Case Study: University of Waterloo advances hands-on engineering education with Inductive Automation

University of Waterloo - Customer Case Study

The University of Waterloo, a large engineering school in Ontario, wanted to give students more hands-on, real-world automation experience than they could get in traditional coursework. To support that goal, Inductive Automation provided its Ignition industrial application platform through the company’s University Engagement Program, alongside hardware and expertise from partners Brock Solutions and Opto 22.

Inductive Automation helped enable a small-scale automation hub in the university’s IDEAs Clinic, where students work with conveyors, a robotic arm, PLCs, IIoT tools, MQTT, and SCADA software to learn automation and control systems. The project has already involved more than 400 students, improving technical skills, confidence, and career readiness while giving instructors a flexible platform they can expand into new areas such as water treatment.

University of Waterloo

Davin McDougall

Business Unit Leader