Back in the ’50s, Ira Needles wanted to help his community and Canada to remain competitive by training 150,000 engineers. To do that he would have to do what no one else had ever done. He innovated and improved upon an existing idea to vault him and his new school onto the world stage. The University of Waterloo has in turn become the hub of innovation and technological foresight. Today, what Needles accomplished is still benefiting his community and most of Canada. Ira Needles is a forerunner and this is his story.