Entrepreneurship

Harsh winter conditions may be easier for Canadians to manage with a new product invented by University of Waterloo graduates.

“Frost is a major problem for individuals and businesses daily. Not only is it inconvenient but it has an impact on safety and can even hinder economic activity,” said Abhinay Kondamreddy, a nanotechnology engineering graduate who developed Neverfrost along with three classmates.

Companies can now say goodbye to tedious food testing processes, thanks to a new innovation from kinesiology postdoctoral fellow Adam Metherel.

Armaghan Salehian’s research group has developed technology she hopes will dramatically reduce the number of times people have to get their pacemakers replaced.

If pacemaker batteries can last longer with this hybrid technology, patients will have to endure fewer open-heart surgeries.

St. Paul’s University College will host an open house on December 3 to introduce GreenHouse, a new social innovation community similar to VeloCity, with social entrepreneurship goals.  

An app that lets you anonymously flirt with people nearby and a platform that helps researchers gather data are two of the startup ideas that won $25,000 grants at the eighth VeloCity Fund Finals.

Ten startups competed for four $25,000 grants and the opportunity to build their businesses at the VeloCity Garage workspace.

The four winners are:

A company that will help parents get their kids interested in computer programming at a young age was among the winners today as more than 400 people looked on at the eighth VeloCity Fund Finals at the University of Waterloo.

Ten startups competed for one of four grants worth $25,000 and the opportunity to build their businesses at the VeloCity Garage in downtown Kitchener.

The four winners of the grants worth $25,000 are:

Light-bot - Gets kids interested in computer science by playing games.

HONG KONG — Three CEOs who grew businesses from roots at the University of Waterloo, the hometown of smartphone-maker BlackBerry, come together this week to share their stories about the challenges and opportunities of growing a global technology business in Asia.

John Baker, CEO of Desire2Learn, and Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik Interactive, both Waterloo, Ontario-based companies will join Jason Chiu, the Hong Kong-based CEO of CherryPicks Inc, for a series of events in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore hosted by the University of Waterloo’s dean of engineering, Pearl Sullivan.

The latest issue of the University of Waterloo Magazine highlights how our researchers are unravelling the mysteries of the mind and changing the world with mathematics. The magazine also features a story about the evolution of Waterloo's unique entrepreneurial culture - including a spotlight on VeloCity entrepreneurs.

Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of the social media website reddit,told University of Waterloo students to move forward with their startup ideas and “play this like it's your last life remaining."

The successful startup investor dispelled myths about entrepreneurship, telling a packed house on Friday night that an entrepreneur is just someone who “has ideas and does them.”

After many years of teaching Spanish to Waterloo students, Camelia Nunez knows beginners learn best by engaging in meaningful conversations.  She also knows undergrads spend a lot of time chatting on their smartphones.

So she came up with an idea:  Why not use smartphones as a platform for students to receive and respond to messages in their new language?