FELT Lab

Located in the Quarry Building
1440 King St. North, St. Jacobs, ON

In October 2011 REAP, along with founding partners Christie and Quarry Integrated Communications, opened a community-based lab in St. Jacobs. The FELT Lab is a digital sandbox for serious play–a creative space where students, academics and industry experts explore IDEA and related technologies in order to envision new uses and markets.

 

Named for its home in an old felt manufacturing facility, the lab provides a venue for University of Waterloo students to gain intensive, hands-on experience that involves taking an idea from conception to creation to adoption. Students, faculty and industry experts access new technologies involving interactivity, responsiveness and digital display environments to spark research entrepreneurship.

REAP’s research entrepreneurship model departs from the traditional “lab to patent” concept. It focuses more on finding new applications of, and uses for, emerging technologies than on creating technologies from scratch. Specifically, this model encourages researchers to turn creativity into prosperity by engaging in innovation and entrepreneurship.

This digital media laboratory strengthens Waterloo Region’s reputation as a national innovation corridor while teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs how to design, build and commercialize interactive displays that anticipate and meet real-world needs.

Get information about the technologies found in REAP’s Felt lab or look at the panorama images of the lab to see the equipment.