SLC to Play Key Role in Building Health Innovation Ecosystem

Last week, FedDev Ontario announced an investment of $3 million for the City of Kingston in partnership with Queen’s University, St. Lawrence College, GreenCentre Canada, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, and Kingston Economic Development Corporation, to establish a health innovation ecosystem in the region.

The project, called HI YGK, will bring some of the region’s most notable post-secondary and health care institutions together to position Kingston as a place to develop, test, and commercialize innovative solutions for the health sector. This collaboration will leverage three technology development labs to support local R&D needs and establish new business advisory supports to help entrepreneurs and SMEs commercialize health innovations and scale up their companies.

At SLC, this investment will create opportunities for current students and graduates from our programs to support the local health sector to develop a living lab for health innovation. The work will help attract, grow, and develop businesses in our community.

The College has two areas of focus:

• Health Innovation Hub – In partnership with Dunin Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC), our students will identify challenges from frontline workers and create opportunities for students, faculty and community members to ideate and prototype solutions. Outcomes of this work will feed into other components of the larger investment (entrepreneurship, technology, development, etc.)
• Nudge Unit – SPARK will expand its services to include UX Design, Behavioural Science, and Business Analytics to provide scale-up services for health sector companies. For example, student may provide consumer research for a health tech company, a UX design review of web services for a health care provider, and more.  The goal is to work with health sector companies looking to grow and expand.

"St. Lawrence College is pleased to be a part of this initiative to foster innovation in Kingston’s healthcare sector," said Glenn Vollebregt, SLC President and CEO. "Our Health Sciences graduates have an exceptional reputation as professionals working in our local institutions, and we look forward to creating opportunities for our students in several disciplines to contribute to this partnership, which will have a positive impact not only on their practical education, but on the future of healthcare delivery in our community."
 
To learn more about SLC’s role in this partnership please contact Dr. John Conrad, Director, Innovation and Business Engagement at jconrad@sl.on.ca.