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Four guides to help you navigate Waterloo's renowned talent pool

We've created four resources to help you navigate Waterloo's renowned talent pipeline, from tech and R&D to business and advanced manufacturing.

At Waterloo EDC, we recognize that access to talent is one of the greatest pain points for growing businesses. With three outstanding academic institutions in our community, Waterloo offers a dynamic, future-proof talent pipeline that can help your company address its talent needs.

To help you navigate this pipeline, we’ve created four resources that highlight Waterloo’s talent advantages across the tech, research and development, business and advanced manufacturing sectors:

Waterloo’s Tech Talent

Waterloo is the second-fastest growing tech talent market in North America. Our central location makes up part of the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor, which is home to more than 15,000 tech companies with over 200,000 tech workers. It also gives us access to more than 150 million people within a one-day drive.

Key highlight: More than 73,000 students attend the three internationally recognized post-secondary institutions in Waterloo – many of whom graduate with over two years of real-world work experience.

Waterloo’s R&D Talent

Waterloo has no shortage of R&D experts that can work for you, thanks to our world-renowned research centres, top engineering school and a thriving innovation ecosystem.

Key highlight: Waterloo is home to Canada’s largest university-based automotive research centre and its largest engineering school and top computer science program, alongside multiple manufacturing-related research centres.

Waterloo’s Business & Finance Talent

Whether you’re in need of marketing, economics, financial, administrative, or entrepreneurial professionals – take a look at Waterloo. Waterloo is home to the world’s largest university co-op program, as well as the largest business-degree co-op program in Canada.

Key highlight: Waterloo is home to one of Canada’s top business schools – the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics – that specializes in the management of technology, social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Waterloo’s Advanced Manufacturing Talent

Waterloo has a rich manufacturing history that has continued to evolve over time. Today, our community produces highly skilled advanced manufacturing talent, thanks to the multiple academic institutions and applied research centres offering related programming.

Key highlight: More than 50,000 people – nearly 18% of our community’s labour force – work in the manufacturing industry at one of the 1,950 manufacturing companies in Waterloo.

Do you want more information about the talent available in Waterloo’s ecosystem?

Contact us – our team is happy to help!