Entrepreneurship and innovation

At Waterloo, we challenge convention, cultivate creative solutions, and work together to make the world better. It's who we are. And it's who you are too.

From creation to innovation, Waterloo is the place to make it happen. We'll provide the space and tools for you to explore your passions.

Choose from student-run publications and business incubators to design studios, 3D-printing labs, art galleries, fourth-year capstone courses, and more.

You bring your ideas. We’ll provide the support to turn those ideas into action. You+Waterloo. A great combination.

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With the help of courses, mentors, and our facilities, Waterloo graduate Richard Yim developed a robot that can safely destroy landmines which are buried in former war zones around the world.

Incubators: here to turn your ideas into action

Whether you want to launch your own business or increase your entrepreneurial skills to become more employable, we’re here to help. Waterloo’s idea incubators provide mentors, financing, and office or lab space to help you get started.

Explore entrepreneurship and what it might mean for you at Velocity. Ignite your ideas through workshops, hackathons, networking, one-on-one coaching, grant funding, and student creator spaces including Velocity Science, Velocity Digital, and Velocity Problem Lab HQ. There's something for every skill level. Other supports within Waterloo's unique innovation ecosystem include:

Make entrepreneurship part of your degree

Build a business – and get academic credit – by enrolling in specialized entrepreneurial courses and co-op programs at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business.

You can even include an entrepreneurship minor as part of your degree (available as an option if you're in Engineering).

Velocity garage

Waterloo's Velocity incubator provides support for tech startups and is ranked as one of the world’s top university-linked incubators.

Facilities to fuel your creativity

Whether you want an outlet for your ingenuity or the space to create cool stuff, there's an incredible range of hands-on opportunities waiting for you at Waterloo.

Join a student design team

Have fun and get experience with solar cars, robots, rocketry, submarine racing, autonomous cars and sailboats, SpaceX Hyperloop, and more.

These are just some of the projects our 20+ student-led design teams are working on!

Help out with design, marketing, writing financial reports, building the design, applying to competitions, developing software, and more.

Student media

Develop your writing or photography through student-run media such as

Imprint newspaper,
UWaterloo Radicle (Environment),
The Iron Warrior (Engineering),
MathNews, and
HERCampus.

Go in depth with year-long projects

In many programs, you can complete a year-long project as part of your final year. Work as part of a team or one-on-one with a professor.

Many students use their projects to explore potential careers, to start their own company, or as good training for a Master's degree.

See what previous students in Engineering, Environment and Business, and Theatre and Performance have done.

Maker spaces

Embrace your inner maker by using high-end digital fabrication tools in the Architectural Engineering Maker Space, open to all Waterloo students.

Explore, build, and grow your big ideas at Velocity’s student creator spaces from Velocity Digital, Velocity Science, to the Problem Lab HQ.

Or explore ceramics, painting, drawing, digital media, printmaking, sculpture, and more in our Fine Arts facilities. You'll also have access to a photo studio, darkroom, and sound studio.

You own your ideas

Our creator-owned intellectual property (IP) policy means that the ideas you develop at Waterloo belong to you.

Giving inventors sole ownership of their ideas and letting them market them without the university taking any profit is the best way to turn research into projects that benefit society.