Calgary’s health and life sciences sector has experienced tremendous growth, with over 120 companies developing innovative solutions in human, animal, and environmental health. Driven by emerging local companies and highly skilled talent, this dynamic sector offers an opportunity to create products and services for global markets.
Home to Canada’s largest comprehensive cancer center, a provincially integrated clinical information system, the world’s largest germfree facility, and world-renowned research and clinical programs in neurology, oncology, microbiome, and biomechanics, Calgary is quickly becoming a hub for research and innovation.
Leading the way
Calgary is home to over 120 life sciences companies, from startups to established publicly traded firms, developing solutions ranging from bioabsorbable brain stents and nanomedicine to cancer therapies, animal health, digital health tools, and mRNA therapeutics. Calgary is leading the way in addressing global health issues.
Driven to create the future of health
Calgary is home to world-class research and treatment facilities.
Alberta Children’s Hospital
The Alberta Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s hospital in the prairie provinces, driving innovation in pediatrics.
Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre
The Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre (Arthur Child) is the largest cancer treatment and research facility in Canada and the second largest in North America, offering multidisciplinary care and access to a full range of services. Opened in October 2024, it spans 1.3 million square feet, with 160 inpatient beds.
The Athur Child features 110,000 square feet of dedicated research space, including five wet labs and additional dry lab areas, and is home to the new Riddell Centre for Cancer Immunotherapy. The Arthur Child integrates research across the entire cancer care spectrum, focusing on prevention, early detection, precision medicine, and psychosocial care.
The Arthur Child Centre is establishing Calgary as a global leader in immunotherapy and precision oncology, advancing more effective, personalized treatments, expanding access to clinical trials, and attracting world-renowned researchers to Alberta.
Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary
University of Calgary’s medical school, focused on research and innovation in medical sciences. The school conducts life and medical sciences research across 7 research institute: Alberta Children’s Hopsital Research Institution, Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute, Synder Institute for Chronic Diseases, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, O’Brien Institute for Public Health, Libin Cardiovascular Institute, and McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health.
Significant investments have been made in platforms areas of precision imaging, microbiome, genomics, informatics and clinical trials.
The University of Calgary is a top 5 research university in Canada for sponsored research funding and is leading innovation in precision oncology, precision diagnostics, biomedical engineering, microbiome and neuroscience.
Clinical Trials
24 per cent of Canadian trials are conducted in Alberta. The province has more than 850 trial sites with HQP, REB Exchange for multisite trials and a patient engagement platform.
There are several organizations and entities support clinical studies:
CaRe Clinic collaborates with academic centers and pharmaceutical companies to advance new treatments, focusing on areas such as women’s health, dermatology, general medicine, vaccines, infectious diseases, and migraine treatments.
The Calgary Centre for Clinical Research (CCCR) offers support and resources for industry-sponsored research projects.
IMPACT supports startups in conducting clinical trials and securing regulatory approvals.
W21C research team and living laboratory conducts health systems research for new technologies, prototypical hospital design, novel approaches to health care delivery, and human factors research.
Canadian Sport Institute - Product Testing Lab
The Sport Product Testing Lab provides meaningful and relevant insights to help companies develop accurate and usable products for their customers and operates within the Canadian Sport Institute Alberta.
The Canadian Sport Institute Alberta is equipped with sophisticated testing labs, athletes, and sport science experts, and has worked with some of the largest sports and fitness brands in the world.
International Microbiome Centre
This research centre is designed to investigate the microbiome of humans, plants, animals and the physical environment using the world’s largest germ-free facility, real-time imaging and advanced genomics and metabolomics platforms.
Calgary's life sciences ecosystem
Learn how our unique strengths are positioning Calgary at the forefront of a thriving life sciences ecosystem.
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Growing Calgary’s Life Sciences Ecosystem
The Life Sciences Innovation Hub
The Life Sciences Innovation Hub at the University of Calgary supports research-intensive companies to deliver commercially-viable products and services to market by providing access to infrastructure, expertise and startup services. It features 35,000 square feet of wet and dry lab space, access to equipment, and trained technicians and equipment calibration.
View WebsiteBiohubx
Biohubx is a not-for-profit entity that provides mentorship, resources and space to create a supportive environment for scaling health ventures while providing a de-risked landing place for companies seeking to enter the North American Market.
View WebsiteIMPACT Clinical Trials Accelerator
IMPACT is a program for new ventures in the life sciences or biomedical industries who seek to commercialize their health-related inventions, conduct clinical trials and secure regulatory approval. IMPACT is the most efficient and cost-effective research experience on the challenging path to commercialization of health innovations.
Visit WebsiteCreative Destruction Labs (CDL)
CDL is a global startup program for seed-stage, science-based companies. It utilizes an objective-driven mentoring process. CDL-Rockies, located at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, brings together some of the region’s most experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists from diverse fields, including energy, healthcare, software and hardware, and AgTech.
Visit websitePlug & Play Alberta
Plug & Play is an innovation platform supporting Alberta's entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses, hiring tech talent, and driving digital transformation. One of Plug & Play Alberta’s areas of focus is on digital health technologies that challenge clinical practices, improve data analytics, and enhance the patient journey throughout the continuum of care.
Visit websitePlatform Calgary
Platform Calgary is a non-profit, member-based organization that brings together the resources of Calgary's tech ecosystem to help startups launch and grow.
Visit websiteCalgary is an opportunity-rich city.
Our interactive investment map highlights the foreign direct investment (FDI) that has taken place in the Calgary area over the past 6 years.
Explore Investment in Calgary
Diagnostics
Alberta’s global metabolomics leadership, business culture, and consolidated healthcare delivery offer an unprecedented opportunity to support a vibrant precision diagnostic industry. Alberta has distinct advantages including a single health authority and the largest fully integrated health system in Canada. Strategic clinical networks to drive innovation and its implementation across the health system, advanced and comprehensive health information systems and database assets and world-leading clinical, methodological and analytic expertise.
Alberta Precision Exchange
APEX provides the framework to leverage the unique health resources available in Alberta. This unique healthcare environment can accelerate and streamline the development of new diagnostic technologies by uniting geographically distinct foci of expertise in translational research, business development and healthcare innovation around the common goal of precision health.
View WebsiteALBERTA CENTRE FOR ADVANCED DIAGNOSTICS & ADEPT
Access to biological samples, clinical data, clinical expertise, and regulatory support to enable the development and adoption of clinical diagnostic technologies.
View WebsiteDigital health & medical devices
Calgary’s industry presence of companies developing digital health, health IT, and medical devices is strong with companies in these two categories representing over 60% of the number of organizations in the Calgary life sciences ecosystem. With the demand higher than ever for efficient delivery of healthcare services, Calgary is well positioned to seize the emerging opportunities in the global healthcare industry.
Health Analytics
In 2017, Alberta became the first province to institute a province-wide electronic health record system.
Visit WebsiteAlberta Real World Evidence Consortium
The Consortium facilitates basic to highly complex RWE studies, generating a wide range of evidence including incidence and prevalence of disease in specific populations, treatment patterns including sequencing, adherence, and persistence, safety monitoring, as well as comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
View WebsiteOncology
With Canada’s largest cancer center fully operational in 2024, Calgary is well positioned to be a global leader in research and innovation in cancer diagnosis, treatment and care delivery.
Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre
The Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre is the largest cancer treatment and research facility in Canada and the second largest in North America, offering multidisciplinary care and access to a full range of services. Opened in October 2024, it features 160 inpatient beds, and more than 9,200 square meters dedicated to research.
Located at the Foothills Medical Centre, the facility will expand cancer care capacity in Southern Alberta by consolidating and enhancing existing services to support integrated, comprehensive cancer care.
Big Data in Oncology
Much like Canada's natural resources, health data needs to be mined, refined, and put into a form to be used practically in day-to-day situations. While the fuel stores in Alberta are finite, the abundance of health data and application of that data for payers, health policy decisions and evidence generation are limitless.
Alberta Cancer Registry
The ACR contains information on patients diagnosed or treated in Alberta. Data collected includes demographic, initial treatment, mortality and tumour information. The information based on initial diagnosis and treatment within one year after diagnosis. Treatment data focuses on the occurrence of surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
View WebsiteAlberta Cancer Research BioBank
The ACRB collects biological materials from participants as well as cancer-related clinical data. The Open Access Biobank holds donations from over 23,000 participants representing 40 different cancer types. Clinical data is available for all samples and extensive clinical annotations exist for some tumor types.
View WebsitePrecision Oncology and Experimental Therapeutics
With diagnostic tools that are increasingly discerning and biomarkers that reveal the true nature of each cancer, oncologists can provide patients with tailored therapies, increasing the likelihood of benefit, while avoiding ineffective drugs that may have side effects. One of only three centers of its kind globally, POET is bringing the latest ground-breaking research in the cancer field to Calgary with the integration of microbiome research. Coordinated with the addition of metabolomics, genomics and proteomics, the POET program will lead to a higher degree of personalized cancer care.
View WebsiteTeam Calgary partners
Want to learn more? Get in touch
Contact
Lin Tang
Business Development Manager, Life Sciences
