CS 400Y Work Cultures in Tech Ecologies

For this blog post, I’ve decided to reach out to Waterloo entrepreneur currently going through the Y Combinator program. He will do an AMA (Ask Me Anything). This will provide the class with an inside look at both Waterloo’s and The silicon valley’s ecosystems. How this will work I’ll pass on all the questions asked by the class to Shak and post his answers at the end of each week. This will continue within reason (to respect his time) until reading week. Introducing Shak Shak Lakhani is a co-founder of Avro Life Science, a biotech Startup developing skin patches for generic drug delivery. Shak leads R&D, clinical strategy, partnerships and fundraising at Avro. He has 5 years of research experience under Rhodes Scholars and the Canada Research Chair for Nanotechnology Engineering. His research has been published in leading journals including Nature Materials and Bio fabrication. He and his team previously worked out of the velocity garage in Kitchener and have since moved ...

What does innovation mean to you?  Refinement

What does innovation mean to you? Groundbreaking 

Progress and Collaboration!

Creativity

What does innovation mean to you? LEADERSHIP

After capturing a photo of myself (Sarah Pouramn) in the Innogram, I began brainstorming terms that I associated with 'innovation' and decided upon the term 'modernization.' The reason why I chose this word is because the Innogram is meant to imitate the smartphone app Instagram which has modernized traditional photo albums into electronic albums that can be shared with friends and have a high level of convenience and efficiency. The terms that I have just mentioned, such as 'convenience', 'efficiency', and 'share' are all terms that I associate with modernization and innovation.

https://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/waterloo-startup-hot-spot.html Deep in the snowy region of Ontario, there's an unsung tech hub that has slowly been warming the hearts of many high-profile investors.  Small and generally unknown to the rest of the world, Waterloo has a population of just 550,000, yet it is now home to 1,100 new ventures. (Apart from the Silicon Valley, the region has the highest startup density of any area globally).  A  recent report  from research firm Compass highlights the advantages of starting up in Waterloo, ranking it the No. 25 best startup ecosystem in the world. The report considered factors like growth, performance, funding, and exit values. (Silicon Valley, unsurprisingly, grabbed the top spot, followed by New York City and Los Angeles.) Waterloo is best-known as the birthplace of smartphone maker BlackBerry -- which, during its heyday in 2008, boasted a market cap of over $80 billio...

Welcome to the CS400Y  Work Cultures of Tech Ecologies Blog! Welcome to the CS400Y Tech Cultures of the Waterloo Region Blog!   1) Our class will maintain a collaborative course blog throughout the semester. We are using the blog form as a medium for: • Sharing resources, ideas, links and feedback with your classmates • Maintaining engagement with the themes and concerns of the course • Using social media platform and practice to write for a closed and supportive audience 2)  You are required to post  at least  five  original substantive entry and at least ten substantive comments  in response to classmates’ posts over the course of the term. 3)  You must post at least two blog entries and four comments in response to the entries and comments of other class members by the beginning of Reading Week,  February 19, 2018 . 4) Your contributions to the blog will be assessed at the end of semester and given a sin...