Vancouver/CMEDIA: B.C. companies reportedly are being supported by the Province to test how their innovative technology can improve health-care delivery, support the growth of the life-sciences sector and create more jobs.
The Government of B.C. and Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) are providing more than $5.3 million through the Integrated Marketplace’s Health Testbed to support testing of innovative health and life-sciences products to revolutionize health care and achieve better health outcomes for patients.
B.C.’s investment in the Integrated Marketplace includes as much as $41.5 million from the Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth and $11.7 million from the Government of Canada through PacifiCan.
“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
Being slow and expensive, developing new medicines rely on trial-and-error testing of thousands of chemical compounds before finding one that works.
More than $823,000 will be received by Vancouver-based 3C Therapeutics and Variational AI to apply generative AI to accelerate the discovery of degrader-antibody conjugates for the treatment of cancer.
Novel drug candidates will be developed much more efficiently by AI and increase the probability of success.
Subject to its success, the project will help 3C move its treatments closer to clinical trials and allow Variational AI to:
- expand its Enki AI platform into a fast-growing market
- support innovation
- support economic growth in B.C.
“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:
- improving access to data in sensitive environments
- reducing the spread of germs on high-touch surfaces
- making daily tasks quicker and easier
- improving access for people with physical limitations
“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
$912,000 would be received by B.C.-based companies Quartech, Daric Clouding Solutions, CGI and Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services to continue developing a digital pathology system, building on a pilot launched in July 2024. The expanded project will focus on three key areas:
- making sure digital pathology systems work reliably and the same way across health authorities
- adding new imaging tools, including different tissue or organ samples and 3D LiDAR images of tumours
- testing automated quality control tools that can quickly spot staining problems and reduce the need for manual slide checks
“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.”
A concordance testing workflow for immunohistochemistry was established by the BC Children’s Hospital that can be reapplied for other tests which builds a strong foundation for provincewide AI-enabled quality management in pathology.
Health Testbed
Being dedicated to advancing innovation in health care and health technology, the Integrated Marketplace’s Health Testbed will accelerate the adoption and validation of solutions across diverse health-related settings and use cases. There are seven testbeds in B.C.
Projects within the testbed support the advancement, evaluation and implementation of technologies and tools that:
- strengthen health systems
- enhance care delivery
- enable digital health transformation
“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
The Integrated Marketplace, created by the Government of B.C. in partnership with PacifiCan in 2023, 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.
Supporting the Province’s Look West strategy, this work outlines B.C.’s vision to deliver jobs and opportunities by strengthening the workforce to develop a more independent economy.
Included in this is 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 minerals.
