One of the reasons that investors like this area is because of the innovation and creativity. Here is another example
Google Buzz, the latest Social Media platform, came out of Google’s office that I drive past every day, right here in Waterloo Ontario.
http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/technology/story.html?id=2542955
Just as Google’s simplistic homepage belies the advertising power, technological sophistication and global reach of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, Google Waterloo’s unassuming offices appear a cover for what has become a rising star among Google’s network of regional offices.
Since its opening in 2005, Google’s Waterloo operations have grown from three employees to a team of several dozen and have become one of the company’s most vital recruitment centres and product development hubs.
Yesterday, the technology world watched as Google unveiled Google Buzz, a new tool that adds social-networking capabilities popularized by such sites as Facebook and Twitter to the company’s Gmail email service. Although millions of Gmail users around the world will begin using Buzz today, most will be unaware that the Google Waterloo team played an integral role in the creation of Buzz.
Whether it’s building Gmail and YouTube applications for the iPhone and BlackBerrys, sowing the seeds for the company’s ambitious Chrome operating system or refining Google’s core advertising technology, Google Waterloo’s engineers are key players in many of the company’s most ambitious and strategic initiatives.
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Google, much like other technology giants before it, sees the University of Waterloo and the surrounding region as one of its top three recruitment centres for undergraduates, alongside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
"Waterloo graduates and people from this area who come into Google … have done really well, not just at this site, but other sites and Mountain View," Mr. Woods says.
RIM’s connection to the University of Waterloo and its ability to use the school’s engineering and computer science departments as a de facto farm system has been well documented. Other home-grown tech companies, including Open Text, have also recruited heavily from the university.
Microsoft Corp. is another tech giant that has viewed the Waterloo region as a key recruitment location. Microsoft chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has been a regular visitor to the university over the years to speak to students.
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Still, it is not just the nearby wealth of talent that makes Google Waterloo special. The engineers here are at the centre of a number of projects key to Google’s strategy going forward. According to several internal metrics, Google Waterloo has more impact per engineer than any other Google site.
When it comes to Google’s online advertising business – the lifeblood of the company and its primary revenue generator – Google Waterloo is responsible for overseeing and refining key pieces of the company’s advertising technology.
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