular culture Lazaridis is portrayed by Jay Baruchel in the 2023 film BlackBerry.