Technological Futures

With AI’s transformational impact on the business landscape, senior leaders need to stay ahead of the curve and understand AI wholistically to capitalize on its promise and effectively navigate its implications. To help executives fully harness the power of AI, WatSPEED has launched a first-of-its-kind program: AI and Business Strategy. 

Waterloo-based deep tech startup AdHawk Microsystems recently launched MindLink Air™, everyday glasses that can read its wearer’s eye health and cognitive state using research-grade, camera-free eye-tracking technology. Its real-time insights help the wearer adjust their daily routine to improve productivity and avoid mental fatigue.  

Driven by its founders’ desire to help people, AdHawk is a local success story that exemplifies Waterloo’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

A decade after it was first established, the Waterloo-founded Open Quantum Safe project now has a permanent home. Today, the Linux Foundation announced the launch of the Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance (PQCA), an initiative that unites public and private technology leaders including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Google, IBM, IntellectEU, Keyfactor, Kudelski IoT, NVIDIA, QuSecure, SandboxAQ, and the University of Waterloo to address cryptographic security challenges posed by quantum computing.

“The world continues to face compounding major crises, and education and research are essential to ensuring society is equipped to tackle these challenges head-on,” said Vivek Goel, University of Waterloo’s president and vice-chancellor, in his opening address at the Global Futures 2024 launch event on January 31. 

Waterloo researchers and entrepreneurs are committed to finding and addressing the world’s most pressing challenges with a multi-disciplinary approach. Goel added that in order to achieve this vision, we must start by thinking globally and acting locally. 

On January 18, two teams of Waterloo students participated in the final round of competitions at the inaugural AI EarthHack competition at Microsoft’s headquarters in Toronto. Team Cyclic Geese — comprised of three third-year software engineering students — emerged as winners of one of the two grand prizes and will receive an internship at Manulife.  

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Waterloo has developed a more trustworthy method to diagnose diseases such as COVID-19, pneumonia, and melanoma using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

Waterloo engineering professor Alexander Wong teamed up with other researchers from the university, McGill University, and the National Research Council of Canada to develop a new method to support doctors by enhancing computer-aided diagnosis through deep learning.

Helen Huang (BSc ’17) 
Alum, Faculty of Science
> Co-founder, Co.Lab 

An industry serving a global audience should reflect global diversity. Yet diversity in tech, with people of different backgrounds bringing unique perspectives and lived experiences to the table, still feels a way off. 

At a time when we are experiencing the effects of floods, fires and heatwaves like never before, a new space mission aims to improve climate projection models to help us understand what future scenarios may be possible.

Dr. Christopher G. Fletcher
Professor, Faculty of Environment
> Waterloo Climate Institute
> Water Institute

Edith Law is a professor at the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, where she co-directs the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. Her research delves into social computing technology, machine intelligence interactions and the design and user experience of technology that upholds important human values.

We asked Law how we can ethically harness the power of new technologies for the betterment of humanity.

Opinion by Dr. Law