Our Partners

The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) was established by the Government of Canada in 1989 to mobilize Canada’s best research, development and entrepreneurial expertise focused on specific issues and strategic areas. It was created to strengthen Canada’s global economic competitiveness by making new discoveries and transforming them into products, services and processes that improve the lives of Canadians. NCE programs meet Canada’s need to focus a critical mass of research resources on social and economic challenges, commercialize and apply more of its homegrown research breakthroughs, increase private sector R&D and train highly-qualified people.

CIMTEC gratefully acknwoledges the support and assistance of the NCE’s Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program, which was created in 2007 to bridge the challenging gap between innovation and commercialization. CIMTEC facilitates and enables the commercialization of world-leading medical and digital pathology technology leading to the improved understanding, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) is an innovative cancer research and development institute dedicated to prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation launched by the Government of Ontario in 2005. OICR's research supports more than 1,700 investigators, clinician scientists, research staff and trainees located at its headquarters and in research institutes and academic settings across the Province of Ontario. OICR has key research efforts underway in small molecules, biologics, stem cells, imaging, genomics, informatics and bio-computing, from early stage research to Phase II clinical trials.

OICR and CIMTEC have mutual objectives to commercialize medical imaging innovations and "image-guided interventions" as priority research area largely developed by CIMTEC's CSOs; working together to accelerate the translation of research findings and the development of new cancer imaging techniques into clinical practice; together advancing the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer through ongoing development of innovative cancer imaging technologies

Since 2012, CIMTEC has provided extensive expertise toward OICR’s Imaging Translation Program. OICR backing also enables CIMTEC to support researchers, start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to translate groundbreaking developments in medical imaging and digital pathology into new clinical tools for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

As CIMTEC’s host institution, Western University provides physical infrastructure including lab and workshop facilities, along with administrative and monetary support.  As the Associate VP of Research, Dan Sinai, has stated:   “CIMTEC has brought valuable recognition to Western's biomedical imaging facilities and, through collaborations on medical imaging projects and jointly-developed patents, generated revenue for Western of over $1 million"

Western ranks as one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities. From fundamental to applied discovery, its researchers advance knowledge that provides tangible benefits for the economic, social, health and cultural development of citizens in London, in Canada and around the world.  While the University has achieved acclaim for research in a full complement of disciplines, it has identified signature areas in which global-scale clusters of research excellence have been established, most notably as relates to CIMTEC,  neuroscience and imaging.  With annual research funding in excess of $240million Western is home to CIMTEC partners:  Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Robarts Research Institute, and Worldiscoveries

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is the largest single-site hospital in Canada and has four strategic areas of focus: heart and stroke; cancer; trauma, emergency and critical care; and women and babies. It is a fully affiliated teaching hospital of the University of Toronto. Sunnybrook Research Institute has more than 270 scientists and clinician-scientists who  conduct over $100 million of research each year, and have a track record in commercializing their discoveries and innovations. Their work is relevant to several clinical foci, including cancer, heart disease, and disorders of the brain and musculoskeletal system.

CIMTEC has access to SRI’s comprehensive imaging facilities, which include a device development laboratory and its cGMP and pre-clinical research facility, all part of SRI’s Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics.

WORLDiscoveries® is the Business Development arm of the extensive research network in London, Ontario. It acts as a bridge between local invention and global industry.

Born out of a partnership between Western University, Robarts Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute, WORLDiscoveries® draws upon a mix of industry connections, sector-specific market knowledge and business development expertise, to help researchers and local inventors commercialize their discoveries through licensing and new company spin-offs.

CIMTEC works closely with WORLDiscoveries® providing subject matter expertise in medical imaging and digital pathology to help bring its research network’s medical imaging innovations to the marketplace.

MaRS Innovation (MI)is a non-profit organization that acts on behalf of their  members–15 of Toronto’s top universities, institutions and research institutes, plus the MaRS Discovery District–to bring their most promising research breakthroughs to market

The MaRS Innovation portfolio is built upon a pipeline of over 1,400 intellectual property disclosures from researchers within their member institutions, which collectively receive over $1.47 billion in Canadian research funding each year.

MI staff work with inventors and their founding teams to bring these discoveries to global markets through industry partnerships, licensing or start-up companies, providing commercial services, early-stage funding resources and broker deals with industry and private investors.

CIMTEC works with MaRS Innovation to help commercialize medical imaging technologies emerging from its member institutions.

MEDTEQ is a consortium for research and innovation in medical technologies and is located in Montreal, Quebec. Its primary goal is to accelerate the development of new medical technologies through the complementary skills of industry participants, academic and institutional partners as well as university teaching hospitals. MEDTEQ has more than 100 members in the medical technology sector.

MEDTEQ's vision is "Innovation for health".

MEDTEQ's objectives are to:

  • accelerate the integration of new technologies and care pathways within the health system in response to the priorities of healthcare providers;
  • develop knowledge and leading edge expertise in technology and the management of medical systems; and
  • train highly-qualified resources and facilitate knowledge transfer.

 MEDTEQ est un consortium de recherche et d’innovation en technologies médicales qui est situé à Montréal, Québec. Il a pour mission d’accélérer le développement de technologies innovantes en réunissant les compétences complémentaires de partenaires industriels et institutionnels autour de celles des hôpitaux universitaires. MEDTEQ regroupe plus de 70 membres du domaine des technologies médicales.

Sa vision : l’innovation pour la santé.

Ses objectifs:

  • accélérer l’intégration de nouvelles technologies et de nouveaux modes d’intervention dans le système de santé en considérant les priorités des établissements de santé;
  • développer des connaissances et des expertises de pointe dans les technologies et dans la gestion des systèmes médicaux; et
  • former du personnel hautement qualifié et faciliter le transfert de connaissances.

The Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) is a provincially‐funded, not‐for‐profit research centre seeking to maximize the impact of neuroscience and establish Ontario as a world-leader in brain research, commercialization, and care. Convergent partnerships are created between researchers, clinicians, industry, patients, and their advocates to foster discovery and deliver innovative products and services that improve the lives of those living with brain disorders.

For the Ontario Brain Institute, commercialization is a critical step in translating research ideas into better patient care, and partnerships are at the root of translation.
OBI is working with industry to help catalyze the translation of brain research ideas into products that can improve the care of those living with brain disorders. The Institute is focused on accelerating the commercialization of brain-related technologies through the development of collaborative partnerships between the private sector and not-for-profit institutions.

Both OBI and CIMTEC share a common goal of creating a successful ecosystem of medical technology companies offering effective new diagnoses and treatments. They will continue to work together to commercialize Canadian and Ontario innovations by focusing on accelerating prototype development and testing for startups.  

Lawson Health Research Institute is one of Canada’s top ten health research institutes  Lawson is the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, ON. Lawson’s scientists work across London at multiple hospital sites, and are proud to be an integral part of both academic hospitals and the excellent, patient-centred care they provide. In addition to the hospitals, Lawson works in close partnership with Western University and  with over 200 business and industry partners in more than 25 countries.

Lawson Health Research Institute is ranked eighth in the country according to the 2016 edition of “Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals List” by Research Infosource. This strong position has been maintained by Lawson for the past three years. The top 40 list analyzes hospital-based research institutes from across the country on several metrics, including total research income from the previous fiscal year. The ranking looks at funds received from all sources, including both internal and external, to support research at the organization.

CIMTEC has many strong partners in the health technology, commercialization, medical imaging and medical device communities. Partnerships allow us to provide our customers access to a greater pool of expertise, knowledge, and funding opportunities to help their medical imaging innovations succeed.