New facility to make Ottawa a centre for medical device commercialization

The federal government is pledging millions of dollars toward a new facility aimed at making Ottawa a national hub for getting Canadian designed and produced medical devices to market.

The government announced Monday it will invest $14.9 million in the Medical Devices Commercialization Centre, which stems from the University of Ottawa’s Medical Devices Innovation Institute and will initially be housed at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

The not-for-profit centre’s mandate will be to help get medical devices to market quickly and efficiently by creating a collaborative network to remove roadblocks to commercialization for devices designed and produced in Canada.

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“With this national centre, Canada is well positioned to reap the benefits of the $335‐billion worldwide market for medical devices,” said professor Dr. Tofy Mussivand in a statement.

Dr. Mussivand, who also serves as director of the university’s Medical Devices Innovation Institute, said the centre will also stimulate innovation.

The university issued a release Monday saying the centre would assess “clinical need and market demand” to help develop new products while enhancing Canada’s performance in the multibillion-dollar global market.

“Research is about creating knowledge but also about putting this knowledge at work for Canadians,” the university’s vice-president, research, Dr. Mona Nemer said in a statement. “By bringing together key stakeholders from universities, colleges, hospitals, industry and government agencies, we can create incentives and remove barriers to the commercialization of medical devices.”

The government announced funding for four other commercialization centres, with a price tag of $68.1 million.

Ottawa will also be getting a Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks.

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