News

Every year, more than 4.5 million people need blood transfusions in Canada and the United States. That amounts to about 36,000 RBC units per day for the US alone. Transfusions are needed for trauma response, surgery and cancer care. The medical system relies on a complex system of blood donations to meet that need. Without a sufficient, reliable supply of safe blood, the health-care system comes into jeopardy.

This winter term, Enterprise Co-op students submitted five-minute video pitches for prizes of $5,000 at the Ignition Week pitch competition. Each student video pitch was evaluated by a panel of judges. Meet the winter 2021 pitch winners!

Our undergraduate; graduate; alumni students and their ventures take centre stage this competition season. Here is a brief summary of some of their outstanding accomplishments this term.

For graduating master’s students, convocation is an important recognition of their hard work and dedication. Some will move on to professional roles, while others plan to continue the research that has captured their imagination.

As they celebrate their accomplishments with their families and supporters, Waterloo recognizes the commitment and success of our master’s students, including these six graduands.

The Hult Prize @ Waterloo competition energizes and activates socially-conscious entrepreneurs at Waterloo and beyond, and this year will no doubt be one of the most exciting yet! Food is a universal need and source of comfort. The theme for this year’s Hult Prize challenge, dubbed “The Nobel Prize for Students”, is Food for Good. The mission? To create jobs, stimulate economies, reimagining supply chains, and improving outcomes of 10 million people by 2030.

This fall term, Enterprise Co-op students submitted five-minute video pitches for prizes of $5,000 at the Ignition Week pitch competition. Each student video pitch was evaluated by a panel of judges. Meet the fall 2020 pitch winners!

Hot on the heels on of their initial $29 million (USD) Series C funding announcement for Otto Motors, a division of Clearpath Robotics, this stellar example of Waterloo-entrepreneurship has announced an additional $6.6 million (USD) extension to their historic funding round. 

Entrepreneurship and business competitions have and will continue to be, valuable learning experiences for student entrepreneurs.

Ten student venture teams will have the opportunity to win one of four $5,000 grants at the Concept $5K finals today. Three of these ventures have founders that are current or former students of the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business. Kudos!

Shane Kilpatrick (MSc ’17, MBET ’18) is the CEO of Membio, a Canadian startup creating technology to manufacture red blood cells. In the Waterloo Magazine, he touches on the challenges and opportunities that COVID-19 presents for Canadian innovation.