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Briefing

University of Waterloo startups have generated over $2 billion in revenue in the past decade

Companies at the school have also created more than 7,500 jobs, according to a report commissioned by the university and prepared by Deloitte. Companies that hired Waterloo co-op students netted an additional $525 million in returns in the 2018–19 year. Velocity, the university’s early-stage incubator, helped companies create over 4,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in revenue between 2008 and 2018. (The Logic)

Briefing

University of Waterloo startups have generated over $2 billion in revenue in the past decade

By Zane Schwartz
Nov 22, 2019
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Companies at the school have also created more than 7,500 jobs, according to a report commissioned by the university and prepared by Deloitte. Companies that hired Waterloo co-op students netted an additional $525 million in returns in the 2018–19 year. Velocity, the university’s early-stage incubator, helped companies create over 4,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in revenue between 2008 and 2018. (The Logic)

Talking point: What this study doesn’t measure is almost as interesting as what it does. There’s lots in the 94-page report on money earned by companies affiliated with the university; for example, the Accelerator Centre brought in $1 billion in revenue since 2006 for the late-stage startups it works with. But there are no numbers here on money the university earned on its own intellectual property. In April, my colleague Catherine reported that the University of Waterloo generated $55,327 in 2017 by licensing research and development, after spending $205.7 million. Today’s report provides plenty of evidence for the success of its approach: lots of tech founders, lots of money going to companies and jobs created. One potential conflict brewing: the Ontario government tapped Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of Research in Motion (now BlackBerry), to lead a group to figure out how universities can make more money off their research.

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