Where will the next generation of BlackBerry® developers come from? Thanks to the efforts of some of my colleagues responsible for the BlackBerry Academic Program, the answer, in part, is from universities around the world – including those in Colombia.

A few weeks ago, Research In Motion® (RIM®) partnered with the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá to sponsor a train-the-trainer session for local academics on BlackBerry® 10 development.

The university, the largest in Colombia, hosted a session with their own faculty and representatives from neighboring Universidad Javeriana and Universidad de los Andes. The two-day session focused on WebWorks™ HTML5 development for BlackBerry 10. The aim is to help faculty members set up a development environment in their labs and to teach others how to design, build and deploy a BlackBerry application for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and future BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

Representatives were invited to the session based in part on their willingness to teach others within their schools how to build mobile apps.

According to Chris Jones, a RIM University Relations Manager, the session in Bogotá was a success. “Participants said they are excited about developing for the BlackBerry 10 platform and have expressed interest in attending more sessions like this one.”

This session is only one part of RIM’s efforts to encourage the next generation of developers. It complements the BlackBerry Academic Program, which provides free curriculum and devices to help academic institutions build stronger programs in mobile computing.

Over 2000 people, representing nearly 695 schools in 112 countries around the world, have registered for the BlackBerry Academic Program, receiving the support and resources they need to train the next generation of mobile developers.