Chris Albinson
CEO & President of Communitech
Innovation, collaboration and partnerships go hand in hand. It’s a winning combination that informs everything Communitech does.
For nearly three decades, this Waterloo Region tech hub has been fueling Canadian innovation through its “superpower” — the ability to bring diverse partners and stakeholders together to collaborate on solutions to tough challenges.
Take health care, for example
Through conversations with clinicians, administrators and tech founders, Communitech identified a gap between those who make leading-edge technology and those who could deploy it for the benefit of patients and the Canadian health-care system.
This insight prompted the creation of Fast Track Health, one of several Communitech-led sector-specific collaboratives that bring together stakeholders from industry, academia and government to identify pressing issues and encourage Canadian innovators to propose solutions.
The Fast Track process has surfaced numerous made-in-Canada solutions to a wide range of challenges by building connections between Canada’s startup ecosystem and officials in industry, government and the broader public sector.
Partnerships remain critical to the process
In one example, Pfizer Canada launched a Healthcare Hub earlier this year to encourage Canadian tech startups to scale health-care solutions that enhance patient outcomes and experience.
To surface these innovations, Pfizer partnered with Communitech on a call-for-solutions in the areas of vaccination tracking, drug-shortage planning, patient-drug coverage and access, women’s health, and oncology diagnostics.
Three Canadian companies were selected through an adjudication process. Pfizer is investing $1.4 million to support this first cohort, while Communitech is providing growth-related resources that help Canadian innovators succeed.
“These kinds of partnerships produce the connections that fuel innovation and generate prosperity for all of Canada,” says Chris Albinson, CEO and President of Communitech.
Communitech works with a range of other partners as well
In its current Fast Track Health cycle, the Communitech-led collaborative worked with Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, and with Cambridge Memorial Hospital, to identify Canadian tech firms with innovative solutions to a range of challenges involving the recruiting and onboarding of staff, integrated patient-record management, and equipment and inventory monitoring.
These solutions will have pilot or procurement opportunities with health-care organizations nationwide, including those connected to the Fast Track Health program through Communitech’s strategic partnerships with the CAN Health Network and Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO).
Five Canadian tech companies will soon be chosen to present their solutions to health-care stakeholders at an upcoming showcase event.
“Collaborating with our partners to surface innovative Canadian solutions for health-care challenges has been truly inspiring,” says Joel Semeniuk, Chief Strategy Officer at Communitech. “The potential impact of this collective effort reflects the outstanding quality of Canada’s innovation community.”
For information on how to partner with Communitech, visit communitech.ca.
