Entrepreneurship

A team of former engineering students from the University of Waterloo has made a shortlist of finalists in a high-profile international invention competition.

Scope, which is developing a better zoom function for smartphone cameras and other applications, is one of 20 teams from countries around the world still in the running for the 2020 James Dyson Award.

Welcome to Career Perspectives, where we share a conversation between two Waterloo alumni. In this conversation, Anne-Marie Marais (BES ’95) and Karlena Waugh (BA ’14) discuss their experiences as freelance entrepreneurs. Anne-Marie offers digital marketing services through her business Long Legs Media, and Karlena is the events and community-building expert behind Mini K Creations. The services they offer may be different, but many of their experiences are same.

Digital X-ray technology developed by a University of Waterloo spinoff company has won approval from Health Canada.

A medical device licence issued for Reveal 35C, a dual-energy X-ray detector created by KA Imaging, follows clearance from the Food and Drug Administration in the United States earlier this month.

When investors logged in to Y Combinator’s virtual summer 2020 Demo Day, they got to see Waterloo entrepreneurship in action. Four companies with ties to Velocity and the University of Waterloo took part in the event, which brought together a class of 198 of founders from 26 different countries.

Projects by students from Waterloo Engineering took both runner-up prizes in the Canadian leg of the James Dyson Award competition for student inventors.

SmartPatrol, which uses computer vision to prevent injuries at ski resorts, and Scope, which is developing a better zoom function for smartphone cameras, now move on to the international portion of the 27-country competition.

Welcome to Career Perspectives, where we share a conversation between two Waterloo alumni. In this conversation, Akailah Wilson (BA ’15) and Joanna Woo (BA ’09) discuss their experiences as Human Resources (HR) professionals in the Kitchener-Waterloo technology industry. Read on to get an inside view of talent recruitment in tech and uncover new inspiration for your own career.

A group of exceptionally talented incoming students are making their way to Waterloo with a prestigious scholarship in tow.

Thanks to a $100+ million investment by businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich, Waterloo has more than doubled its recipient pool from previous years allowing selected students pursuing STEM to begin their post-secondary careers with an extra $80,000 or $100,000.

The year 2020 has been a trial for people across the globe. For many, this year’s crises have also inspired growth and motivation. When Jackie Lee (BSc ’06), Alan Soong (BASc ’08) and Dr. Brian Li (BASc '09) saw that health care professionals were struggling from a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), they created Masks for Covid. The organization combines off-the-shelf, full-face snorkel masks with readily available filters to make a comfortable and cost-effective PPE solution.

The global pandemic is accelerating the pace of social and technological change, a dynamic that is serving as a “great equalizer” for innovators and entrepreneurs.

Among many of the technological disruptions advanced by the outbreak, working and conducting business remotely is knocking down traditional barriers, leaders from the worlds of entrepreneurship and academia say.

Randall Lane, Forbes CCO and editor, facilitated the panel discussion on how talent and innovation collide in the race to reset today's workforce and rebuild economies.

Every graduating class must be prepared for new challenges. But the class of 2020 confronts a particularly difficult reality, entering the workforce in the midst of a recession and pandemic.

On June 5, alumni from the Faculty of Math participated in a virtual event to celebrate the class of 2020 and share strategies for success in these difficult times.

 Here are a few of the strategies for success our participants shared: