Rethinking Global Travel: Insights from the Waterloo Innovation Summit

Hosted by the University of Waterloo in partnership with MaRS Discovery District, the summit also welcomed attendees from academic, industry and government partners – all with a common interest and investment in the future of global transportation and Canada’s role in shaping it.

Through engaging panels and speaker spotlights, the summit explored a wide range of topics, including aeronautics, electric vehicles, clean energy and planning and showcased exciting new technologies that will inevitably change the way we travel.

The summit’s key takeaway was clear: innovation is critical to achieving sustainable transportation and Waterloo is well-poised to lead the charge. With thriving tech, manufacturing and automotive industries, a strong talent pool and numerous industry support organizations, Waterloo is an ideal expansion location for businesses in the transportation space.

Learn about the work that’s underway in Waterloo in our full event re-cap below.

Investing in launch pads

Kicking off a morning of insightful discussions, Yung Wu, CEO of MaRS Discovery District, provided a keynote address emphasizing the urgency for innovation in the transportation industry.

“There’s no pathway to net-zero without innovation,” Wu said, referencing Canada’s Net-Zero Challenge which calls for Canadian companies and organizations to “develop and implement credible and effective plans to transition their facilities and operations to net-zero emissions by 2050.”

Wu explained the criticality of commercialization hubs like MaRS and Communitech in flowing talent, IP and research through to create category-leading companies in Canada. “If we want moonshot companies, we better invest in the launchpads,” he said. “That’s the formula for our nation’s success.”

Innovation in sustainable transportation

Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo, echoed Wu’s points, stressing the essential role of innovation in achieving sustainable transportation: “We will not meet the targets for carbon neutrality without technologies that do not exist today.”

Luckily, we’re not starting from scratch. In fact, Canada is already home to impressive transportation projects that are already in motion. In the “Meet the Innovators” portion of the summit, attendees got to learn more about some of these ground-breaking initiatives, including:

• Pantonium is an innovative on-demand transit model that optimizes a community’s bus fleet, providing riders with a more efficient and sustainable means of public transportation. By taking passengers exactly where they need to go, Pantonium helps reduce transit times, minimize traffic congestion and improve the overall transit experience.
• Ribbit is a ground-breaking cargo airline that uses autonomous airplanes equipped with innovative flight technology to transport cargo to remote communities. With no human pilots required, Ribbit can deliver shipments quickly and efficiently, making it an ideal solution for hard-to-reach areas.
• TransPod is a state-of-the-art ground transport system that uses revolutionary propulsion technology and contactless power transmission to transport passengers at speeds faster than a jet plane. By enabling ultra-high-speed travel with minimal environmental impact, TransPod is redefining what’s possible in transportation.
• Waterloop is a dynamic team of 80+ mechanical, electrical, software, infrastructure and business students from the University of Waterloo. Together, they design, engineer and build hyperloop technology, pushing the boundaries of transportation innovation.

WISA advances sustainable aviation

Suzanne Kearns, founding director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aviation (WISA), spoke during the Innovation Spotlight about the program and its efforts to advance sustainable technology in the aviation industry.

During her presentation, Kearns raised a common conundrum, “Is it possible to love aviation and love the planet at the same time?” Thanks to programs like WISA, it can be.

The program, which recently received $10M in federal funding, is a collaboration between industry, government, and academia to develop innovative solutions, tools and practices that will create a sustainable future for air transport.

Driving innovation in EV technology

The summit included two important panels about the future of sustainable transportation, covering two topics that are prevalent today: EV technology and urban planning.

The first panel focused on the mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), with academic and industry experts weighing in on whether the world is ready for this transition.

The panel featured Yverick Pascal Rangom, Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, Zak Lefevre, CEO and Founder of ChargeLab and Mabel Fulford, Director of Innovation Partnerships at Peak Power.

When asked how she expects the industry to grow in the next five or ten years, Fulford said, “Much faster than we all expect,” but added that policy support and funding will be necessary for this to happen.

Planning for a sustainable future

The second panel discussed the importance of infrastructure, policy and planning in designing more sustainable journeys.

Moderated by Jessie Ma, Assistant Professor & Ontario Research Chair in Sustainable Energy at the University of Waterloo, the panel featured Lisa Aultman-Hall, Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Jeff Casello, Professor at the School of Planning and Markus Moos, Director of the School of Planning.

While discussing different modes of personal, public and freight transportation, Casello asked the audience to apply this simple logic when thinking about sustainability:

“If we want to move with as little of a footprint as we can, we ought to choose mechanical energy that has the least impact,” pointing out EVs could be one solution, but there are others, including walking, biking and taking the subway.

The power of a connected ecosystem

If innovation is key to the future of transportation, then the Waterloo Innovation Summit provided a necessary forum for innovators, business leaders and academia to come together and exchange ideas that can change the path for future generations.

The power of connections and collaborations was evident throughout the event. As Wu noted in his opening remarks, we have a major opportunity for innovation in Canada. “There’s power in our ecosystem,” he said. “United, we can be a true market maker.”

The Waterloo ecosystem is uniquely positioned to foster this kind of innovation and events like the Waterloo Innovation Summit are a perfect example how businesses in our community can collaborate with our academic and research institutions to bring game-changing solutions to the market.