The College of Waterloo has formally opened the Innovation Area, a brand new collaboration area within the coronary heart of Kitchener’s innovation district which is able to empower companies, founders and group companions to have interaction researchers and entrepreneurs in fixing native, nationwide and world well being challenges.
The Innovation Area would be the new residence of Velocity, the College’s flagship startup incubator. The Area homes enhanced enterprise helps for founders, state-of-the-art product improvement labs, manufacturing tools and collaboration areas.
Situated on College of Waterloo’s Well being Sciences Campus, the Innovation Area will assist speed up Waterloo Area’s rising well being tech sector. The area builds on current collaborations just like the CareNext Coalition – a partnership between native hospitals and the College which is geared toward bringing well being tech innovation on to hospital bedsides and enhance affected person experiences. The sector may even work alongside current hubs just like the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) to help the greater than 100 well being tech firms already working within the Area to facilitate new concepts from analysis to commercialization.
“The Innovation Arena is the new home for entrepreneurship at Waterloo and will be a nexus for health innovation,” mentioned Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of the College of Waterloo. “Building on the momentum from Waterloo startups like Intellijoint Surgical and KA Imaging, and with resources for advanced technology startups and access to partners in the health care sector, the facility will accelerate Southwestern Ontario’s drive to become Canada’s epicentre of health innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Velocity’s new residence within the Innovation Area has been designed with early-stage startups prime of thoughts. Transferring past a singular focus in well being tech, it’ll construct on Velocity’s success of supporting founders in deep tech, clear tech, automotive and manufacturing for greater than 15 years. Velocity will construct upon its historical past of launching profitable firms and develop its programming with community-based studying and labs that can flip prototypes into merchandise.
“The Innovation Arena will streamline commercialization pathways for businesses, fast-track the delivery of health technologies and drive Canada’s next wave of economic growth,” mentioned Velocity’s Govt Director Adrien Cote. “As the world of startups undergoes rapid transformation, the Innovation Arena is poised to create tangible social and economic opportunities. Founders are excited, University of Waterloo students and researchers are excited, and the Velocity team is excited about scaling up our support for new talent and ideas getting to market faster.”
The Innovation Area accommodates 90,000 sq. toes of innovation area and contains 20,000 sq. toes of area devoted to {hardware} together with chemistry and biology constructing instruments. Companions starting from hospitals, native companies, academia, non-profit organizations, and authorities our bodies are welcome to be a part of the Area’s journey locally.
The College of Waterloo and Velocity are proud to acknowledge monetary help from the Authorities of Canada by means of the Federal Financial Growth Company for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), the Authorities of Ontario and the Metropolis of Kitchener, to propel our imaginative and prescient of advancing well being innovation and entrepreneurship in Canada. The College can be grateful for the help of philanthropic companions together with native entrepreneur and angel investor Mike Stork.
Quotes
“Congratulations to the University of Waterloo on the grand opening of the Innovation Arena in Kitchener. The Innovation Arena will be the new home for Velocity, and will support Waterloo Region’s growing health tech sector. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the hard-working innovators in our health tech sector and moving towards a healthier future for all Canadians.” — The Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister accountable for the Federal Financial Growth Company for Southern Ontario
“This Innovation Arena is a collaborative space that will be instrumental in helping southern Ontario’s health tech sector grow and thrive while improving the health of Canadians with innovative solutions. Congratulations to the team at the University of Waterloo on this major milestone.” — Bryan Might, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Enterprise and to the Minister accountable for the Federal Financial Growth Company for Southern Ontario and Member of Parliament for Cambridge
“As we continue to grow Ontario’s life sciences sector, the Innovation Arena will play a key role in accelerating the development and commercialization of made-in-Ontario innovations, while driving economic growth and job creation in Kitchener and Waterloo. We congratulate the University of Waterloo on the official opening of this collaborative space and look forward to seeing more Ontario start-ups bring their ideas from lab to market.” — The Honourable Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Financial Growth, Job Creation and Commerce
“The Metropolis of Kitchener is thrilled to welcome the brand new UW Innovation Area to Downtown Kitchener as the primary funding we made popping out of the pandemic from our new Make It Kitchener 2.0 financial improvement technique. Working collaboratively with our federal and provincial funding companions and the College of Waterloo, this superb area will construct on Kitchener’s world-renowned tradition of innovation, supporting the expansion of recent small and scaling companies in Kitchener, with impacts throughout Ontario and all through Canada and past. I’m so excited to see the unimaginable work and developments in well being tech that can come out of this innovative, collaborative area and alter individuals’s lives .” — Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, Metropolis of Kitchener
Media contacts
David George-Cosh
Senior Supervisor, Media Relations
College of Waterloo
[email protected]
416-294-2471
Edward Hutchinson
Press Secretary
Workplace of the Minister accountable for the Federal Financial Growth Company for Southern Ontario
[email protected]
In regards to the College of Waterloo
College of Waterloo is a number one world innovation hub that drives financial and social prosperity for Canada and the world. With greater than 42,000 college students, we’re residence to the world’s largest co-op schooling expertise pipeline, to game-changing analysis and expertise, and to an unmatched entrepreneurial tradition. Collectively, these create partnerships and options to sort out immediately’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Discover out extra at uwaterloo.ca.
About FedDev Ontario
For 15 years, the Authorities of Canada, by means of FedDev Ontario, has labored to advance and diversify the southern Ontario financial system by means of funding alternatives and enterprise companies that help innovation, progress and job creation in Canada’s most populous area. The Company has delivered spectacular outcomes, which could be seen in southern Ontario companies which are creating modern applied sciences, bettering productiveness, rising revenues, creating jobs, and within the financial development of communities throughout the area. Study extra in regards to the impacts the Company is having in southern Ontario by exploring our funding profiles, our Southern Ontario Highlight, and FedDev Ontario’s X, Fb, Instagram and LinkedIn.
