The search is on for candidates for Innovate Calgary’s Life Sciences Fellowship with support from Alberta Innovates and Calgary Economic Development. Each of the five new fellows will receive $200,000 to advance global health solutions in the city.
The Life Sciences Fellowship program provides experts in the sector with the opportunity to develop executive-level skills to launch and grow a startup, bringing their digital health or life sciences product or service to market. Experts and innovators from across the country are encouraged to apply by the Nov. 15 deadline.
A virtual information session about the program and eligibility criteria will be held Oct. 5, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Innovate Calgary, the innovation transfer and business incubator at the University of Calgary, operates the Life Sciences Innovation Hub (LSI Hub), which supports research-intensive companies to turn game-changing ideas into commercially-viable products and services, including access to funding, a state-of-the-art research facility, expertise and startup services.
Calgary is a hub for life sciences research with a commitment to growth and innovation in the sector outlined in the economic strategy Calgary in the New Economy. In 2019, the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund announced the University of Calgary will receive $8.5 million to support programming at the LSI Hub.
The LSI Hub space is a 127,000 square foot facility located in the University Research Park with 35,000 square feet of wet and dry lab space. Other world-class assets in the city include the International Microbiome Centre, one of the largest germ-free facilities in the world; the new Calgary Cancer Centre, the largest cancer centre in Canada and the second largest in North America; and Ward of the 21st Century, the only hospital “living lab” in Canada.
Calgary Economic Development’s Life Sciences Value Proposition and Competitiveness Study with KPMG identified four key subsectors as opportunities for growth in the city: diagnostics, digital health, oncology and microbiome solutions.
The digital transformation spend in Alberta’s life sciences and health sector is projected to be $1.3 billion by 2024, with $438 million directly in Calgary, growing at a compound annual rate of over 12 per cent.
For more information about life sciences in Calgary, visit our sector page and access our Life Sciences Fact Sheet.