Make robotics a fundable field in Canada
Named on stage by Dr. Brandon DeHart (RoboHub) at a Startup Grind Kitchener-Waterloo fireside, 16 July 2026.
What the people stuck here are trying to get done
When Canada is hitting above its weight on robotics hardware but robotics is not a category in any funding program, I want robotics recognised and funded as a field, so good work is funded whichever box it is filed under.
Who needs it solved
Canadian robotics innovators and researchers, and the funders and agencies, such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) programs, that cannot yet classify or fund robotics as its own field.
What makes it hard
Real work dies on a classification technicality: "the one that was under automation went through and the one that was under CS [computer science] did not," with identical content.
Working on this?
Building toward this problem, or know someone who does? Message me on LinkedIn and the chapter will make the introduction.
Speakers can ask for a change or removal at any time: andrew@loopgrow.co.