Seven major players in biotechnology innovation are launching a consortium to support start-ups developing medical technologies. This union aims to provide personalized support for the marketing, commercialization and export of Québec know-how in health technology.
Posted at 6:00 p.m.
The creation of the Quebec Consortium of Life Sciences Accelerators and Incubators (CQAIS) is the initiative of seven organizations specializing in health innovation: the Center québécois d’innovation en biotechnologie (CQIB), BioInnovations adMare, Centech , District 3, Campus des technologies de la santé, ACET and Quantino. Together, these players have already generated nearly $1 billion in investments.
This initiative is part of the Quebec Life Sciences Strategy, which targets the need to allow “young, highly innovative technology companies in the pre-commercialization phase to use specialized services and shared infrastructures and platforms “. This consortium, which provides these young shoots with services usually reserved for mature companies, benefits from the support of the Quebec government to the tune of $2 million.
Concretely, the consortium completes the service offer of life sciences incubators and accelerators in Quebec, by offering support to these new companies with different needs from those housed in the CQIB laboratories in Laval.
A decisive boost
The consortium will support 45 young companies specializing in medical technologies, which want to validate their offer. This concerns both companies that are entering the clinical validation phase for medical technologies and those that have developed digital solutions for the health network. “This allows a company that has developed a digital health application to test it just before the marketing phase”, explains Perry Niro, general manager of the CQIB. “This will give him an advantage to refine his business model before going to market. Each will get $60,000 to enable them to pass this stage.
We pay experts, clinicians and coaches to support companies. This is important, because it takes a ‟sherpa” to find one’s bearings in the mountain that is the health network.
Perry Niro, Director General of the Quebec Center for Biotechnology Innovation
The CQAIS will also help the leaders of these start-ups to forge business ties with players in the life sciences industry in Quebec, but also internationally. Each company will be able to discuss an agreement with healthcare establishments, distributors or strategic partners.
An entrepreneur who develops an application to improve the algorithm of medical imaging could thus be eligible for this support, explains Perry Niro. The consortium will be able to help him validate his application. It will also provide the necessary support to navigate the health network, in order to find the right contacts to launch its marketing.
Within three years, the consortium aims to create 200 jobs and raise $100 million in investments to support the commercialization of innovations in Quebec.