SHA awarded $3.5 million to lead innovation initiative in western Canada

On July 28, the Government of Canada announced the formation of the CAN Health Network, a health and industry partnership designed to develop innovative technological solutions to address health care challenges.

As part of the initiative, the Saskatchewan Health Authority will be provided $3.5 million from Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), to facilitate the creation of the CAN Health West Network, comprising member health care organizations from across all four western provinces.

Read the rest of this news release on the Saskatchewan Health Authority website:

The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, today announced that the Government of Canada will support a $20-million project proposal to scale up companies in health and biosciences.

This will be done through an initial $7-million investment to support the establishment of the CAN Health Network with its first network partners.

The CAN Health Network is an integrated market that will allow promising companies to work directly with health care organizations to understand their needs and commercialize health technologies to meet those needs and scale up their companies.

Through this integrated market, small and mediumsized enterprises (SME) and leading start-ups will be able to work with early adopter institutions to collaboratively research, develop and refine Canadian medical technologies to make them market-ready.

With procurement often identified as both a barrier and an opportunity, the CAN Health Network builds directly on the recommendations of the Health and Biosciences Economic Strategy Table to accelerate innovation adoption through new innovation procurement models.

Health care spending in Canada reached $253 billion in 2018—11% of the country’s GDP—and the international market for medical technologies alone is estimated at $500 billion annually.

With market opportunities of this magnitude, the global health technology sector is growing rapidly in Canada and around the world, and the CAN Health Network will position Canadian companies for success.

Today’s investment will build the first points of the national network in western Canada and Ontario, with further expansion planned for Quebec, Atlantic Canada and northern Canada. The successes of these initial investments will guide future funding decisions.

With $3.5 million from Western Economic Diversification Canada, the Saskatchewan Health Authority will lead the creation of the CAN Health Network in western Canada, working with:

•Alberta Health Services;

•Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba;

•O’Brien Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary; and

•Vancouver Coastal Health.