Investment provides JumpStart to startups

A University of Waterloo program that helped recent graduates and new alumni commercialize an innovation and launch a business has been given a jumpstart – $60,000 for 40 early stage startups.

The $2.4 million infusion builds on the success of the Scientists and Engineers in Business program, a pilot project that provided 17 Waterloo entrepreneurs with funds and mentorship to move their innovation into the marketplace.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to further support our new graduates and recent alumni who are driving innovation across Ontario. Their inventions can be found helping surgeons improve the accuracy of a hip replacement, or in new technologies that may make it possible to screen for cancer using a smartphone. They’re also creating prosperous businesses that generate employment across the province,” says George Dixon, vice-president, university research.

The new dollars are part of an $8-million investment in the AC JumpStart program by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). The University of Waterloo is one of four local institutions to benefit from the funding. Funded by FedDev Ontario and delivered through the Accelerator Centre in partnership with Waterloo, AC JumpStart provides early stage technology startups with seed capital, mentorship, and market -readiness tools needed to build a business in today’s knowledge economy.

Pictured at right are Ryan Denomme of Nicoya Life Sciences and MP Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for FedDev Ontario, and MP Peter Braid, who were on to make the announcement yesterday at the Accelerator Centre. (Denomme, a Waterloo grad who previously received funding to commercialize an innovation and help grow Nicoya Life Sciences, is pictured showing his product to Braid and Goodyear.)

The university has opened the application process for the first round of awards that will see five new entrepreneurs receive up to $60,000 to kick-start their business.

The deadline to apply for one of the five initial AC JumpStart – University of Waterloo awards is 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 2. Eight rounds of funding will occur between 2015 and 2018.

AC JumpStart is available to graduates who earned their last Waterloo degree (in any discipline) within five years. Graduates and alumni entrepreneurs who are passionate about creating new businesses (based in Southern Ontario) that will turn their ideas and innovations into commercial reality are encouraged to apply.

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CCLR recruiting kids for contact lens study

A message from the Centre for Contact Lens Research (CCLR).

Vision scientists are still puzzled as to what causes myopia (nearsightedness). What we do know is that it progresses most rapidly during childhood.

The Centre for Contact Lens Research is studying childhood myopia in research that includes monitoring the vision of near-sighted children aged 7-11. All participants receive glasses; some will also receive contact lenses for the duration of the study. The time commitment is 29.5 hours over 3 years, and participants receive up to $690 for their time.

Call 519-888-4742 and ask about the "AUDI" study or email cclrstudies@uwaterloo.ca for further details.

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee.

Please pass the message on. If you refer someone who qualifies for a study, you will receive a $10 Tim Hortons gift card.

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Hagey Funspiel and other notes

Mark your calendars: The 43rd Annual Hagey Funspiel will take place on Saturday, February 21, and registration is now open.

The annual sporting event is a longstanding campus tradition, and is named for the first president of the University of Waterloo, Gerry Hagey.

"Whether you are an experienced curler or have never curled before, you will enjoy the fun and frolics of this annual non-competitive event," writes organizer Sheila Hurley of the Safety Office. "Along with the two curling games, your registration includes a sit-down luncheon, snacks and prizes."

The registration fee is $40, which includes two curling games, a morning and afternoon snack, sit-down luncheon, and of course prizes.

Participants can register online. The final date for team registration is Friday, February 13. The event takes place at the Ayr Curling Club.

Winter Welcome Week continues today with a movie marathon from 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. in the Student Life Centre Great Hall, and concludes tomorrow with a ski trip to Kissing Bridge in Glenwood, New York from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Registration details are online.

English Language and Literature’s first winter term speaker, Neil ten Kortenaar of the University of Toronto, will visit campus today at 12:30 pm to deliver a talk titled “The Social Contract, Violence, and Succession in Achebe’s Novels of Colonization.”

Neil ten Kortenaar serves as the director of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, where he teaches in the English department. His talk argues that, while Achebe's novels of colonization are usually read as versions of what happened in the past, at the moment of colonization in Africa, the novels were written just before and just after Nigerian independence in 1960, and as such they reflect present concerns. The talk is open to the university community and the public.

The Department of Drama and Speech Communication will be hosting a colloquium entitled "Examining the Neoliberal University and White Narratives of Race" with Professor Jennifer S. Simpson and Professor Vershawn Young. The event takes place on Friday, January 23 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in EV3 4412. A discussion will follow and light refreshments will be provided.

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