Educating a new generation of entrepreneurs

A professor of accounting at the University of Waterloo since 1981, Howard Armitage has long recognized the passion and potential waiting to be tapped in students inspired by innovation-focused education — and the powerful role budding entrepreneurs play in building the Canadian economy.

Armitage — now the Special Advisor to the President on Entrepreneurship — has been named Ontario’s top entrepreneurial educator by Startup Canada. The award recognizes Armitage’s leading role in shaping post-secondary entrepreneurship education in Canada.

How does Waterloo educate entrepreneurs?

“We are so proud of Howard's achievement," says Mark Weber, current director of the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre. "Like the entrepreneurs he is so passionate about teaching, Howard has always dreamed big and worked tirelessly to make new things happen in the marketplace and the world.  Fortunately, one of his biggest dreams was the transformation of how we train entrepreneurs to be significant contributors at the heart of Canada’s innovation economy."

In the early part of the century, “teaching entrepreneurship” was considered a near impossible task — beyond the realm of traditional academic programming. While there were more than 50 MBA programs across Canada, no graduate level-business program focused exclusively on entrepreneurship.

Taking entrepreneurship education out of the classroom

Armitage changed that in 2002, as founding director of Waterloo’s Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre, and its Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program. At the graduate level, Armitage designed an experience-based program to correspond with the stages of entrepreneurial venture and commercialization process.

“At Conrad, we don’t just offer traditional business courses in entrepreneurship,” Armitage says. “We deliver a true entrepreneurial experience where students live the entrepreneurial lifestyle instead of learning about how it’s lived.”

The program was built on Waterloo’s existing strengths in experiential learning and as a leading startup generator — as evidenced by the success of companies that include Research in Motion, OpenText and DALSA.

Since that time, entrepreneurial education has become even more deeply engrained in the University of Waterloo ecosystem:

• 30+ courses and programs support student entrepreneurship and innovation
• $30 million+ in commercialization originated at the Conrad Centre
• 155+ startups developed through Conrad programs or launched by MBET graduates.
• 70+ student-founded companies at Velocity startup incubator
• $100 million+ in investment funding for Velocity startups

In his role as special advisor and theme lead for the implementation of Waterloo’s entrepreneurship strategy, Armitage continues to work to grow opportunities to ignite entrepreneurial spirit in students at Waterloo and beyond.

National winners of the Startup Canada awards will be announced in late May.