REAP Designer in Residence: Mark Connolly In September 2012 REAP’s UX expert and Designer-in-Residence Mark Connolly was busy arranging Fluxible, the two-day User Experience conference in Waterloo. The event drew in industry professionals such as Google, Kobo, RIM and Apogee to lecture and lead hands-on, interactive workshops on any and all topics related to UX, accessibility, and design. Mark is bringing his expertise in user experience—which includes information architecture, usability analysis and testing.

Six months ago, REAP’s first startup–The Accelerator Gazette–officially launched. It began as a discussion between REAP and Bob Rushby, Christie Digital’s former Chief Technology Officer and REAP’s Innovator-in-Residence. REAP is just one of thousands of incubators and accelerators around the world. How, we wondered, are they working together to share their expertise, insight and knowledge? We took a look at what’s out there and found that many incubators and accelerators are working in near-isolation. Some

Waterloo, ON–May 28, 2012–The University of Waterloo’s newest high-tech accelerator is showcasing interactive digital display technologies from its arts-based ‘sandbox for serious play’–the FELT Lab–throughout Congress 2012. Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity (REAP) is bringing to this year’s Congress some of the innovative technologies–-focused on interactive display environments and applications (IDEA)–from the FELT Lab. Launched in November, FELT is a community-based lab in St. Jacobs, Ontario, where Quarry Integrated Communications, Christie Digital, and other industry partners

In April, 2012, the UWaterloo Alumni Newsletter featured the REAP program. The following extract is an excellent summary of the original motivation behind REAP: Research entrepreneurs do not invent new technologies; they innovate. Rather than building products and services from scratch, they focus on how to assemble two or more technologies in new combinations. The approach spares inventors and established companies the expenses, IP issues and other frustrations common to inventor-based approaches, allowing them to

On Thursday, uxWaterloo had the privilege of being one of the first groups to tour the new FELT lab.  We got a chance to practice “thinkering”, which happens when you tinker with technologies and think about how they can be applied to your daily life. Our evening began with an introduction from students from the University of Waterloo’s Research Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP). Our challenge was to get together in groups, and brainstorm ways that we could combine the

We’ve known this was coming for quite a while, so it’s nice to see that the official launch of the FELT Lab finally took place last Wednesday in Waterloo, Ont., one of Canada’s major tech hubs. The University of Waterloo’s Research Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP), in conjunction with founding partners Quarry Integrated Communications, Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc. and Intel Corporation, launched the FELT Lab–the first of its kind in Canada–with the presence of Canadian academics, luminaries, politicians, technology influencers. By following this link you will find more about It’s Official – 2016 is the Year of VR.