INOVAIT opens Pilot Fund program to support Canadian image-guided therapy and artificial intelligence projects

TORONTO, Jan. 16, 2025 /CNW/ - INOVAIT, the Canadian image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) network, is opening a call for applications for its Pilot Fund. The INOVAIT Pilot Fund is a reimbursement-based funding program to support collaborative research and development (R&D) projects that apply AI, machine learning, or big data to IGT technologies.

The Pilot Fund aims to help initiate the most promising IGT-AI projects to help improve patient outcomes and fuel economic development in Canada. This funding supports short-term IGT-AI commercialization-oriented R&D projects. Applying organizations can request up to $150,000 of non-dilutive investment, with INOVAIT contributing up to one-third of eligible supported costs in reimbursement funding.

To date, the INOVAIT Pilot Fund has committed just under $8M to support 65 IGT-AI projects across the country. Pilot Fund projects are selected based on their ability to demonstrate exceptional scientific, clinical, and technical merit, and their potential for high commercialization and economic impact.

"The INOVAIT Pilot Fund is a proven medtech advancement program that accelerates the commercialization of Canada's most innovative and impactful medical technologies," states Kullervo Hynynen, Co-Executive Director of INOVAIT. "With each new round of the Pilot Fund, our enthusiasm grows as we discover and support groundbreaking medical technologies emerging from Canada's leading companies, hospitals and universities."

Funding for INOVAIT is provided through the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund.

This competition is open to Canadian corporations, academic institutions, hospitals, and not-for-profit organizations. To learn more about this funding opportunity, visit www.inovait.ca/funding. 

Interested applicants can apply by registering with the INOVAIT Funding Portal at http://inovait.smartsimple.ca. Interested parties must submit their proposal through this portal between February 5, 2025, and April 2, 2025.

INOVAIT will host an online information session on February 12, 2025, at 2:30 pm Eastern Standard Time. Interested applicants are encouraged to register for this webinar to learn more about this unique funding opportunity. You can register for the webinar at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HXlB_VMZRkaR7VsrFCH7EQ.

The live webinar will be hosted in English only. A recording, with both English and French captioning, will be available after the webinar at https://www.youtube.com/@INOVAITCanada.

About INOVAIT

INOVAIT is Canada's image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) membership network. INOVAIT supports Canadian IGT companies and academic institutions to develop and commercialize cutting-edge IGT technologies enhanced by AI. Through funding, networking, and training, the network builds upon Canada's strength in digital innovation, biomedical engineering, and clinical research to collaboratively assemble a critical mass of world-leading Canadian IGT companies and technologies. INOVAIT was established in 2020 by Sunnybrook Research Institute. INOVAIT is supported by the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund.

About Sunnybrook Research Institute

Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) is the research arm of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, an internationally recognized academic health sciences centre fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. With well-established programs in basic and applied sciences which span across three scientific platforms and ten clinical programs, SRI is developing innovations in care for the more than 1.3 million patients the hospital cares for annually.

SOURCE INOVAIT