Since Sheldon McCormick arrived as Communitech’s new CEO one year ago there have been substantial changes at the renowned tech organization. A greater focus on members. A stronger local lens. An eye toward the future and helping tech companies embrace it. A sort of return to the organization’s first principles.
In other words, Communitech is what it used to be. But, given the organization’s shifts over the last few years, when we spoke to McCormick for this article, he asked us to help tell people what Communitech isn’t, too.
“The more you can help me dispel some misconceptions, the better,” says McCormick. “I spend a lot of time having to clarify what Communitech is. Communitech is not an incubator. Communitech is not an accelerator. Communitech is not an investor. Communitech is not a real estate company.”
This may lead someone familiar with the organization’s past, which arguably included all of these elements, to ask the simple question: what is Communitech?
Key Takeaways
- Communitech has made a strategic shift to supporting members based in Waterloo Region, including startups, scale-ups and established companies.
- Communitech fills a unique roll in the local tech ecosystem – unlike incubators or accelerators, the focus isn’t just about business growth, but community-building and collaboration, too.
- The AI@WORK program is an example of driving community collaboration. The program provides companies in healthcare, manufacturing and construction with the expertise needed to adopt and deploy AI.
- While talent is key to the Waterloo value proposition, it’s the innovations happening at intersection points – like robotics and medtech, for example – that McCormick suspects will drive innovation in coming years.
Communitech’s bold pivot back to basics
For the previous four years, coming out of the pandemic and following the departure of longtime CEO Iain Klugman, the organization expanded its mandate. From 2021 until McCormick’s arrival, the organization shifted to support tech companies across Canada. It helped establish Team True North, led the True North Fund to invest in scaling companies and brought a spotlight to fast-growing companies with unicorn potential across the country.
It was arguably something Canada needed, but it was also a deviation from what made Communitech such an effective tech industry catalyst in its hometown.
When asked what Communitech is in 2026, McCormick had the answer. And it’s simple.
“Communitech is a membership organization shaped by the people building and scaling technology companies in Waterloo Region,” says McCormick. “We’re a convener of startups and scale-ups and established firms, helping them connect and collaborate and grow. Through that work, we drive the growth and competitiveness of the Waterloo tech sector.”
It’s a return to what made Communitech such an integral part of the Waterloo tech ecosystem.
“We’re returning to our roots as a Waterloo-centred organization that’s focused on serving our local constituency as opposed to a national mandate and a national constituency,” says McCormick. “It’s critically important that we view our members as our core customer. It’s a return to what worked.”
" We’re building an ecosystem that's globally competitive and anchored by companies that start here, scale here and stay here. "
Sheldon McCormick
CEO, Communitech
Communitech isn’t a startup incubator — and that’s the point
As a robust tech ecosystem with many support organizations – including the renowned Velocity incubator and the Accelerator Centre – it’d be fair to ask where Communitech fits. For McCormick, the differentiation starts with their membership model.
“Our focus is in supporting all companies in the tech sector in Waterloo,” he says. “We are not just an organization just for startups or just for scaleups. We extend our focus through established anchor companies in the region, as well as steadily growing, profitable, mature companies.”
Velocity and the Accelerator Centre tend to focus on early-stage companies and offer programming that fits a specific point in a company’s growth cycle. Communitech’s mandate is broader.
“Our focus is on convening and activating the community around important issues. We also focus on enabling companies to grow faster. A lot of our enablement work focuses on employee learning and development,” says McCormick.
“Our other role is distinct [in the Waterloo ecosystem],” he continues. “We amplify the work that’s happening in the region for the purpose of attracting talent and capital.”
Advocacy remains important, too. For example, Communitech continues to work to shape government procurement policies to provide large anchor customers – federal, provincial or municipal governments – for early-stage businesses.
“Then they can start to build some scale and build some expertise. They have some runway,” says McCormick. “We’re building an ecosystem that’s globally competitive and anchored by companies that start here, scale here and stay here.”
The coalition putting AI to work across Waterloo
One example of Communitech’s role in galvanizing the community is the Waterloo Region AI Coalition. A collaborative effort, co-founded by the University of Waterloo and Communitech, the coalition brings innovators, businesses and non-profits together to turn AI potential into real productivity.
“The goal is to help the region of Waterloo accelerate its AI adoption,” says McCormick. “The vast majority of Communitech member companies understand the opportunity, but often they are resource constrained and, in some cases, they don’t know where to start.”
To solve this problem, Communitech created the AI@WORK program, which bridges the gap between wanting to adopt AI and actually deploying it.
“We embed post-secondary students who are AI natives, who have these unique skills, and put them into middle-sized companies in traditional sectors like healthcare, manufacturing and construction,” McCormick explains.
The goal is two-fold. First, the program creates opportunities for the next generation of entrepreneurial students to leverage AI to solve real-world business problems, build products and gain experience. Second, these companies in traditional sectors get access to talent that they otherwise would not, and ideas that could transform their business.
The exact kind of community project that Communitech has excelled at for nearly 30 years.
" There are two things that make this region so compelling. Number one is that we have incredible talent. Number two is the density of that talent. "
Sheldon McCormick
CEO, Communitech
Waterloo’s strengths (and its secret weapon)
While McCormick is no stranger to the Waterloo tech ecosystem, he was new to the community when he joined Communitech in 2025. As a result, he has a fresh perspective on what makes Waterloo tech so special. His fresh perspective matches our experienced one.
“There are two things that make this region so compelling,” McCormick argues. “Number one is that we have incredible talent. Number two is the density of that talent.”
He notes that within a very small radius – 10km/6.5mi – you can “connect in-person with a world-leading talent” in software, hardware, engineering, artificial intelligence and, increasingly, quantum technologies.
“In those domains, Waterloo really has world-leading experts,” he adds. “And then we have this entrepreneurial undercurrent in this community as well.”
Talent quality, density and entrepreneurship are all headline subjects for Waterloo EDC, but when asked what surprised him about the Waterloo region McCormick hit on something we don’t say nearly enough.
“The thing that surprised me about the ecosystem is how diverse it is,” he says. “I think there’s probably a misconception that Waterloo Region is predominantly a software-oriented ecosystem. But there are also these thriving pockets in advanced manufacturing and in robotics, in the application of quantum technology and in medtech.”
He goes on to say that the confluence of these different areas creates intersection points. The intersection between robotics and medtech, or the intersection between artificial intelligence and robotics.
“I suspect the intersection points are going to be very, very interesting for us.”
Wrapping up the interview, we asked McCormick if there was any last message he’d like to touch on, and true to form he returned to Communitech’s members and the tech community at large.
“The most important message I have for local innovators is that you have organizations like Communitech in your corner. We’re here to support you. We’re here to connect you to resources, expertise and capital,” he concludes. “We have a very, very keen interest in helping you realize your success.”
Want to learn more about Communitech? Visit their website.
Interested in joining the Waterloo tech ecosystem – tapping into this unique talent or exploring the intersection points between industries? We can help you collect data, make connections with community leaders like Sheldon McCormick and even organize an in-person visit to our community.