September 27, 2013
Alumnus kickstarts Engineer of the Future Trust fund
Silicon Valley entrepreneur will match donations to a new fund for entrepreneurial engineering students
A successful entrepreneur who has made his mark in the high-tech world by providing data protection is returning to the University of Waterloo after launching a new fund to support budding entrepreneurs studying engineering.
Terry Cunningham, president of EVault, a San Francisco-based company, has challenged his fellow alumni to support a new Engineer of the Future Trust. At the Waterloo Engineering Reunion this weekend, Cunningham will challenge other engineering alumni to match his donation.
"It will allow Waterloo Engineering to provide micro-seed funding to the many budding entrepreneurs in a proven incubation hub,” says Cunningham. “The key is that the fund can be used for whatever will make the biggest impact when timing counts.”
The fund will be used by Engineering Dean Pearl Sullivan to assist students with their Capstone design projects or it can be accessed by Waterloo Engineering teams.
Synergy between technical training and entrepreneurship
Cunningham, who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering 30 years ago, says: “I personally want to ensure that Waterloo remains the school of choice for the world’s best engineers by promoting the essential synergy between technical training and entrepreneurship.”
Sullivan will also speak at the reunion about her vision for the Educating the Engineer of the Future. “We intend to create an infrastructure and a culture to foster world-class engineering expertise in three disciplines: practitioners, researchers and entrepreneurs,” she says.
Somewhere between 700 and 1,500 engineering alumni live and work in California’s Silicon Valley and Cunningham says “We know world-class talent is nurtured at Waterloo and we continue to benefit from Waterloo’s co-op program which brings about 300 of Canada’s best and brightest to the valley every year.”
In her speech, Sullivan will share with alumni how Waterloo has produced some of the best and brightest engineers in the world while supporting students’ entrepreneurial instincts. Sullivan points to the three recent engineering grads who founded Thalmic Labs, creators of the MYO gesture control armband, who recently raised more than $15 million of Series A venture funding. This was the largest round raised by any Y-Combinator graduate to date. Last year, the Y-Combinator, based in Silicon Valley, was named the top startup incubator by Forbes.
“Thalmic Labs are based in Waterloo,” says Sullivan. “Their success is proof that you don’t have to stay in California to operate a successful company.”
The engineering reunion starts on Fri. Sept. 27 and events run until Sunday Sept. 29. It’s just one of the many reunion activities taking place across campus for all faculties. For more details visit the Waterloo Alumni Reunion 2013 site.
