Leading the Pack: Accelerating the Success of the Canadian Health Science Industry
The report is based on a comprehensive industry consultation with leaders from coast-to-coast, who provided their feedback on their experiences in 2020 and recommendations for how Canada’s health science industry can become a global leader in the bioeconomy.
OBIO announced the release of ‘Leading the Pack: Accelerating the Success of the Canadian Health Science Industry.’
The report is based on a comprehensive industry consultation with company executives and leaders from coast-to-coast, who provided their feedback on their experiences in 2020 and recommendations for how Canada’s health science industry can become a global leader in the bioeconomy.
Beyond the enormous disruption caused by the global pandemic, the health science industry has the opportunity to become a pillar of the economy in the long term and it has the potential to create value by addressing all aspects of human health.
Today, the sector contributes only 0.45% to Canada’s total GDP, which is about ten-fold smaller than the contribution of the U.S. industry to its national GDP. There is considerable opportunity for Canada to take a bigger slice of the global bioscience market and for the domestic health science industry to increase its contribution to the Canadian economy.
To accomplish this, capital attraction and driving adoption are the two clear priorities for action articulated by survey and interview respondents. If the twin challenges of capital attraction and driving adoption are addressed, Canada has the potential to become a global leader of innovation and production in healthcare.
Watch the ‘Leading the Pack’ Report Launch Event
On Oct 29th, OBIO launched ‘Leading the Pack: Accelerating the Success of the Canadian Health Science Industry’ at an online event featuring industry leaders providing their insight and experience.
Thank you to Jeremy Bridge-Cook, CEO, Rna Diagnostics; Joe Eibl, CEO, Flosonics Medical; Scott Phillips, Founder and CEO, Starfish Medical; and David Young, Co-founder and CEO, KisoJi Biotechnology.
Bridging the Talent Gap: Reporting on Year 2
Bridging the Talent Gap: Reporting on Year 2 describes the results of the first seven cohorts of early career talent that has completed the program.
Building on the ongoing success of OBIO’s Health to Business Bridge (H2BB™) program, this report reflects on the success of H2BB in pulling top talent into Ontario’s health science industry to close the talent gape identified by 96% of Ontario’s health science company CEOs.
In 2017, OBIO released Bridging the Talent Gap which was based on consultations with participants in the then-recently launched H2BB early career talent development program.
H2BB was conceived and designed in response to the health science industry need for business talent to take companies through successful commercialization. The program partners with academic institutions to provide critical exposure to the health science industry as well as workplace learning and experience that augment fact and theory delivered in the classroom. H2BB was originally intended for students and recent graduates with STEM undergraduate training and post-graduate training in business.
Bridging the Talent Gap: Reporting on Year 2 describes the results of the first seven cohorts of early career talent that has completed the program.
Overall, in just two short years, H2BB has seen impressive growth and success. Over 100 students and recent graduates have pursued the program and both companies and academic institutions continue to sign on. These numbers demonstrate how the program is addressing a gap in learning and a need in industry. Most significant however are the number of eligible students who have found jobs and begun building their careers. H2BB has created awareness of the industry, attracted some of the best and brightest, and established new openings for employment.
To read a PDF of ‘Bridging the Talent Gap: Reporting on Year 2’, please click here.
Achieving Impact Through Adoption of Innovative Health Technologies: Establishing Early Adopter Health Organizations as an Accelerator for Economic Growth in Ontario
OBIO’s 2019 report describes an early adopter model to facilitate the evaluation and adoption of innovative health technologies in Ontario health organizations.
TORONTO -- The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) today released its latest report, ‘Achieving Impact Through Adoption of Innovative Health Technologies: Establishing Early Adopter Health Organizations as an Accelerator for Economic Growth in Ontario’, which describes an early adopter model to facilitate the evaluation and adoption of innovative health technologies in Ontario health organizations.
The report is the result of a series of consultations with executive-level stakeholders from Ontario health organizations and industry, as well as representatives from government and other affiliate organizations.
Following a key recommendation in OBIO’s report, ‘Tackling the Anchor Company Challenge – OBIO Leadership Summit (2017),’ which highlighted the need for early adopter organizations in Ontario, the report provides a robust model for establishing, governing and supporting these organizations to best engage with innovators.
The report was launched at the Conference Board of Canada Council on Innovation Procurement in Health Care meeting. OBIO CEO, Gail Garland, was joined by Arden Krystal, President and CEO of the Southlake Regional Health Centre, Jo-anne Marr, President & CEO of Markham Stouffville Hospital and Stefano Picone, Director of Finance of Conavi Medical.
“Today, it is clearer than ever that a model to support the early adoption of novel technologies is crucial if our health science industry is going to continue to commercialize life-saving products, create jobs and attract investment in Ontario. We are pleased to present the EAHN model as a way to achieve these benefits.”
Overview of the Report:
A network of early adopter health organizations (EAHNs) can facilitate the evaluation of and access to promising health science innovations that could benefit human health and wellbeing through their use in the Ontario healthcare system.
The report presents a governance model for a collaborative ecosystem wherein industry and health organization end-users can work together to develop, test, refine, adopt, and deploy novel technologies for the health sector.
Engagement with an EAHN will allow our growing health sciences industry to continue to innovate and assess the local market before they expand their sales to a larger global market. Investments in Ontario companies will become more attractive due to strong ties with the local market and foreign companies will be attracted to the favourable environment for innovation adoption in Ontario.
To read a PDF of ‘Achieving Impact Through Adoption of Innovative Health Technologies: Establishing Early Adopter Health Organizations as an Accelerator for Economic Growth in Ontario’, please click here.
To read the press release, click here.
Realizing the Promise of Healthcare Innovation in Ontario
OBIO’s report, Realizing the Promise of Health Care Innovation: Increasing Value for the Patient, Health System and Economy, was published in 2013 and is a product of the Ontario Bioscience Economic Strategy Team (OBEST®), an initiative launched by OBIO to address the challenges faced by Ontario’s human health technology and bioscience industry.
The OBIO® Innovation Adoption Initiative is a product of the Ontario Bioscience Economic Strategy Team (OBEST®), an initiative launched by OBIO to address the challenges faced by Ontario’s human health technology and bioscience industry. Its goal is to recommend policy avenues that catalyze commercialization for the therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and health information technology (Health IT) sectors while strengthening the province’s capacity to deliver cost-effective care for patients and caregivers as intelligently and innovatively as practicable.
Use It or Lose It: Industry Solutions to Ontario's Commercialization Gap 2018
OBIO’s 2018 Industry Consultation reports five recommendations from health science company executives on how to create the conditions for the growth of Ontario’s health science industry.
May 03, 2018 -- OBIO® released its latest report, ‘Use It or Lose It: Industry Solutions to Ontario’s Commercialization Gap’, with recommendations from health science company executives on how to create the conditions for the growth of Ontario’s health science industry.
This report is the result of a survey of 135 Ontario health science industry executives, looking at the growth of Ontario’s health science sector and the opportunities for future development. The report makes five recommendations to ensure Canadians derive the benefits that accrue from a successful health science economy: regional prosperity, knowledge economy jobs, increased patient satisfaction, and improved health outcomes.
“Last fall, Ontario’s health science industry CEOs shared their ideas and their concerns with OBIO to give us an understanding of what is needed for Ontario’s health science industry to flourish. We are pleased to share this report’s recommendations. In addition to recommendations that allow companies to extend their runway and generate cash flow, this year industry emphasized the importance of go-to-market issues like access to local hospitals and health service providers, and the development of infrastructure to facilitate access to the local market for the purpose of clinical trials or pilot projects to generate evidence and refine technology.”
Overview of the Report:
Ontario’s health science industry is starting to grow and mature with over half of companies in the preclinical or clinical stage of development, and one in five with their most advanced project generating sales or expanding their markets.
But companies continue to face barriers to scaling up in Ontario which fall across four main themes: financial, infrastructure, ecosystem and talent.
Industry had five recommendations which include improved access to capital, globally competitive tax policies, consolidated funding programs, and most importantly stronger local infrastructure and access to local markets, including a system of early adopter health care providers with expertise in piloting, adopting and championing new technologies.
“To build health science anchor companies in Ontario, access to markets is becoming an increasingly important factor for Ontario companies. For Ontario health science companies to stay here and grow here, this report’s recommendations indicate the need to create the conditions for the development of anchor companies.”
To read a PDF of ‘Use it or Lose it: Industry Solutions to Ontario’s Commercialization Gap’, please click here.
To read the press release, click here.
OBEST Strategic Implementation Plan
Over the past several months, OBESTTM has engaged >200 senior representatives from major stakeholder groups across Ontario’s life-sciences sector. The 6-month strategic planning process has resulted in defined priorities and a plan for robust growth and commercial viability of the province’s bioscience industry.
Why do we need a strategy? Ontario taxpayers currently spend over $44 billion annually on healthcare and $22 billion for education. The 5% projected rate of increase in (2011/12), healthcare spending is greater than the projected rate of increase for Ontario’s GDP, 2.4% (2011). The education system and academic research funding costs also continue to rise. Ontario is a leading global jurisdiction for innovation indicators, in terms of R&D spending to GDP ratio, and percentage of individuals with post-secondary training.
However, Ontarians do not reap the benefits of an innovation economy due to the underdevelopment of the biosciences industry sector. Our investments in research, novel commercial technologies, highly-qualified individuals, and smaller start-up corporations are, for the most part, lost to foreign markets. The commercial products and services developed from our innovations are then bought back by Ontarians (in the form of novel therapeutics, diagnostics, and devices) at considerable mark-up. The increased costs are not only a growing burden for tax payers, but more importantly, we as Ontarians have not benefited from the economic prosperity (jobs and wealth creation) that would result from a strong and sustainable domestic biosciences sector.
For the full report, click here.