Global Futures

As Sir Ron Kalifa, head of financial infrastructure and vice chair of private equity at Brookfield, reflected on the beginning of his career, he described a rigid, hierarchical environment and recalled physically writing in ledgers. Those physical ledgers may have exited banks years ago, but Kalifa believes that most large-scale financial institutions are still analogue businesses.  

At a time filled with cryptocurrencies and digital payment systems, how can traditional banks catch up?  

The world has converged on Belém, Brazil’s gateway to the Amazon, to sharpen climate commitments and move from promises to implementation. It’s all happening at the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  

The University of Waterloo has seen an increase in the number of researchers included in this year’s Highly Cited Researchers™ 2025 list recently published by Clarivate. The list highlights the world’s most influential researchers and scientists.

Those selected have authored multiple Highly Cited Papers which rank in the top one per cent by citations in their field. Citations and peer review are the lifeblood of academic research, ensuring both integrity and innovation. The Highly Cited Researchers™ list recognizes only one in 1,000 researchers from around the world.

Swish Solar, a cleantech company based at Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, has closed an oversubscribed US$1.5 million pre-seed round. The new financing will accelerate market adoption of its self-cleaning solar technology that helps make renewable energy more efficient and sustainable.

“Solar panels can lose up to 60 per cent of their efficiency due to sand and snow buildup, costing the cleantech energy industry billions in lost revenue each year,” said Miswar Syed (MASc '25), CEO of Swish Solar.

The solution to Canada’s housing crisis seems simple: build more affordable homes fast. But like many real-world solutions, that’s easier said than done.  

Deep within the structure of the Mathematics and Computer building (MC) at the University of Waterloo lies one of the most sophisticated and important digital research computing systems in Canada. The newly refreshed system, named Nibi, recently replaced the Graham supercomputer.

University of Waterloo researchers have received more than $4.3 million in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), a non-profit corporation that support research infrastructure through the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF).

While founding Canada’s next tech startup or discovering a major research breakthrough are the impetus for some University of Waterloo changemakers, others use their curiosity and imagination to find ways to unlock social impact locally and globally.

In many cases, the first steps towards making a difference happen at Waterloo where students immerse themselves in a culture of curiosity, entrepreneurship and global stewardship. It’s at Waterloo where a sense of belonging and a responsibility for others can really take root.

The iron ring is small, sized to fit the little finger of an engineer’s working hand. Today it is more often made from stainless steel than iron. Though it doesn’t weigh much physically, it carries enormous symbolic weight, acting as a reminder to Canadian-trained professional engineers of the oath they took to do good, safe work that advances society.

Friendlier, a local startup tackling Canada’s single-use plastic problem head-on, recently closed a $4.5 million dollar funding round. The company, founded in 2019 by University of Waterloo alumni Jacqueline Hanton (BASc ’20) and Kayli Smith (BASc ’20), has raised a total of $10 million and kept almost 3.7 million food and beverage containers out of landfills.