Entrepreneurship

Two teams of engineering students at the University of Waterloo have been awarded $50,000 each to turn their fourth-year projects into startup companies after graduation.

The funding is provided by celebrated Waterloo Engineering graduates Chamath Palihapitiya and his wife Brigette Lau, founders of Social Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund dedicated to solving some of the world’s most difficult problems.

From left to right: Waterloo graduates Spencer Kelly, Ben Wiseman, Aleks Poldma, Sandy McLachlan and Bruce Taylor, and Community Health Agents Brian Arimpa and David Iga

The Water Institute at the University of Waterloo and the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation launched a three-year partnership that will combine water research and tech to mitigate threats to our vital water resources.

Epoch team: Lisa Tran, Keith Choy, Jade Choy, and BETS student Ryan Schmied

A University of Waterloo startup team that hopes to support refugees once they’ve settled in Canada, has won the regional Hult Prize in London, England, bringing them one step closer to $1 million in seed funding for their social venture.

It’s a typical day. You pay for your morning coffee with a tap of your debit card, e-transfer money to your son at university, settle all your household bills and even negotiate a new mortgage online. Sure, you’ve been known to gripe about banking service fees, but who hasn’t? And so it goes for much of the developed world - daily life involves interactions with some global financial system - and it’s something we take for granted.

Future plans and past achievements were highlighted when hundreds of students, staff, faculty members, alumni and donors gathered for the 2016 Waterloo Engineering Awards Dinner.

The event that recognized top students also celebrated distinguished graduates in four categories and a Waterloo Region family with a record of generous support for the Faculty and the University.

Waterloo’s Hyperloop team and their pod, nicknamed Goose 1, will make their way home from a California competition this week bolstered by feedback from SpaceX judges and competitors — and looking to the future.

The spirit of risk-taking at the University of Waterloo paid dividends today when federal cabinet minister Bardish Chagger announced $32.6 million in funding for the new Engineering 7 building now under construction on the east campus.

“I’m confident that this new facility will lead to discoveries that will bring significant benefits to our country,” said Chagger, the Waterloo MP who serves as both Government House Leader and the Minister of Small Business and Tourism.

University of Waterloo engineering alumni who founded startups in their graduating year have been named to this year's Forbes 30 Under 30 list for innovations in the fields of Consumer Technology as well as Marketing and Advertising.