VeloCity Garage hosts 30 startups this fall

a news release by the media relations team.

A health monitoring armband, highly scalable transparent energy-efficient electronic display technology, and an online planning tool for teachers are among the many innovations emerging from 30 startup companies operating at the VeloCity Garage this fall.

The VeloCity startup program fosters entrepreneurship by providing University of Waterloo students with opportunities for startup funding, free workspace, workshops, networking opportunities and access to mentors.

“Since VeloCity’s start five years ago, we have supported the launch of over 45 companies, including Kik Interactive which today has over 80 million registered users; BufferBox, which was acquired by Google last year; and Thalmic Labs, which recently raised over $15 million in funding from outside investors,” said Mike Kirkup, Director at VeloCity. “Together, VeloCity startups have raised over $90 million in funding and created hundreds of employment positions.”

Each startup earned their place at the VeloCity Garage through an application process, or by winning a VeloCity Venture Fund competition. At least one founding member must be a University of Waterloo student or graduate of the University. Startup founders come from University of Waterloo programs ranging from mechatronics, nanotechnology, systems design, mechanical engineering, math, science, computer science, arts and more.

The startups at the VeloCity Garage include:

• Blacktree Health, a health monitoring armband that automatically detects calories consumed, stress levels, exercise and sleep quality.
• The Display Rack, a local online comparison shopping destination.
• Happenate, a social platform for making stuff happen through shared decisions, resource gathering and cooperative action.
• Lumotune, transparent electronic displays that can be scaled to as small as a SIM card, or as large as a side of the Empire State Building.
• Oikoi, an online service that helps students and young professionals find quality rental accommodations fast in great neighbourhoods across Canada.
• Soundbrush, a mobile app that makes complex music compositions from drawn lines.
• Voltera, a printer that enables low-cost circuit boards to be prototyped within minutes using conductive ink and inkjet technology.

A full list and description of startups is available online.

The VeloCity Campus program, which provides students from all faculties with access to entrepreneurship workshops and networking opportunities gets underway today at 12:30 p.m. in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall with a talk by Ted Livingston, founder of Kik Messenger. The first 100 people to arrive at the event will receive a free boxed lunch.

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Registration open for OHD workshops

a message from Organizational & Human Development (OHD).

Organizational & Human Development (OHD) is pleased to announce registration is now open for our Fall term.  OHD is offering the full series of the workshops Business Communication Certificate courses, as well as the full slate of Principles of Inclusivity Certificate courses.  Due to popular demand, several sessions of the first sets of inclusivity courses are repeated.  

New this term is the Integrity Matters workshop that uses the five values of integrity— honesty, trust, responsibility, fairness, and respect—to facilitate discussion and self-exploration. Participants will have the opportunity to articulate their personal values, develop skills to promote integrity in the workplace, and reflect on how integrity manifests itself in all aspects of their lives. This workshop was  developed in partnership between OHD and the Office of Academic Integrity.

Also being offered is Time Management (previously known as Getting Things Done), which explore priorities, planning, and productivity.  For those interested in personal finances, Defining Your Financial Futures offers three half-days of in-depth financial planning. Finally, OHD will be offering two sessions of Performance Conversations in December for those who wish to get a jump start on staff performance appraisals. Visit the OHD website to learn more and review course descriptions.  

Registration for these courses is completed through myHRinfo.

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Awards, patents, and other notes

Professor David Wood (left), who retired as director of International Education and Training for the Faculty of Environment, and director of the Nanjing University-University of Waterloo Sino-Canadian College in November 2011, will be awarded the Jiangsu Provincial Friendship award at a ceremony to be held in Nanjing, China on September 25.

The award is the highest honour Jiangsu province offers to foreign experts in various fields and will "recognize his contributions to education and environment over the past 14 years including two joint environmental management projects in partnership with Nanjing University, development of the Nanjing University-University of Waterloo Sino-Canadian College, multiple joint education programs with Nanjing University and the Nanjing University of Finance and Economics and, more recently, the Ontario Jiangsu Student Exchange Program."

In retirement, Wood remains closely connected with Jiangsu province as the Academic Director of the Ontario Jiangsu Student Exchange Program. The Ontario Jiangsu Student Exchange Program will also receive an education award during Wood's upcoming visit as the most successful international exchange program in Jiangsu.

Innovative bio-engineering research by two Waterloo chemical engineering professors could significantly improve the health of people who receive organ transplants.

As first reported in the August 14 issue of the Eng-E-News engineering faculty newsletter, Murray Moo-Young (right, at right), a distinguished professor emeritus in the chemical engineering department, and Perry Chou, a chemical engineering professor, co-invented a biopharmaceutical drug to treat or prevent autoimmune disease and organ transplant rejection.

The patent, entitled “Novel soluble CD83 polypeptides, formulations and methods of use” is for “compositions and methods for treating or preventing unwanted immune responses” that cover “the use of such polypeptides and formulations in the treatment or prevention of allergy, autoimmune disease and transplant rejection.”

The advantage of their compound is that it’s formulated to target just the transplanted organ with minimum global suppression of the immunosystem unlike many anti-rejection drugs now available, explains Chou.

“It’s almost a miracle drug,” says Moo-Young, who along with Chou, are researchers in the university’s Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology. It took the chemical engineering professors about six years to develop their research, supported by the industrial partner, Argos Therapeutics, along with GE Healthcare and Natrix Separations.

The university's Senate meets for the first time this term today at 3:30 p.m. in Needles Hall room 3001. Senate will consider clarifications to the guidelines surrounding external examiners on thesis defence committees and will hear a teaching presentation by Professor Jay Dolmage of the Department of English Language & Literature.

New academic programs up for approval include a Bachelor of Applied Science, Biomedical Engineering (co-op) and a Bachelor of Science, Honours Chemistry (Computational Specialization) (regular and co-op) .  The Arts and Business Global Engagement Specialization will be inactivated effective September 2014 pending the Senate's approval.

The Faculty of Science is presenting a public lecture by Abraham (Avi) Loeb, the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, entitled "The Beginning and the End of Our Universe" at 7:00 p.m. in Room 347 of the Optometry building. Registration details are online.

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