Waterloo Engineering alum and local entrepreneur stresses the need for Canada to once again celebrate risk-taking and job creation — or fall behind.
Kurtis McBride (BASc ’04, MASc ’07) launched his first startup, Miovision, in 2005 and has founded other businesses and community initiatives since then. He credits much of his success to Canada's golden age of entrepreneurship 20 years ago, and urges academia, industry and government to work together and recreate a country where bold ideas can flourish.
McBride is concerned that the public policy consensus that benefited him — the agreement that supporting entrepreneurship is key to building a dynamic economy capable of sustaining a strong social safety net — has eroded over time.
“There’s more risk aversion today, fueled by public narratives that pit wealth creation against social ideals,” he says. “This mindset threatens our ability to foster the next generation of innovators and keep them here."
Despite this, McBride is optimistic about the Waterloo region’s continued potential to model the positive relationship between entrepreneurship, economic growth and community development. Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, the University’s Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Technology, and the Accelerator Centre, all contribute to the local ethos, helping entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas and build businesses.
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