The Province is investing more than $5.3 million to help B.C. companies test made-in-B.C. health and life-sciences technologies in real-world settings, supporting innovation that could improve patient care while growing the province’s life-sciences sector.
Announced at Web Summit Vancouver, the funding is being delivered through the Integrated Marketplace’s Health Testbed, a program created by the Government of B.C. in partnership with Pacific Economic Development Canada.
The testbed is designed to help companies validate new technologies with health-care partners, reducing adoption risk while giving innovators a pathway to scale.
“At a time when our health-care system is under pressure, it’s critical that we work with B.C. businesses to find solutions made right here at home,” said Ravi Kahlon, B.C. Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth.
Kahlon said the program supports the Province’s Look West strategy by helping local companies test and scale health and life-sciences technologies in real-world settings, strengthening patient care and creating jobs in B.C.
Several Vancouver and B.C.-based companies are receiving funding through the Health Testbed.
Vancouver-based 3C Therapeutics and Variational AI will receive more than $823,000 to apply generative AI to drug discovery, with a focus on degrader-antibody conjugates for cancer treatment. The project aims to generate novel drug candidates more efficiently and improve the probability of success in the costly and time-consuming medicine development process.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with the amazing team at 3C Therapeutics to expand our Enki drug-discovery platform to the exciting degrader-antibody conjugate therapeutics space,” said Handol Kim, co-founder and CEO of Variational AI. “The support from Innovate BC’s Integrated Marketplace program is accelerating world-class capability with a 100% made-in-B.C. partnership.”
Providence Health Care Ventures and NZ Technologies will receive $350,000 to test HoverCore, an AI-powered human-machine interface platform that allows clinicians, patients and staff to control digital screens and shared systems using simple hand motions. The technology is designed to reduce contact with shared surfaces, improve access to information in sensitive environments and make hospital workflows more accessible and efficient.
“Hospitals are complex shared environments where access to clinical data and exposure risks with high-touch surfaces remain ongoing challenges,” said Nima Ziraknejad, founder and CEO of NZ Technologies.
The province is also investing $912,000 in an expanded digital pathology project involving Quartech, Daric Clouding Solutions, CGI and Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services. The work builds on a pilot launched in July 2024 and will focus on improving reliability across health authorities, adding new imaging tools and testing automated quality-control tools for pathology workflows.
Innovate BC President and CEO Peter Cowan said the Integrated Marketplace connects companies with health-care environments where they can demonstrate value while supporting the growth of the province’s innovation economy.
“Innovation in health care leads to better outcomes for patients and more support for health professionals,” Cowan said. “Through the Integrated Marketplace, we’re continuing to connect B.C. companies with real health-care environments where they can validate their technologies, reduce adoption risk and demonstrate value to the system.”
Created in 2023, the Integrated Marketplace is a demand-driven platform delivered by Innovate BC. It supports B.C. companies by helping them test, deploy and scale innovations in real-world environments while helping industry and public-sector partners adopt new technologies with less risk.
The initiative is part of B.C.’s Look West strategy, which aims to build a more resilient and independent economy by growing targeted sectors including technology, AI, quantum, life sciences, aerospace, marine, agriculture, mining and critical minerals.
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