Last week, we hosted our 3rd annual Discovery Forum and welcomed our esteemed members from across the country to Torys LLP in downtown Toronto.
The INOVAIT Discovery Forum, an exclusive members-only event, serves as a hub for sharing insights, exploring cutting-edge technologies being developed in Canada, and fostering collaborations that redefine the limits of our achievements.
Yolande Dufresne from Torys LLP welcomed our members to the event.
INOVAIT co-executive director Kullervo Hynynen opened the event by sharing reflections from the image-guided therapy (IGT) sector over the past year.
In 2023, the Canadian IGT sector experienced stand-out growth and success with the $345 million acquisition of OpSens to Haemonetics in Boston, numerous companies gaining Health Canada and FDA clearances and reporting record sales and growth. 2024 shows no sign of slowing down and is poised to be a landmark year for our members and the IGT sector.
Following Kullervo’s opening remarks, he introduced the 2024 Discovery Forum Keynote Speaker, Dr. Greg Sorensen.
Greg’s remarkable journey from the halls of academia at Harvard Medical School to the forefront of medtech innovation at Siemens Healthcare North America and now DeepHealth embodies the spirit of progress that defines our network. His work exemplifies how dedication to technological advancement can revolutionize patient care, diagnostic processes, and healthcare management. In the early days of the network, Greg served as an inaugural board member for INOVAIT, providing excellent guidance and superior expertise in building industry companies from the ground up.
During his keynote session, Greg underscored the pivotal role of focus in medtech in building successful products and companies. Medtech entrepreneurs may be pulled in various directions by opportunities and challenges. However, by identifying the areas of maximum value and concentrating efforts, you can pave the way for numerous rewards along the commercialization path.
Following Greg’s presentation, INOVAIT co-executive director, Raphael Ronen delivered an INOVAIT progress presentation. The presentation delivered compelling statistics on the success and growth of the network and presented events and opportunities for members in 2024.
Following Raphael’s presentation, the first session of Rapid-fire presentations took place. During this session, we heard from Beth Rogozinksi from Oncoustics, Christine Lorenz from Cohesic, Abubaker Khalifa from Moonrise Medical, Alexander Bilbily from 16 Bit, Duoaud Shah from Altis Labs, Aman Thind from Conavi Medical, Andrew Needles from FUJIFILM VisualSonics, and James O’Reilly from Arrayus Technologies.
After lunch, we jumped into our second session of Rapid-fire presentations. We heard from Goli Ameri from Cosm, Ananth Ravi from MOLLI Surgical, Janis Kan from Dynamiris, Paul Weber from JVP Labs, Mike Wesolowski from Luxsonic Technologies, Michael Waterston from Radialis, Darren Kraemer from Point Surgical, Pascal Theriault Lauzier from Tomoverse Imaging, and Varak Kalian from Sonele.
Shortly after the Rapid-fire presentations, guests heard from INOVAIT project analyst Phil Boyer, who revealed the latest insights into the Canadian IGT sector.
The session portion of the day wrapped up with the inaugural INOVAIT awards ceremony. Three awards were introduced:
The Maple Leaf Award:
The Maple Leaf Award recognizes an INOVAIT industry member who has attained exceptional achievements in fostering collaboration and strengthening partnerships across Canada with Canadian partners. The 2024 Maple Leaf award recipient exemplifies the teamwork mentality from coast to coast with like-minded industry and academic collaborators to fuel innovation.
The Aurora Borealis Award:
The Aurora Borealis Award recognizes an INOVAIT academic member who has consistently demonstrated exceptional dedication, efficiency, and innovative approaches to bringing INOVAIT projects from concept to reality. The 2024 Aurora Borealis award recipient consistently operationalizes projects swiftly to expedite healthcare impact. They are leaders in the translation of academic research into commercial healthcare solutions.
The Mount Logan Award:
The Mount Logan Award recognizes an INOVAIT industry member who has consistently exceeded project milestone expectations, reached new heights as a Canadian company, and demonstrated their greatness internationally on the world stage.
Discover the recipients of the 2024 INOVAIT awards in our press release here.
The 2024 Discovery Forum closed with a networking session to connect members and foster opportunities for collaboration and community-building.
The INOVAIT team would like to thank the Government of Canada for supporting the network and events like this. They are investing in the IGT sector for the future of healthcare and Canadians.
The INOVAIT team would also like to thank Yolande Dufresne, Annelise Mampuya, and the rest of the Torys LLP team for hosting and coordinating our 2024 Discovery Forum for the second year in a row.
