Examples of Ontario virtual codesign during social isolation

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Businesses across the world have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic to pivot the businesses and address virtual codesign. Here we consider four examples from Ontario Health West.

By their nature, startup entrepreneurs are curious, impulsive personalities who can often feel focused and motivated in a crisis. In this post, we examine three startups/scale-ups in Waterloo Region and one in London, Ontario. They are O2 Canada, KA-Imaging, Curiato and 123Genetix.

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Bringing a health tech incubator to fruition | Waterloo Medtech proceedings

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There is now an optimism that the once fragmented players in Waterloo Region are beginning to coalesce in support of scaling health tech.

Waterloo Medtech has just launched their latest proceedings report discussed here. The new Medical Innovation Xchange in Kitchener opened in January. Communitech has announced a new Velocity micro VC-fund for the medtech sector. Google is opening an accelerator in the region.  

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Landmark Medical Innovation Xchange opens

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A landmark step to see the pioneering new Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) open in Waterloo Region.

“There are inherent advantages of Canada’s entrepreneurial environment for medtech start-ups, but unfortunately, resources deplete at a shocking rate when those companies begin to scale,” described Intellijoint Surgical’s Rebecca MacIntyre in introducing the MIX roundtable discussion.

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Tech for Good Declaration revisited

Tech for Good Declaration, Communitech, Rideau Hall Foundation

The Tech for Good Declaration should have been the headline of the True North conference, as it tackled the problematic question of ethics in innovation. 

The Tech of Good declaration formulated by the Canadian Tech Community at the 2018 True North conference affirms tech as a force for good in the world. A year on a special Declaration workshop revisited the original work and continued the conversation. 

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Building a Successful Medtech Infrastructure

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“It’s time we built an integrated medtech incubator in this community, it would solve many of the problems we have heard about,” stated panellist Murray Gamble at the conclusion of the 2018 Waterloo MedTech conference.

Here we preview the 2019 conference on Building a Successful Medtech Infrastructure that tries to mobilize that call to action. We just need the will to make it happen in Waterloo Region. Watch the video interviews below to learn how this could be a worthwhile investment of your time to attend on October 2.

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True North Hackathon tackle​s Social Isolation

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The concept of hacking in healthcare provides extraordinary possibilities. Diverse groups can co-create tangible health innovations that bring value to the front-line care of people.

We encourage you to participate in this first dual-city hackathon, run by Hacking Health in Waterloo and Ottawa, in conjunction with the True North conference. There a group of eclectic, bright minds will tackle how we can address Social Isolation, Aging and Technology.

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Putting ​humanity in healthcare – system level thinking

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It was a courageous step to see one of the LHINs stepping up to run the #Convergence19 conference on system thinking at a time when changes towards Ontario Health may cause the majority to be focussing internally. We need bold, decisive leadership to prompt system-level thinking in healthcare.

Here we explore the superb #Convergence19 half-day session run by Waterloo-Wellington Local Health Integration network at the award-winning CIGI (Centre for International Governance in Innovation).

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New proceedings report points the way to scaling MedTech in Waterloo Region

Waterloo Region MedTech proceedings report

The release of the new proceedings report from the Waterloo MedTech conference could help solidify a jump off point for our support of health tech scale-up in the Waterloo Region. 

The proceedings report from the Canadian MedTech: What’s holding is back? shares how the conference wove the ideal balance of no-holds-barred storytelling, policy insights, and pertinent panel discussions. We explored the theme for this conference in our prior post What’s holding us back in Canadian MedTechThe over 200 attendees appreciated the top 7 innovators and start-ups showcase and the inaugural 2018 MedTech Awards.

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Application of Artificial Intelligence to Stop The Pressure

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It is fitting to consider how the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science can bring us towards the elimination of pressure injuries/ ulcers on the worldwide Stop Pressure Injury day. The approach is so refreshing that it could help us tip the balance towards zero avoidable pressure injuries.

Here we preview an exciting new proceedings report titled Snakes & Ladders on how data science and Artificial Intelligence can create a paradigm shift in managing those at risk of wounds.

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What’s holding us back in Canadian MedTech?

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Kitchener-Waterloo is positioning itself as a driver in the health tech innovation landscape. Waterloo MedTech holds their third annual conference on October 24 exploring Canadian MedTech: What’s holding us back?

Here we preview what to expect from the conference and how it helps the Waterloo Region, Ontario and Canada strengthen its vision for innovation.

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