How Kik Predicted The Rise of Chat Bots -- Backchannel

Waterloo, Ontario, is a boom town. An hour west of Toronto, the city rumbles with construction work. Even the Older Mennonites of St. Jacobs, one town over, are digging up their main street, forcing their horse-and-buggies to detour. The region's growth stems largely from the University of Waterloo, whose intensive internship programs have made it a magnet for tech recruiting. In the '90s the city birthed Research in Motion and its Blackberry platform, which briefly dominated the mobile industry. Today, Waterloo is also a bot town.