Future students

Canada is home to some of the best innovators in the world.

Many founders find it challenging in the early stages of their business due to limited access to non-dilutive funding. Here enters Velocity — the centre of entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo — with a solution to the problem since 2008.  

Twelve senior student teams from the Faculty of Engineering competed in this year’s Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Awards for Capstone Design, pitching their startup ideas to a panel of judges who awarded over $100,000 across all 12 teams.    

Each team delivered a three-minute business pitch to showcase their entrepreneurial and innovative approach to solving a real-world problem. These solutions ranged from a device that improves sleep quality and cognitive functioning in children with epilepsy, to a highly porous material that can improve oil spill cleanups. 

Dr. Mikal Skuterud
Professor, Economics
> Director, Canadian Labour Economics Forum

Dr. Mikal Skuterud became interested in labour markets in high school while working in a large warehouse alongside many recent migrants to Canada. During his undergraduate degree in labour studies, Skuterud took several economic theory courses, which confirmed he was on the right career path.

A new collaboration between the University of Waterloo and the City of Iqaluit is allowing students to apply their skills to real-world challenges — all while making a tangible difference in the North.

The partnership was possible through i-Capstone — the University of Waterloo’s first interdisciplinary undergraduate capstone program. Designed to unite students from every faculty, i-Capstone enables students to tackle complex problems facing Canadian communities — like sustainable housing, infrastructure and integrated urban planning — all for academic credit.

Before Velocity became the centre of entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo, it was a group of innovative students living in the Waterloo dorm life and hosting weekly meetups at Minota Hagey, also known as Velocity residence. Today, thousands of students from all backgrounds take part in Velocity’s experiential entrepreneurship learning program.  

For 20 years, the Co-op Student of the Year awards have celebrated Waterloo’s most outstanding co-op students. From using artificial intelligence (AI) to help combat microbial resistance to enhancing patient care and integrating sustainability into logistics, this year’s award winners are making real-world impact that extends far beyond the workplace. 

For the first time, researchers at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and the University of Innsbruck in Austria have performed a quantum simulation of a two-dimensional particle physics theory on a qudit quantum computer, bringing us closer to understanding nature at its most fundamental level. 

Six researchers at the University of Waterloo have been awarded more than $7.5 million in funding to support their research.  

The funding is made possible through the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program, which invests up to $311 million annually to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds.