Research and innovation are integral to the University of Waterloo and recognized worldwide. Waterloo attracted more than $286 million from public and private sources in 2024-25 to fund research across a spectrum of challenges, and is home to:
- One Nobel Laureate
- Five Killam Prize winners
- 71 Canada Research Chairs
- Two Canada Excellence Research Chairs: Dr. Sara A. Hart (Developmental Science), Dr. Renée J. Miller (Data Intelligence)
- Two Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureates: Philippe Van Cappellen (Ecohydrology) and David Cory (Quantum Information Processing). One past Canada Excellence Research Chair: Katja Mombaur (Human-Centred Robotics and Machine Intelligence)
- Velocity, Waterloo's flagship entrepreneurship centre
- Waterloo's unique creator-owned intellectual property (IP)
- Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo), providing IP and patent services
Waterloo's commitment to research excellence and entrepreneurship includes supporting faculty members across the full research trajectory, applying for and managing funds, safeguarding research, cultivating collaborations with industry or public sector partners and commercialization.
Research Centres and Institutes
Research Centres and Institutes are partnerships with the University of Waterloo and are Senate Graduate & Research Council (SGRC) and Senate approved.
You can find a complete list of Waterloo's Research Centres and Institutes on the Faculties and Academics page of the University of Waterloo website.
Publications and strategic plan
- Transforming Our Common Tomorrow — University of Waterloo Research Strategic Plan 2026-2030 (PDF)
- Our Connected World: Research Report 2023/24
- Momentum 02 - Velocity Report (Published 2025)
To request copies of any materials, please email researchoffice@uwaterloo.ca.