It’s time to turn Innovation into Action
The 2025 Health-Tech Innovation Conference is not a typical event—it’s an unconference where participants roll up their sleeves to tackle Canada’s biggest health care procurement and funding challenges.
This collaborative working session brings together decision-makers, funders, clinicians, and innovators to break through bottlenecks and design practical, scalable solutions. Expect hands-on problem-solving, facilitated discussions, and strategy-building sessions that lead to real impact in Canadian healthcare.
Unconventional, Hands-On Problem-Solving:
This is a working session, not a conference—participants will debate, strategize, and co-create solutions.
- Collaborative Deep Dives – Engage in structured debates and workshops tackling procurement and funding challenges.
- Working Sessions, Not Panels – Small groups will actively design solutions, not just discuss them.
- Actionable Outcomes – Leave with a framework for scaling innovation and a clear path forward.
In partnership with
Venue
BCIT Downtown Campus
555 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC V6B 3H6
At the BCIT Downtown Campus, located in the heart of Vancouver, conveniently near public transit, including the SkyTrain and Granville Transit Corridor.
Voted as one of the world’s top 50 ‘smart’ buildings, the Downtown Campus boasts:
- Eight stories of floor-to-ceiling windows
- Industry-leading telecommunications and information technology systems
- A massive floor-to-ceiling video wall that transforms presentations into breathtaking multimedia experiences
- The state-of-the-art Technology Education and Collaboration (TEC) Hub, an innovative IT learning space.
- On-site paid parking
Where to stay
We are setting aside room blocks at one of these hotels: Pan Pacific Hotel, The Exchange Hotel, Hotel Le Soleil and the Parker Hotel. Contact them for booking details, using the code BCIT.
Agenda
April 23
Day 1 (PM)
Tackling Healthcare Commercialization Challenges Head-On
Why is Canadian health care stuck in pilot mode, and how do we break through to scale? This session will identify where the system works, where it fails, and how we can turn health care into a hot-spot of Canadian commercialization.
During this time, we will address risk aversion, misaligned incentives, and adoption hurdles. By the end, we’ll have a clearer map of what needs to change and a shared foundation for action.
April 24
Day 2 (AM)
Unlocking Capital to Drive Innovation
We move beyond identifying funding gaps to designing solutions. Why do funding models struggle to support entrepreneurs at critical stages, and how can we build smarter funding pathways?
We’ll explore how traditional funds, venture philanthropy, and VC strategies can work together to sustain funding through to hospital adoption and scale. We’ll map out first targets, risks, and long-term strategies to ensure funding keeps health care commercialization moving.
April 24
Day 2 (PM)
From Ideas to Action
How do we turn procurement into a tool for innovation instead of a roadblock? How do we ensure successful pilots don’t stall but become system-wide solutions?
We’ll start developing a national framework for modernizing procurement—one that aligns incentives and streamlines adoption. While we won’t solve everything, we’ll lay the groundwork for an actionable strategy that decision-makers can build on.
This is about transforming procurement from an anchor to an engine—let’s make it happen.
FAQ
Here are the overall learning objectives for the conference.
1) Evaluate procurement and funding barriers within the Canadian healthcare system and identify their impact on scaling healthcare innovation.
2) Implement a Playbook for how to adopt and scale new processes and technologies.
3) Recognize and classify barriers to health-tech innovation so that regional/national patterns and solutions may be identified
This is further broken down in our agenda, as follows:
Day 1 Afternoon
FROM PILOTS TO SCALE SESSION OBJECTIVES
Analyze distorted risk-reward calculations in healthcare procurement and develop strategies to mitigate these challenges.
Design strategies for managing perceived and real conflicts of interest in procurement.
Compile the key solutions needed to improve procurement processes.
Formulate a strategy for scaling successful pilot projects
Day 2 Morning
SCALING FUNDING
Demonstrate how venture philanthropy can be leveraged to accelerate system change
With regard to in clinician-led innovation and propose improvements, distinguish conflict of interest (COI) myths from empirical cases.
Develop a framework for ethically leveraging public healthcare assets to drive innovation, identifying at least three safeguards to ensure ethical, safe, and transparent value extraction.
Determine how different models of stacked funding (venture capital, government grants, and philanthropy) can be integrated effectively while adhering to funding best practices.
Day 2 Afternoon
PROCUREMENT AS AN ENGINE
Develop the first draft of a structured playbook for accelerating the adoption of innovative healthcare technologies by identifying key implementation strategies.
Make use of professional collaborations for implementing improvements in the ecosystem.
Design a conceptual framework for a public-facing virtual collaboration platform that includes core functionalities to support innovators and healthcare administrators.
Your registration fee includes access to all conference sessions, keynote presentations, networking events, conference materials. It also includes meals and refreshments during the conference (Wednesday April 23 noon – 4pm, Thursday April 24 8am-4pm).
Registration can be accessed via our website’s “Register” option and will stay open until 11:59pm April 19th.
Yes – if you do not see it, please check your spam or junk folder. If you still cannot find your confirmation email, please email us at innovation@cheo.on.ca and we will resend it to you.
Tickets can be cancelled through our booking system. If cancelling by 11:59pm March 24th, a full refund will be issued. Refunds cannot be granted after this time.
You can pay by debit, credit or PayPal.
Yes. Email us at innovation@cheo.on.ca with the name and email of the person the registration is being transferred to. Transfers must be requested by 11:59pm April 21st.
You will have an opportunity during the registration process to indicate any special accommodations (accessibility, dietary restrictions, etc.). We will do our best to accommodate your needs.
If you are planning to bring three or more people, we welcome you emailing us about this at innovation@cheo.on.ca
Sponsors
To inquire about sponsorship opportunities please contact fahmed@lhslabs.com.