Build ventures. Drive innovation. Lead change.
The Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business is the academic engine for entrepreneurs. Affiliated with Canada’s most innovative university, we provide students with hands-on experiences in innovative commercialization and strategic start-up success, helping them thrive as the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.
Undergraduate
Enhance your undergraduate degree by joining Conrad School's specialized programs, experiences, and courses.
Graduate
Commercialize your ideas and earn your master's degree or complement your studies with graduate offerings.
News
Winter 2026 Problem Lab Pitch Competition
The Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business is proud to host and sponsor the Problem Lab’s Winter 2026 Problem Pitch Competition Finals, where Waterloo students showcase their research-driven approaches to tackling today’s most pressing challenges. For the 2026 academic year, themes will align with the Global Futures themes as outlined by the University.
Finalist teams will present their research to a panel of industry leaders and alumni for a chance to win $7,500 in R&D.
Conrad School launches Academy of Research Commercialization (ARC) to accelerate deep-tech ventures
The Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business is proud to announce the launch of the Academy of Research Commercialization (ARC), a new initiative designed to empower University of Waterloo doctoral students in turning deep-tech discoveries into investor-ready ventures.
Celebrating the retirement of Tracie Wilkinson
Her retirement marks the conclusion of an extraordinary chapter, and the Conrad School community extends its sincere gratitude and best wishes as she begins this next stage. As reflected by founding Director Howard Armitage, Tracie’s steady leadership, good humour, and problem-solving ability made her a foundational presence at Conrad.
Her retirement marks the conclusion of an extraordinary chapter, and the Conrad School community extends its sincere gratitude and best wishes as she begins this next stage.
Events
Turn your Capstone into a venture
Designed to complement your academic journey, this program offers a space to develop a project with genuine market potential. It is an opportunity to explore problem spaces and ideas in a supportive environment that encourages risk-taking and innovation.
Students will learn how to identify, dissect, and deeply understand problems with the potential for disruptive economic and social impact.
Insight To Creation Speaker Series: A Founder’s Journey from Ground to Flight
Dr. Jeremy Wang shares his entrepreneurial journey from advanced engineering research to co-founding a venture-backed startup operating at the frontier of autonomous aviation. Drawing on his experience as a founder and operator in a highly regulated industry, Jeremy explores what it takes to transform technical innovation into a viable, mission-driven business.
Open to all students, faculty and staff. Recommended to MBET, E Co-op, BET students.
Blog
Building real-world impact in 36 hours
Charles Huxley, Tom Kizito, and Joshua Olonade, three MBET candidates, won the Experience Ventures Hackathon by building a fully functional zero-waste analytics tool in 36 hours. Their “constraint-first” approach, shaped by MBET’s focus on rapid prototyping, customer discovery, and problem-driven design, allowed them to deliver the only live product in the competition: the Zero-Waste Dashboard. The tool provides instant transaction processing, customer segmentation, product insights, and actionable recommendations that small retailers can implement immediately. Their win highlights how MBET equips students to build fast, validate assumptions, and create real-world impact. The team is now exploring opportunities to extend the platform to other retailers seeking simple, data-driven solutions.
How Hayley So turned a classroom idea into ClickNShare
When Hayley So, a Kinesiology student in the Faculty of Health, competed in the Spring 2025 Problem Pitch competition, she walked away with $7,500 in R&D funding to advance her startup,ClickNShare. The platform aims to make creative equipment like cameras and devices easier and more affordable to access, helping students and creators alike share their tools and talents.
Where are they now: how Conrad School undergrad alumni built Zero Experience and shaped the future of innovation
When Covid-19 hit and students started losing their co-op placements, two Conrad School BET 300 students and Problem Pitch alumni Holden Beggs and Jackson Mills teamed up to give their peers experience anyways.
That idea changed everything. It became The Zero Experience, an all-online program that has now reached over 5,000 learners worldwide and been recognized in Forbes 30 under 30 Class of 2025.
“Zero was born from our experiences with the Problem Lab, entrepreneurship at Conrad, research across national labs, and too many side projects to count,” says Holden. “We saw common threads in successful innovation, but also a big gap: there was no true first step for students who didn’t yet have ‘a great idea’ or didn’t feel like innovators.”