Entrepreneurship

There are more than 90,000 manufacturing plants in Canada making our food, vehicles and parts. It’s an industry that contributes significantly to the company’s gross domestic product, yet some manufacturers still use pen and paper to track lubrication maintenance that is necessary to keep the machines running smoothly. 

With the rapid advancement and adoption of artificial intelligence, it’s crucial for policy leaders to have a high-level understanding of its impact to make informed decisions. To help the Canadian government navigate this technological disruption, WatSPEED has developed a new program, AI Adoption, Policy and Governance, enabling senior policymakers to lead through the opportunities and challenges that AI presents. 

For people who have been taking multiple medications for years, or those taking medication which can cause withdrawal or rebound symptoms, the notion of deprescribing can be scary, even if it may improve their health and well-being.

The Winter 2024 Velocity Pitch Competition saw a big turnout, attracting more than 100 student applications from campus. Narrowing down from a competitive initial pool, 26 teams emerged to compete in the semi-finals, leading to the final showdown of eight standout finalists.

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 distributed more than $110,000 in investment funding for the projects.

“GreenHouse, now in its 11th year of operation, has provided social innovation and entrepreneurship education to thousands of students, and has supported, through the Social Impact Fund, the development of 120 student-run social ventures — that’s a lot of positive impact, both for the students and for society as a whole,” said Richard Myers, principal at United College, during his opening remarks on March 27 at the GreenHouse 31st Social Impact Showcase.  

StarterHacks, the beginner-friendly hackathon returning to Waterloo campus this May, grew out of a friendship between co-founders William Nippard and Marium Kirmani based on the principle that opposites attract.

Fahim Ahmed is a computer science and finance student at Waterloo, and the president and co-founder of Waterloo Blockchain. But what feels like a direct path to success now, took him a while to find.

Ahmed was only 12 years old when he started crypto-mining.

“I had seen people talking about it a lot online, so I set up my own hardware to do mining in my bedroom,” he recalls. “I just wanted money to buy video games!”

In elementary and high school, Ahmed switched schools frequently, and had trouble staying focused.

AutoCate, a newly-launched membership-based platform geared toward women, aims to reduce fraud and discrimination in the auto repair industry.

The platform, created by Stefanie Bruinsma, a mechanic and engineering grad from the University of Waterloo, connects people in need of car repairs or advice with trusted experts and educators.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. It’s almost always caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) which can be passed from one person to another during sex. The Pap test (or Pap smear) screens women for cervical cancer but regular testing can be difficult to access — in Ontario, women are only eligible for the test every three years. This is cause for concern as early detection is key to treating cervical cancer successfully.