Ontario organizations launch Life Sciences Central

TORONTO – Ontario’s life sciences sector is taking a major leap forward with the launch of Life Sciences Central, a new collaborative initiative that brings together the commercialization services, investment networks and talent resources of three of the province’s leading innovation organizations: MaRS Discovery District (MaRS), OBIO and Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP).

By aligning support across these three key organizations, Life Sciences Central aims to streamline the growth path for health and life sciences startups, helping them scale faster, raise critical early-stage funding and remain rooted in Ontario.

“Ontario has world-class researchers, entrepreneurs and institutions. But we’ve long lacked the cohesive infrastructure to translate that excellence into scale-ready companies,” said Grace Lee Reynolds (pictured left), CEO, MaRS Discovery District. “Life Sciences Central addresses that gap by connecting the dots across our ecosystem, lab space, capital, talent and commercialization support, which will make it easier for high-potential ventures to grow here at home.”

Life Sciences Central is designed to simplify how ventures access commercialization resources, improving the experience of navigating a historically fragmented ecosystem. It offers unified support services to create a shared pipeline so that companies receive the right help at the right time from Ontario’s top advisors and investor networks.

“This initiative is about unlocking Canada’s full economic and innovation potential,” said Dr. Maura Campbell (pictured right), president and CEO, OBIO. “We are proud to be working with MaRS and TIAP to ensure that more companies move from promising ideas to real-world health solutions, while creating jobs and attracting investment in the process.”

Life Sciences Central includes both open, self-serve resources, such as community events, digital tools and market insights, as well as targeted support for high-potential ventures, including tailored access to capital, IP licensing, talent matching and infrastructure services.

“This level of alignment and integration is a game-changer for the sector,” said Parimal Nathwani (pictured center), president and CEO, TIAP. “Together, we can eliminate inefficiencies, focus resources and accelerate the journey for startups tackling some of the most urgent health challenges of our time.”

Ontario is home to more than half of the country’s health research output, but its startups have historically lagged in scaling and commercialization compared to global peers. Life Sciences Central is a bold step toward changing that and positioning Ontario as the world-leading hub for health innovation.

About Life Sciences Central
Life Sciences Central is a joint platform launched by MaRS Discovery District, OBIO® and TIAP to help Ontario-based life sciences companies scale and succeed. The initiative consolidates access to advisory support, funding, infrastructure and talent, building a stronger more connected innovation ecosystem across the province.

About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District is a charitable organization and North America’s largest urban innovation hub dedicated to helping Canadian technology companies succeed. With a focus on climate, health sciences and other emerging technologies, MaRS supports startups tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues. MaRS spans more than 1.5 million square feet of cutting-edge office, lab, meeting and event space in downtown Toronto. MaRS has helped ventures generate $11.5 billion in cumulative revenue, raise $19 billion in funding, and create and maintain more than 33,000 jobs. The MaRS platform also includes MaRS IAF, one of Canada’s top seed-stage venture funds. Through its world-class facilities, strategic programs and partnerships, MaRS accelerates the adoption of groundbreaking Canadian technology and bolsters a globally competitive innovation ecosystem.

About OBIO
Founded in 2009, OBIO is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to address the needs of the next generation of companies developing innovative human health products. OBIO supports early-stage and venture-backed life sciences and health tech companies enabling them to raise capital, hire and train industry-ready talent, facilitate the commercialization and market adoption of their technologies in health systems, and access infrastructure. OBIO advances this goal through collaborative partnerships with industry, the investment community, academia, the healthcare system and government. For more information, please visit obio.ca.

About TIAP
Since 2008, TIAP has been building relationships with innovators and entrepreneurs at Toronto’s top universities, hospitals and research institutes to identify the most exciting sparks of ground-breaking therapeutic, medical device and digital health/AI innovation; and then providing the tools, resources, and know-how to transform this work into successful commercial ventures. With a 15-year track record that includes the launch of more than 70 new companies, the raising of over $1B in private investment, and the creation of more than 1,000 jobs, TIAP has generated significant commercial and social return on our Member Institutions’ research – making a measurable impact on the growth of the Ontario life sciences sector and a significant contribution to Canada’s economic prosperity. TIAP is partially supported through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. For more information on TIAP, please visit tiap.ca.