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Velocity Garage expands; now North America's largest free startup incubator
by Jude Fiorillo.
Four years ago, the University of Waterloo opened the doors of the Velocity Garage, a startup incubator that has quickly grown to provide 163 startups with the knowledge, tools, resources, and space they need to succeed.
Today, the Garage will expand to 5 times its current size, to over 36,000 square feet. The expanded facility will provide companies with more space, resources, and opportunities for peer collaboration, and allow Velocity to expand its community of software, hardware, and science companies under one roof.
With this expansion, the Velocity Garage will become the largest free startup incubator in North America. Velocity does not charge companies any fees to participate or take any equity from startups. It also offers extensive entrepreneurship programming on campus: a residence for entrepreneurs, a dedicated science lab, business workshops, and a pitch competition that awards $375,000 in non-equity grants a year.
“By providing crucial resources to startups at an early stage – without charge and without taking an equity stake – Velocity is providing a model for cost effective and scalable startup growth across the country and around the world,” says Mike Kirkup, director of Velocity.
The expansion of the Velocity Garage is enabled by a partnership between Velocity, Communitech, and Google, as well as a gift of furniture and equipment from the tech company. “Thanks to our ongoing partnership with Google and Communitech, the Velocity startup community will benefit from more space, equipment, and opportunities for mentorship” notes Mike Kirkup. Velocity is also partnering with University of Waterloo Athletics to build a fitness room with treadmills, bikes, weights, and more.
More news on this exciting project can be found on the Velocity website.
Earth's oxygen came from an algal whiff: study
This is an excerpt of an article originally published in Waterloo News.
Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere emerged in whiffs from a kind of blue-green algae in shallow oceans around 2.5 billion years ago, according to new research from Canadian and US scientists.
These whiffs of oxygen likely happened in the following 100 million years, changing the levels of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere until enough accumulated to create a permanently oxygenated atmosphere around 2.4 billion years ago – a transition widely known as the Great Oxidation Event.
“The onset of Earth's surface oxygenation was likely a complex process characterized by multiple whiffs of oxygen until a tipping point was crossed,” said Brian Kendall, a professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “Until now, we haven’t been able to tell whether oxygen concentrations 2.5 billion years ago were stable or not. These new data provide a much more conclusive answer to that question.”
The findings are presented in a paper published this month in Science Advances from researchers at Waterloo, University of Alberta, Arizona State University, University of California Riverside, and Georgia Institute of Technology. The team presents new isotopic data showing that a burst of oxygen production by photosynthetic cyanobacteria temporarily increased oxygen concentrations in Earth's atmosphere.
“One of the questions we ask is: ‘did the evolution of photosynthesis lead directly to an oxygen-rich atmosphere? Or did the transition to today's world happen in fits-and-starts?" said Professor Ariel Anbar of Arizona State University. “How and why Earth developed an oxygenated atmosphere is one of the most profound puzzles in understanding the history of our planet.”
Read the rest of the article on Waterloo News.
Talk explores digital gaming, language learning
by Lori Straus.
If the digital world and its applications are your game, then you won’t want to miss this talk. On Tuesday, December 8, at 4:00 p.m., Jonathan Reinhardt, associate professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Arizona, will discuss digital gaming and language learning. His presentation will cover a wide spectrum of research on the subject:
- the history and theory of digital gaming in language learning,
- why gaming can be used as a potential resource for foreign language learning,
- descriptions of some games already in use,
- useful heuristics for interpreting research on games, and
- implications for future research and practice.
Reinhardt researches technology-enhanced second and foreign language pedagogy and the relationships between technological change and the epistemologies of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). He focuses on everyday technologies like digital games, social media, and mobile apps.
Jon Reinhardt is hosted by the Waterloo Centre for German Studies in cooperation with the Games Institute and the UWaterloo Stratford Campus, where this presentation is taking place. If you’d like to attend, just register; we’re offering free transportation for anyone attending from the Waterloo campus. The bus will be leaving at 3:00 p.m.
For more information, please visit the Waterloo Centre for German Studies website.
Velocity Fund Finals and other notes
Lovers of oversized cheques, rejoice! Ten startups from the University of Waterloo will pitch their innovative ideas at the Velocity Fund Finals today for the chance to win one of four prizes worth $25,000.
Judges will present one winner with an additional $10,000 for the top hardware pitch. Another 10 startups will compete for one of three awards worth $5,000.
The $5,000 pitch competition will begin at 11:00 a.m., and the $25,000 pitch competition will begin at 1:00 p.m. Both competitions take place in the Great Hall of the Student Life Centre.
Judges for the $25,000 competition include Ameet Shah, partner, Golden Venture Partners, Dan Park, vice-president, Azure Capital Partners, Janet Bannister, general partner, Real Ventures, and Ted Livingston, founder & CEO, Kik.
The full list of Velocity Fund finalists can be found on the Waterloo News page.
If you can't make the event in person, be sure to watch the livestream.
The Biomedical and Systems Design Global Health/Engineering 1st Year Design Projects Fair will take place tomorrow from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the 6th floor of Engineering 5. The event will include presentations of design solutions and prototypes that attempt to solve global health and engineering problems in the developing world. Problems addressed include:
- indoor air quality;
- water access and transportation; and
- medical device cleanliness and sanitation.
Finally, in case anyone's been keeping track, today's issue of the Daily Bulletin marks my 1,000th as editor since I started back in November 2011. The years and the issues have flown by, and it's been a great privilege to help keep the University community informed and perhaps even entertained. You keep reading and I'll keep writing!