Entrepreneurship

Many entrepreneurs build companies to tackle problems they’ve experienced first-hand — and Kurtis McBride (BASc ’04, MASc ’07) is one of them.  

The Waterloo Engineering alum hit upon his startup idea when he was a student on a co-op work placement at a transportation consultancy. The job involved manually counting vehicles, which McBride saw as outdated and inefficient, hindering the urban planning process.  

University of Waterloo students and alumni are changing the game by launching companies with global impact for humanity and our planet. Their remarkable achievements have earned them spots on this year’s illustrious Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.  

The annual list highlights young entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their fields. Waterloo-linked founders were named in artificial intelligence (AI), green tech, education, food and drink and manufacturing categories. 

A Velocity health-tech startup focused on improving health-care communication has announced an exciting new partnership with Grand River Hospital (GRH) to address communication challenges within the hospital’s Renal Program. This collaboration — a pre-commercialization project spanning three months — will leverage MedInclude’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform to enhance patient engagement and streamline interactions between health-care providers and patients. 

Agenek, a pioneering biotech company at Velocity, University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, unveiled a new RNA-based test that provides an unprecedented level of precision in recommending skincare products to consumers.

The skincare test offered by Agenek will provide people with a real-time biological snapshot of the needs of their skin and help them make educated choices, save time and money, and achieve better skin health.

Velocity, the entrepreneurship center of the University of Waterloo — the number one school in Canada for entrepreneurs — has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with The Blockchain Center in Abu Dhabi.

In an era of rapid technological advancement and interconnected global challenges, as outlined in Waterloo at 100, Canada faces a pivotal moment: how to secure its place as a leader in innovation — without sacrificing what makes it unique. 

Karim S. Karim (BASc '99, PhD '03) is the associate vice-president of Commercialization and Entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo and a professor of electrical and computer engineering. With a distinguished career that includes co-founding the Waterloo medical imaging spin-off KA Imaging, Karim highlights the University’s impact and vision behind its Innovation Arena.

For Global Entrepreneurship Week, we’re spotlighting some incredible University of Waterloo entrepreneurs making a difference for humanity and our world.

Julia Baribeau (BASc ’23) is advancing her career with a unique twist on entrepreneurship as part of her journey in tackling environmental challenges. Rather than jumping into creating her own company, she’s working as an intrapreneur, bringing an entrepreneurial approach to her role within an existing organization.