OBIO Announces Expansion of Early Adopter Health Network Partnerships

October marks third EAHN cohort selection to commercialize innovative technologies

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO^®), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization, is proud to announce the growth and expansion of its Early Adopter Health Network (EAHN™) partnerships, together with the upcoming selection round of its new cohort.

With more than 18 healthcare members and 11 innovation organization partners from across Canada, the EAHN has grown into Canada’s premier health science market acceleration program since its launch in early 2020. Now, OBIO will be hosting its third cohort network day in October, where innovative companies will meet with healthcare organizations prior to launching new EAHN projects later this year.

“We are delighted to expand the EAHN with the engagement of so many leading healthcare organizations and with the support of our innovation organization partners,” said Gail Garland, President & CEO of OBIO. “Growing and maintaining a robust and globally competitive domestic health science industry ecosystem here in Canada requires partnerships and collaborations to get the job done.”

Through the EAHN, which is supported by the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario, OBIO provides project management and financial support to evaluate technologies in the real-world setting and facilitate their broad adoption into the health system. They connect leading-edge, scaling health science companies with healthcare organizations, providing an opportunity for innovators to access local markets before expanding globally, as well as a strong reason to anchor themselves in Canada.

Driven by OBIO’s unique capacity to pair commercial-ready technologies with clinical end-users who want to deliver improved care at any health institution, the goal for the EAHN is to become early adopters of homegrown medical technology and help streamline the procurement process. Through a collaborative and comprehensive approach, EAHN addresses both the “push” and “pull” factors of what industry has developed and what burdened hospitals are trying to address. This allows the EAHN to catalyze change by delivering improved patient care more efficiently while opening the door to a new health-care economy that benefits Canadians and Canadian companies alike.

OBIO would like to thank and recognize the following organizations for their involvement and support in the EAHN:

EAHN Healthcare Members:

• Baycrest
• Bruyère
• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
• Hamilton Health Sciences
• Health Sciences North
• Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare
• Joseph Brant Hospital
• Kingston Health Sciences Centre
• Michael Garron Hospital
• North York General Hospital
• Southlake Regional Health Centre
• St. Mary’s General Hospital
• The Ottawa Hospital
• Unity Health Toronto
• University Health Network (UHN)
• West Park Healthcare Centre
• Winchester District Memorial Hospital
• Women’s College Hospital

EAHN Innovation Organization Partners:

• Carleton University
• Clinical Trials Ontario
• Invest Ottawa
• Life Sciences British Columbia
• Montréal InVivo
• Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine
• Ryerson Biomedical Zone
• SOSCIP Consortium
• StarFish Medical
• Stem Cell Network
• Synapse Life Science Consortium

For more information about OBIO’s EAHN™, or if you are interested in being part of the network, please contact Dr. Jeff Aramini at [e-mail].

About OBIO

OBIO®, founded in 2009, is a not-for-profit, membership-based innovation organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to further the commercialization of human health technologies positioning Canada as a leader in the international marketplace. OBIO advances this goal through collaborative partnerships with industry, the investment community, academia, the health system and government.