FAQ
You’ve asked questions & we’ve answered them! Here’s what you needed to know about VeloCity Campus:
A. The University of Waterloo promotes entrepreneurship as one of its key pillars. VeloCity Campus was launched as a response to the demand for an experiential learning component with a focus on entrepreneurship to help students with diverse interests across all faculties realize their entrepreneurial projects. The program is designed to provide hands-on access to resources across a broad spectrum of business related topics.
Q. Does this compete with the existing academic entrepreneurship courses and programs at the University of Waterloo?
A. Absolutely not. Just as there are entrepreneurial clubs and societies on campus, the VeloCity Campus program aims to be complementary to academic entrepreneurship courses at the University of Waterloo by providing hands-on workshops and resources that directly apply to unique student entrepreneurship case studies. Similar to the co-op program which complements the academic experience at the university, VeloCity Campus aims to support entrepreneurship experiences.
Q. What faculties and programs are eligible to use the program?
A. VeloCity Campus is open to all students, undergraduate and graduate across all faculties. This hands-on program aims to provide all University of Waterloo students with the entrepreneurial skills and resources they need to execute their ideas.
Q. What value does VeloCity Campus bring?
A. VeloCity Campus connects students to one another, inevitably providing a sense of place for an entrepreneurial community. The program delivers continuity by providing events in the form of panelist discussions, workshops, seminars, and networking opportunities on a weekly basis. The aim is to be a departure point for the exchange of ideas and a threshold for active execution of those ideas.
Q. How is this different than other emerging startup incubators and accelerators?
A. VeloCity Campus is specifically aimed at students who are currently enrolled in studies at the University of Waterloo. Its aim is to provide students with entrepreneurial resources while they are in school so that the opportunity exists to test drive various ideas with a realistic criteria for assessment of idea validation. There are no limitation for ideas with VeloCity Campus, we are not specifically focused on tech startups, any viable business idea can be tested here. There is no commitment to be a part of the program, we encourage everyone to attend the events that apply to them and we don’t ask for IP rights, or equity in exchange for the resources we provide.
Q. What IP policy does VeloCity Campus follow?
A: The University of Waterloo has an inventor owned IP policy meaning that you own ALL of your ideas. The University of Waterloo and VeloCity have no ownership over your intellectual property providing the perfect environment for students, staff and faculty to follow their passion for solving problems.
Q. How many people are in the VeloCity Program?
A. There is no quantitative limitation to participate in the VeloCity Program,however, various events held throughout each term may have a capped capacity due to venue specifications, we will provide ample notification if there is a capped capacity.
Q. Since the program runs every term, is the content the same?
A. The VeloCity Campus program is focused on the core building blocks for creating a business with the intent of introducing teams to the various resources that exist in the broader community. As such, the core activities will be consistent from term to term based on input and feedback from students on what activities provided the most value.
Q. What other entrepreneurial resources are available to those involved in VeloCity Campus?
A. The Kitchener-Waterloo region has many resources available, including CBET, E Co-op and BET 300/400, REAP, Communitech, and the Accelerator Centre.
