INOVAIT announces award winners at April forum

TORONTO – INOVAIT, the national network for commercializing breakthroughs in image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence, presented the inaugural INOVAIT awards at its annual Discovery Forum. The awards were established to recognize INOVAIT members who are developing breakthrough innovations in healthcare and spearheading economic development for Canada.

“The INOVAIT awards grew out of our desire to recognize and spotlight members and institutions doing exceptional things to impact medtech innovation in Canada,” said Raphael Ronen (pictured), co-executive director of INOVAIT. “Together, the recipients of the 2024 INOVAIT awards showcase Canada’s exceptional talent, technology, and impact.”

The inaugural 2024 INOVAIT awards were granted to the following recipients:

Luxsonic received INOVAIT’s 2024 Maple Leaf Award. The Maple Leaf Award recognizes an INOVAIT industry member who acknowledges the powerhouse of talent across Canadian industry and academia. Luxsonic has employees scattered across the country working from Saskatchewan, Ontario, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador to retain the best talent in Canada no matter where they are located.

They have successfully partnered with five companies and institutions across Canada for three INOVAIT projects. The wide geographical distribution of their employees and partners demonstrates Luxsonic’s commitment to leveraging Canada’s vast expertise and resources, exemplifying the collaborative spirit the Maple Leaf Award celebrates.

Western University received INOVAIT’s 2024 Aurora Borealis Award. The Aurora Borealis Award celebrates academic institutions and their administrative teams who foster synergetic relationships between industry and academia to drive healthcare innovation. Western’s streamlined administrative team enabled industry and academia to efficiently collaborate and rapidly transform innovative concepts into tangible results.

Western has partnered on seven successful INOVAIT applications and their principal investigators have collaborated with six Canadian IGT companies. Western University’s role in bringing cutting-edge research to life, combined with its rapid execution of projects, support for commercialization, and collaborative efforts, makes it a deserving recipient of the Aurora Borealis Award.

MOLLI Surgical received INOVAIT’s 2024 Mount Logan Award. The Mount Logan Award recognizes an INOVAIT industry member who has consistently exceeded project milestone expectations, reached new heights as a Canadian company, and stood out internationally. MOLLI Surgical has made outstanding progress throughout the past year, including treating thousands of patients across 170 health institutions in North America.

MOLLI Surgical designs and manufactures its devices in Canada and supplies them to Canadian hospitals. Applauding the significant achievement of earning trust and securing large contracts from many health institutions and their patients is worthy of celebrating with the Mount Logan Award.

In addition to the award ceremony, the INOVAIT Discovery Forum featured an impressive lineup of industry experts and healthcare influencers, including remarks from Dr. Greg Sorensen, former CEO of Siemens Healthcare North America and current CEO of DeepHealth. To learn more about the 2024 Discovery Forum, visit https://inovait.ca/news/

About INOVAIT
Established in 2020, INOVAIT invests strategically in collaborative partnerships that build upon Canada’s strength in digital innovation and health science research to create a critical mass of world-leading Image-guided therapy (IGT) companies. Hosted by the Sunnybrook Research Institute and supported by the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, the Network brings together small, medium-sized, and large companies, research organizations, post-secondary institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. INOVAIT aims to build an integrated IGT ecosystem by fuelling continuous innovation that revolutionizes healthcare globally.