Inaugral Policy Forum a Resounding Success
BioAlberta's Inaugral Policy Forum brought key stakeholders and industry leaders across multiple sectors together for two days to discuss how Alberta could best harness its activities into tangible action to accelerate economic recovery post-COVID across the life sciences sector. These crucial discussions and the information we gathered will help inform our advocacy efforts across the sector throughout the year.
Over 160 participants from across Canada tuned in to hear 24 panelists, drawn from major industry stakeholders across multiple sectors. These speakers told their stories and got feedback from the audience in all four designated sessions. Forum attendees learned from the experts what it will take to pivot, to step up and what investment is needed in our talent and infrastructure to kick start local and province-wide economic recovery.
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Day One began with a great Keynote from the Hon..Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation whose talk “Alberta Life Sciences: Moving at the Speed of Business”, who dove into some of the initiatives that were a part of the Alberta provincial budget, including the pharmaceutical and life science strategy so critical to much needed economic recovery.
Minister opened the door for government to get proposals from companies over the next few weeks that look at what infrastructure and testing is needed to develop and manufacture vaccines to help better position Alberta for long term growth, which was formally announced a few days later.
He talked about health security and the new approach to procurement and development including the investment of $1.2 billion to a contingency fund dedicated to health matters and COVID related issues. He went on to highlight details on the economic recovery strategy that centres on taxes, talent and red tape reduction. Listen to this entire keynote here.
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The first session, moderated by Sameeh Salama, Fedora of saw a lively panel discussion sponsored by MERCK that took place around Antimicrobial Resistance: The Next Pandemic. These panelists looked at how integrated surveillance and harmonization at a provincial level is an open door for Alberta to lead the country by showing them how to operationalize this in Canada.
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Tackling the lack of investment in AMR was noted as a long term genuine concern, as well as the need to change why good Canadian companies are forced to go abroad for their work to be noticed at home. The need to combat hospital acquired infections was an issue that needs to move to the top of the agenda for governments and that we must collectively step up the pressure.
The entire fascinating discussion can be heard here.
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During Delivering Innovation and Value in the Health System leaders in the ecosystem gave a current snapshot on how to ignite the unique assets in early assessment and action into successful health clusters in order to deliver greater value directly into the lives of Albertans every day.
They noted that future economic growth is tied to our ability to rise to the challenge, make the value case and be willing to go the distance to invest in innovations and to work collectively together as the real key to helping Alberta SMEs be winners in a constrained fiscal environment. Watch the complete discussion here.
Noon hour presentations from Providence Therapeutics (see link here to recording) and Entos Pharmaceuticals (see link here to recording) during Journey to an Alberta Vaccine were highly informative and instilled a great sense of pride for what is happening locally on the research front toward a locally developed COVID vaccine. The conclusion is that diagnostics and pharmaceuticals harnessed here can produce a "made-in Canada" solution to COVID19 if there is up front and substantial investment and wherewithal to give Canadians this kind of vaccine security.
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Day Two began with a Keynote presentation “Building Alberta’s Health Analytics and Diagnostics Cluster” from Justin Riemer, ADM, Western Economic Development, followed by an excellent discussion with Jason Pincock CEO, DynaLIFE Medical Labs who explained the need to help clinicans make better and more accurate decisions and how Health City, as it transitions to a provincial platform, will further develop the cluster and help build a robust health innovation ecosystem for Alberta.
He touched on the new investment opportunities from both the provincial and federal levels where as an ecosystem we can create new platforms that will help muliple SMEs. This informative recording can be accessed here.
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Panelist discussion in Developing a Bioindustrial Strategy for Alberta highlighted that now is the time to explore new technologies, scale them up to engage municipal and provincial governments to help anchor biorefinery projects.
They suggested Bioalberta should play a key role in creating a roadmap and heirarchy for the use of biomass in Alberta, and that Alberta has a big role to play in sustainable biomass & waste adoption here and across the west. This entire discussion can be heard here.
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Developing Alberta’s Life Sciences Talent and Culture ended the Forum on a high note focusing on what would help companies to grow, succeed and stay in Alberta through thoughtful harnessing of local talent, mentorship at multiple levels.
Growing the bioeconomy could act as an economic super power for Canada, Panelists delved into what help is available now to support SMEs who find themselves wearing the proverbial HR hat to the work happening at the academic level to help fine-tune training to better suit SME needs so thet can actually develop their ideas right here at home with local talent. To hear the entire inspiring recording see here.
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Developing Alberta’s Life Sciences Talent and Culture ended the Forum on a high note focusing on what would help companies to grow, succeed and stay in Alberta through thoughtful harnessing of local talent, mentorship at multiple levels. Panelists delved into what is needed now to support SMEs and why financial resources are crucial to helping them solve problems so they can actually develop their ideas right here at home.
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Recordings of each session are available on the BioAlberta website here and click on the link to the corresponding Annual Policy Forum session video you are interested in. Answers to questions raised during the Policy Forum will be posted alongside each session soon.
Thanks to those attendees who shared ideas for future virtual events. Watch BioAlberta in the coming months to see those come to life.
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Thanks to all registrants who joined us and helped make this Inaugral Policy Forum so engaging.
We are grateful for the support of each and every panelist and to all the sponsors whose participation made this event possible!
Big thanks also to Invert720 for helping manage this two day special Zoom presentation!
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Taking Academic Drug Discoveries to the Clinic: What is missing?
Join us on April 12 to learn what it takes to bring a drug from the test tube to the patient.
Are you working on a novel therapeutic in your academic lab? Have you developed any disruptive technology platforms that, you believe, can lead to identification of therapeutics for high unmet medical needs in oncology? Or maybe you are a post doc keen to learn what all it takes to bring a drug from the test tube to the patients!
Speakers:
Tracey Ramsey, Vice President & General Manager, AbbVie Canada.
Dr Niels Emmerich, Vice President & Global Head of Search & Evaluation,AbbVie
Dr. Michael Weickert, CEO, Pacylex Pharmaceuticals
Plan ahead - see details and register here now.
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Natural Health Products Directory
Are you a NHP company looking to connect with customers and suppliers? Do you have a business service that NHP companies are looking for? Grow your business and fill the gaps in your supply chain by being part of BioAlberta’s 2021 Natural Health Products (NHP) Directory!
Building on the success of our 2017 directory, BioAlberta is building an online, searchable database to support Alberta NHP companies and connect them with partners, suppliers and customers. If you or someone you know would benefit from participating in or accessing our new directory, please email Alexander Holt-Brown, or call 780-638-2180.
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Member Focal Point: ShareSmart |
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ShareSmart is a health communication platform that optimizes real-time collaboration and consultation among healthcare professionals and patients. Its platform facilitates virtual health consultations (i.e. remote patient monitoring and telemedicine) and professional collaboration via secure video and real-time messaging. The company’s intuitive and lightweight solution promotes accessibility for patients, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring timely care from the safety of the patient's home or place of work. Its practice management interface includes patient scheduling and clinical resource routing, as well as an ability to integrate with wearable tech. This, in addition to a proven ability to decrease per capita care costs, differentiates ShareSmart from its peers who offer standalone virtual health solutions.
We are used in over 70 countries, across health organizations, big and small. Departments within Toronto Sick Kids and NYU Langone require their surgical residents, fellows and preceptors to communicate using ShareSmart group chats to support learners in receiving decision support. In eldercare facilities such as Westpark Health, ShareSmart is used to coordinate resources for patients with complex needs. Additionally, several third-party health tech companies are leveraging ShareSmart’s APIs to enhance the value of their respective solutions. We’ve invested heavily into ensuring compliance with global privacy legislation, including Canadian PIPEDA, PHIPA and HIA; US HIPAA; and EU GDPR to ensure our solution helps professionals mitigate breach risks across all healthcare settings. Jurisdictions with a localized privacy framework are compliant through equivalency with one of the aforementioned standards, or, through relatively straight forward server configuration work.
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As Apple’s first health software development partner in Canada, we have partnered with them on major projects such as the Japan national tech renewal initiative which will replace 30 million handyphones with ShareSmart-installed smartphones. We’re a part of a consortium that’s working to route vaccine data from India to the world’s foremost vaccine producers, in partnership with the UN and others. Additionally, we co-established the Canadian national guidelines on smartphone and smart device use in medicine with the Canadian Medical Association.
We want to work with Alberta based hospitals, clinics, and health technology partners to help paint a brighter healthcare future.
To learn more about ShareSmart or book a discovery call with our team, please follow the "book a demo" link at sharesmart.ca or email mbranch@sharesmart.ca. You can also follow us on social media to stay up to date on our latest offerings:
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Natural Products Canada Ventures
Natural Products Canada established a new $50M investment fund to invest in early-stage Canadian companies developing naturally-derived alternatives to synthetic products.
To learn all about this new funding opportunity, see details here: https://www.naturalproductscanada.com/en/natural-products-canada-launches-new-50m-investment-fund/
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Connection Silicon Valley - Spring Valley Ready Program
Don't miss out - see @CELS_SFO Spring Valley Ready (VR) program, a 4-month cohort program -coaches participants with 1:1 mentoring & a curriculum of interactive workshops - now open for application through March 22!
Canadian-based LifeScience companies from Pre-Seed to Series A are eligible to apply.
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Student Work Placement Program
Building Skills for Canada's bio-economy
Canadian universities and colleges are placing highly-
educated students in the bio-economy. If you are looking to hire young and eager talent, BioTalent Canada’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) can help.
SWPP will support you to hire, train and retain employees in a variety of sectors. See program details here and contact Colleen at chayes@biotalent.ca.
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Proof of Concept Program
The Proof of Concept Program is designed to help establish the commercial feasibility of innovative natural products and technologies in order to attract and de-risk subsequent investment.
Open to Canadian research institutes, start-up companies and SMEs, applicants can receive up to 50% of the cost of the proof of concept plan to a maximum of $100,000. See details here.
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Canadian Technology Accelerator
Looking for new opportunities to scale up your digital health or MedTech company? Taiwan is a leader in critical technologies and is a strategic entry-point to Asia. The CTA can help -see here and contact Judy.Chen@international.gc.ca.
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Canada's Technology and Aging Network's - AGE-WELL - is receiving $21.9 million over three years from GoC to provide Canadians with technology-based solutions to improve quality of life for older adults and caregivers.
They continue to seek new projects. If you have an idea apply for these exceptional funding opportunities. Details can be found at: http://ow.ly/fgsL50zE3oO Y
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Western Economic Diversification Canada
Alberta businesses unable to access existing relief measures can apply to Western Economic Diversification Canada's Regional Relief and Recovery Fund worth $304 million.
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48Hour Discovery(48HD) and CQDM announced on March 15 that the company has been awarded $800,000 for peptide drug discovery using its patented drug discovery platform. The two-year project is funded through the CQDM Quantum Leap program, which supports exploration of innovative technologies, tools, and platforms that accelerate or facilitate drug discovery and development. Merck is supporting the study as a member of CQDM. 48HD will collaborate with the University of Alberta on the project. GlycoNet, a Network of Centres of Excellence based at the University of Alberta is also providing funding support. Read the announcement details here.
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TrustBix Inc. Expands Its BIX Platform into Biomass and Waste Diversion with All West Demolition Ltd. and Innovation Reduction Strategies Inc.
On February 16, 2021, TrustBIX Inc. (TSXV: TBIX) ("TrustBIX") announced it had entered into a $300,000 contract with All West Demolition Ltd. ("AWD"), one of Edmonton's largest regional demolition companies, and BioAlberta member Innovation Reduction Strategies Inc. ("IRSI"), an early innovator in biomass to biochar production. TrustBIX will enhance and apply its BIX platform in a commercial pilot program to track biomass and waste streams to divert material from landfills and create new products for agricultural and industrial markets. Read the details of the announcement here.
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Leading Canadian Research Organizations Fund Bioneutra's Mission to Develop New "Gut Health" Products
On February 25th BioNeutra Global Corporation – maker of VitaFiber® IMO - announced the launch of a multi-phase research project funded by three of the nation’s leading research organizations to aid in the development of new better-for-you ‘gut health’ products. BioNeutra is receiving advisory services and R & D funding from the National Research Council Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) as well as funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Alberta Innovates. Read the announcement details here.
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RJH Biosciences Inc. builds collaborations with biotechnology companies for therapeutic development; pursues novel reagents for CRISPR and mRNA-based therapies
On February 19th, RJH Biosciences Inc., an emerging biotechnology company, announced exciting collaborations with CasZyme LLC and Kernal Biologics to further develop its nucleic acid delivery and cell transfection platforms. Through these collaborations, RJH Biosciences products will be developed for use in respective CRISPR-Cas9 editing applications and mRNA therapeutics. Read the announcement details here.
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New Silver Partner: Horizon Therapeutics |
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Horizon is focused on researching, developing and commercializing medicines that address critical needs for people impacted by rare and rheumatic diseases. Their pipeline is purposeful: applying scientific expertise and courage to bring clinically meaningful therapies to patients. See here to learn more.
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