Advanced Manufacturing

Manufacturing has always played an integral role in Waterloo Region. For over a century our manufacturing sector has grown with our community. Now recognized as a global technology hub, Waterloo Region is playing a lead role in advanced manufacturing.

Our community is home to more than 1,850 manufacturing companies in such diverse sectors as automotive, aerospace, robotics, food processing, plastics and fabricated metals.

Manufacturing is the largest industry in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area, with over 49,300 people working in manufacturing sector. Our region is currently the fourth largest manufacturing centre in Canada by percentage of manufacturing employees, with over 17.5 per cent of residents working in that sector.

As an educational centre, we have three globally recognized academic institutions - Conestoga College, Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo - each providing a steady flow of highly skilled talent into the local labour market. The University of Waterloo has Canada's largest engineering school with 14 different 5-year coop engineering programs in core disciplines like chemical, electrical, software engineering, systems design, nanotechnology and mechatronics.

To further encourage growth in the sector, Waterloo Region is home to over 150 research institutes, including:

In addition, home to global well-known manufacturing giants, including:

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