Funding will help homegrown companies pilot new technology to strengthen economic resilience in B.C.
VANCOUVER -
Summary
The Province is supporting B.C. companies to test how their innovative technology can improve health-care delivery, support the growth of the life-sciences sector and create more jobs.
Through the Integrated Marketplace's Health Testbed, the Government of B.C. and Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) are providing more than $5.3 million to support testing of innovative health and life-sciences products, which have the potential to revolutionize health care and achieve better health outcomes for patients.
"At a time when our health-care system is under pressure, it's critical that we work with B.C. businesses to find solutions made right here at home," said Ravi Kahlon, B.C. Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth. "Through the Look West strategy, we're helping B.C. companies test and scale made-in-B.C. health and life-sciences technologies in real-world settings, speeding up adoption and reducing risk for the health-care system. The result is stronger patient care today, good jobs at home and a more resilient, self-reliant economy for the future."
Discovering new medicine
Developing new medicines can be slow and expensive, relying on trial-and-error testing of thousands of chemical compounds before finding one that works. Vancouver-based 3C Therapeutics and Variational AI will receive more than $823,000 to apply generative AI to accelerate the discovery of degrader-antibody conjugates for the treatment of cancer. AI will generate novel drug candidates much more efficiently and increase the probability of success.
If successful, the project will help 3C move its treatments closer to clinical trials and allow Variational AI to:
"We're thrilled to collaborate with the amazing team at 3C Therapeutics to expand our Enki drug-discovery platform to the exciting degrader-antibody conjugate therapeutics space," said Handol Kim, co-founder and CEO, Variational AI. "The support from Innovate BC's Integrated Marketplace program is accelerating world-class capability with a 100% made-in-B.C. partnership."
Cleaner workspaces
Providence Health Care Ventures and NZ Technologies will receive $350,000 to test HoverCore, an AI-powered human-machine interface platform that allows clinicians, patients and staff to control digital screens and shared systems throughout the hospital using simple hand motions, without touching shared surfaces. Testing this technology will help health-care professionals and patients by:
"Hospitals are complex shared environments where access to clinical data and exposure risks with high-touch surfaces remain ongoing challenges," said Nima Ziraknejad, founder and CEO, NZ Technologies. "At NZ Technologies, we are building next-generation technologies to aid humans in interfacing with machines using AI to enable clinicians, patients and staff to seamlessly navigate digital information and shared systems throughout the hospital, creating safer and more efficient environments for everyone."
Continuing to expand digital pathology
B.C.-based companies Quartech, Daric Clouding Solutions, CGI and Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services will receive $912,000 to continue developing a digital pathology system, building on a pilot launched in July 2024. The expanded project will focus on three key areas:
"Incorporating computational pathology into digital workflows has and will continue to improve quality and diagnostic accuracy, and save time, which will improve patient care and make the system more efficient," said Dr. Jeff Terry, division head, anatomical pathology, BC Children's Hospital. "Longer term, this will expand industry around digital pathology, increase access to skilled expertise and enable future innovation in this area to support both patient care and related research. A consistent, directed and well-supported implementation is critical to realizing the full benefits of digital pathology in B.C."
The BC Children's Hospital established a concordance testing workflow for immunohistochemistry that can be reapplied for other tests. This work builds a strong foundation for province-wide AI-enabled quality management in pathology.
Health Testbed
The Integrated Marketplace's Health Testbed is dedicated to advancing innovation in health care and health technology by accelerating the adoption and validation of solutions across diverse health-related settings and use cases. Projects within the testbed support the advancement, evaluation and implementation of technologies and tools that:
"Innovation in health care leads to better outcomes for patients and more support for health professionals," said Peter Cowan, president and CEO, Innovate BC. "Through the Integrated Marketplace, we're continuing to connect B.C. companies with real health-care environments where they can validate their technologies, reduce adoption risk and demonstrate value to the system. This work is strengthening our health sector while supporting the Province's Look West strategy to build a more resilient economy."
Part of the Look West strategy
Created by the Government of B.C. in partnership with PacifiCan in 2023, the Integrated Marketplace is a demand-driven platform delivered by Innovate BC and helps B.C. companies test, deploy and scale their innovations in real-world environments, while de-risking technology adoption for partnering industry customers.
This work supports the Province's Look West strategy, which outlines B.C.'s vision to deliver jobs and opportunities by strengthening the workforce to develop a more independent economy.
It includes delivering major projects quicker, diversifying markets and growing targeted sectors, such as technology, aerospace, marine, AI and quantum, life sciences, agriculture construction innovation, mining and critical mineral.
Quick Facts:
Learn More:
Two backgrounders follow.
Contact:
Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth
Media Relations
250-883-2068
Backgrounder 1
What people are saying about B.C.'s Integrated Marketplace's Health Testbed
Gregor Robertson, federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) -
"British Columbians have the talent and ingenuity to lead the future of health innovation. These investments will help B.C. businesses leverage the power of AI and other technologies to improve patient care, expand access in rural and remote communities, and speed up breakthroughs in diagnostics and drug discovery. PacifiCan is committed to ensuring businesses have the support they need to grow and contribute to one strong Canadian economy."
Josie Osborne, B.C. Minister of Health -
"People in B.C. deserve the best care possible and these made-in-B.C. projects will deliver real results. With breakthroughs like AI-powered drug discovery and faster digital diagnostics, it will be amazing to see these B.C.-made innovations go from the research lab directly to front-line health-care teams and patients to help improve health outcomes."
Mahdi Mobini, managing director, Daric Clouding Solutions -
"Thanks to support from Innovate BC and Provincial Health Services Authority, British Columbians benefit from a robust platform that brings advanced digital pathology services to patients across the province. With cutting-edge AI integrations underway to boost laboratory efficiency, B.C.'s health-care ecosystem is uniquely positioned to export the IMI-supported innovative digital pathology solutions globally."
Hamid Farshchi, CEO and co-founder, D2Type Health Inc. -
"We are excited to work with the Jim Pattison Centre for Health Systems Learning + Innovation and Interior Health to help expand more continuous, personalized diabetes support across community-care settings in British Columbia. This initiative represents an important step toward enabling more proactive, AI-enabled between-visit care for people living with diabetes and cardiometabolic conditions."
Dee Taylor, executive director, JP Centre for Health Systems Learning + Innovation -
"Innovate BC's support strengthens our ability to test an AI-enabled model that provides meaningful between-visit support while fitting naturally into existing clinical workflows. Together with D2Type and with Interior Health observing the implementation, we're generating the real-world evidence needed to guide responsible scale up across the Interior."
Max Jajszczok, executive director, community hospitals and rural remote services, Island Health -
"This funding allows Island Health to explore the exciting potential of drone delivery for critical medical supplies, improving timely access for rural and remote communities and during emergencies. We are grateful to work with Quaternion Aerospace and the University of Victoria Centre for Aerospace Research, as their expertise and innovation is critical to exploring and realizing this opportunity."
Winnie Liang, co-founder and CEO, Ma Robot AI -
"Ma Robot AI is the self-driving company for robots, starting with health care. Supported by Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation and Innovate BC, we are pioneering advanced navigation AI for autonomous hospital transport. By safely moving supplies and lab samples through high-traffic environments, we aim to improve operational efficiency, reduce staff workload and enhance patient care."
Brian Simmers, president, Providence Health Care Ventures -
"In health care, innovation only matters when it works in the real world. Creating space within care settings to test and refine new technologies helps build trust with the clinicians and teams who use them every day. That kind of hands-on validation reduces risk, speeds up adoption and helps promising ideas turn into solutions that truly strengthen care delivery, support the workforce and improve system performance."
Amlan Chakladar, solutions architect, Quartech Systems -
"As a B.C.-based company, Quartech is proud to contribute to health innovation that has the potential to benefit our neighbours, families and communities across the province. Through the health testbed, we are showcasing how cloud and AI can meaningfully improve quality and diagnostic accuracy in pathology workflows, while the concordance testing framework established for immunohistochemistry creates a strong foundation for future innovation."
Afzal Suleman, president and CEO, Quaternion Aerospace -
"Quaternion Aerospace is thrilled to help showcase advanced autonomous aircraft solutions within a real-world health-care testbed environment. Our longstanding collaboration with the University of Victoria Centre for Aerospace Research combines proven flight operations with the innovation needed to advance these technologies through the Integrated Marketplace initiative."
Kenneth To, CEO, ViewsML -
"We're appreciative of the Province's support as we advance faster, more consistent and scalable biomarker detection. As Providence Health Care Ventures has one of the largest biobanks, it is nearly impossible to characterize biomarker expression manually due to wet lab and tissue constraints. Our AI-powered virtual staining technology predicts biomarker expression from a single digital H&E image in minutes, thereby generating commercial-ready datasets without consuming precious tissue samples."
Daniel Wattier, CEO, 3C Therapeutics Inc. -
"AI is allowing us to search for promising new cancer medicines faster and more efficiently than traditional drug discovery methods. By combining Variational AI's platform with 3C's degrader-antibody conjugate technology, this collaboration has the potential to accelerate the development of more targeted therapies, while strengthening British Columbia's position in AI-enabled biotech innovation."
Ashish Anand, CEO, Workforce Wellness -
"Currently, 1.2 million patients in B.C. are on a wait list for an initial consultation with a specialist. That's one out of every five British Columbians. Workforce Wellness is tackling this acute challenge with Agentic AI to streamline health-care operations and dramatically reduce these wait times. By automating administrative tasks, we free up clinicians to increase throughput and focus on delivering care to patients."
Jeff Norris, president and CEO, Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation -
"Caring for those who care for others is a priority for our foundation. We know the demands on physicians, nurses and care teams continue to grow, often in ways that are not always visible. Innovate BC's support allows us to explore innovative solutions to help ease time pressures on clinical teams and support patient care."
Backgrounder 2
What to know about health testbed projects underway
Additional Integrated Marketplace Health Testbed projects