To give 2019 the proper wrap party it deserves, Waterloo EDC chose to highlight some of the top news stories that came out of our business and technology community while also summing up Waterloo’s appearance in several prominent 2019 reports.
These stories and accolades combine to build a case for business expansion in Waterloo.
While assembling these lists, we realized that it was also a very dynamic year for Waterloo EDC. So, we decided to rank some of our favourite original curated stories over the last year, touching on our local post-secondary institutions, community growth, immigration and more.
We had a lot of fun researching, writing about and highlighting Waterloo’s competitive advantages in our original standout stories of 2019.
Here is a recap of eight of our favourite original pieces:
1. Nine big ways Waterloo has changed in the last 10 years
The 2010s were a big decade for Waterloo. In the last ten years, our community opened the world’s largest Internet-of-Things manufacturing space, welcomed Google’s engineering headquarters and witnessed explosive new residential and commercial development. We haven’t even scratched the surface yet, with numerous developments and announcements still on the horizon.
2. Five astounding facts about the University of Waterloo
The New York Times called out the University of Waterloo as “one of the world’s top technology schools.” We took a closer look and extracted the incredible facts that back up the NYT’s claim in an article that became our most-read in 2019. Through interactive bar charts, discover the institution’s key performance indicators that will surely leave you doing a double-take!
3. A multi-billion dollar development boom in Waterloo, Canada
In March, it was announced that Waterloo Region has 18 development projects in its pipeline, worth almost $1 billion. The new developments include both residential space and nearly 400,000 square feet of new office space. Across the Waterloo community there is currently about $3 billion in new construction in-process.
4. Five charts that illustrate Waterloo’s unique tech hub credentials
In November, Waterloo EDC acquired new data that helped us explicitly answer the popular question: “How does Waterloo compare to other tech-heavy communities across North America?” The statistics found in this piece are pretty incredible and provide a per-capita look at Waterloo’s exceptional tech performance and output.
5. Four eye-opening facts about Wilfrid Laurier University
Our post-secondary institutions are a critical part of our ecosystem. As part of a series that started with the University of Waterloo, we dug into what makes Wilfrid Laurier University – a school recognized for their exceptional business degree program and co-operative education – an important contributor to Waterloo’s internationally-renowned talent pipeline.
6. Why Waterloo is giving big tech hubs competition
After reading investment advisor Conor Sen’s piece: “The Year That Big Tech Hubs Got Some Competition,” we were inspired to look at how Waterloo stacks up with some of the “secondary cities” identified in Sen’s piece. Spoiler alert, we do pretty darn good.
7. Four questions companies using the H-1B visa program need to ask
The H-1B visa program – the USA’s preferential immigration program for high-skill workers – has played a key role in driving innovation across America. However, due to government changes, the H-1B program isn’t as reliable as it once was. That led us to take a look at what’s happening with H-1B, how these changes are impacting company recruiting strategies and how Canada’s Global Talent Stream program is help filling the void for tech companies looking to recruit the best global talent.
8. Four ways locating in Waterloo gives you unrivaled access to a global market
Political instability, trade wars and other disruptions are adding an unhelpful layer of uncertainty for businesses that depend on global market access. As a response, Waterloo EDC was motivated to write a comprehensive piece about how locating in Waterloo can help export-oriented companies reach a global market.
We can provide ecosystem overviews, business listings and data to help with your company’s expansion plans.