Ideation → First revenue · Bridges
Incubator
For clinicians, researchers and early-stage health tech founders. Typically a pre-revenue company.
The CORE Incubator helps you turn a health innovation into a product the health system will adopt. We work with you from TRL 2 to TRL 8 on the evidence, validation, funding and hospital connections that adoption requires.
Start with a four-week Health Technology Analysis, then continue into four months of tailored 1:1 support.
Now open2026 Call for Innovation: mental health solutions. Applications close October 11, 2026.See the Call for Innovation →“Most great health ideas never leave the clinic, not because they're wrong, but because no one helps early, when it matters most.”
How it works
Every health technology venture follows a unique path.
The Health Technology Analysis serves as the starting point to the Core Incubator, helping identify priorities, opportunities, and next steps. From there, support is tailored to your specific stage, goals, and challenges.
Step 1
Health Technology Analysis
4 weeks · $950
A structured assessment that identifies your greatest opportunities, key commercialization risks, and highest-impact next steps.
See what's involved →Step 2
In-Depth Support
4 months · $5,000
A dedicated engagement lead and network of domain experts that provide guidance and expertise to help you reach key milestones. Not every company moves on to this stage — entry depends on fit and readiness.
See what's involved →Step 3
Scaling Support
Scoped to the work
As you grow, we keep supporting you through adoption, partnerships, implementation, and scale through our wider ecosystem of partners.
See Adoption & Scaling →
Open at any stage
Open at any stage, stay connected to the ecosystem through updates, event invitations and more.
Practical education on commercialization, funding, evidence generation, adoption, and more.
The starting point
Health Technology Analysis
4 Weeks · $950 · Strategic Sessions
A Health Technology Analysis (HTA) is more than an assessment. It's a strategic service designed to help health innovators make informed decisions and prioritize the actions that matter most.
Through a structured review of your technology, market opportunity, customer needs, commercialization strategy, adoption pathway, and growth objectives, we identify the opportunities and challenges most likely to influence your success.
You'll leave with:
- A clear understanding of your commercialization readiness
- Strategic recommendations tailored to your stage and goals
- Actionable next steps to reduce risk and accelerate progress
Whether you're validating an early concept or planning your next stage of growth, the HTA provides the clarity needed to move forward with confidence.
Connect with CORE Innovation →Where the work happens
In-Depth Support
4 Months · $5,000 · Tailored 1:1 Coaching in Your Most Critical Areas
The Core Incubator is designed for health innovators who are ready to take the next step toward commercialization and adoption.
Rather than forcing companies into a predefined curriculum, we build tailored engagements around the milestones that matter most to your business, based on the results of your Health Technology Analysis.
Working alongside a dedicated engagement lead, you'll gain access to specialized expertise in areas such as commercialization, product strategy, healthcare adoption, customer discovery, funding, procurement, market access, and implementation.
Wherever you are, we meet you there.
- I have a prototype, but I'm not sure what to do next.
- I've received regulatory approval, but I don't know how to get adopted in health care.
- A health care organization has purchased my solution, but I need a go-to-market plan to scale.
- I have early traction, but I'm not sure what I need to prove before raising capital or expanding.
The result is practical, milestone-driven support designed to help companies make informed decisions and advance toward their goals.
Potential Focus Areas
Market Validation & Opportunity Assessment
Evaluate market size, unmet needs, competitive dynamics, and market opportunities to inform strategic positioning, differentiation, and evidence-based decision-making.
Problem, Customer & Stakeholder Discovery
Validate the problem, understand customer and stakeholder needs, assess clinical workflows, identify decision-makers, and uncover adoption barriers, buying behaviours, and priorities that influence success.
Product & Technical Readiness
Define the product vision, validate technical feasibility, prioritize development activities, and build an MVP and roadmap aligned with customer, market, and organizational priorities.
Go-To-Market & Commercialization Strategy
Develop revenue models, pricing strategies, customer acquisition plans, partnership approaches, and commercialization pathways to support sustainable growth and market entry.
Funding & Capital Readiness
Build a funding strategy that includes grants, non-dilutive funding opportunities, capital planning, financial forecasting, and investor readiness to support growth and scaling.
Health System Navigation
Prepare for successful implementation by understanding procurement and approval pathways, privacy and security expectations, pilot design, stakeholder alignment, evidence generation, and adoption planning.
Open at any stage
Ecosystem Membership
Not every innovator requires intensive support, but everyone benefits from being connected to the right ecosystem. The Ecosystem Membership provides founders, researchers, clinicians, and innovators with access to opportunities, connections, and resources that can help accelerate progress.
Members receive:
- Invitations to workshops, showcases, and networking events
- Ecosystem updates and opportunities
- Ongoing access to the CORE Innovation community
Whether you're just beginning your journey or preparing for your next milestone, the Ecosystem Membership keeps you connected to the people and opportunities that matter.
Register your interest →Open at any stage
Learning Series
Commercializing health technology requires knowledge across multiple disciplines. Our Learning Series provides practical education on the topics that matter most. Designed specifically for health innovators, each session focuses on translating knowledge into action.
- Customer discovery and market validation
- Healthcare commercialization
- Funding and investment readiness
- Evidence generation and health economics
- Regulatory and adoption strategy
- Procurement and healthcare sales
- Change management and implementation
Who we support
Built for Canadian health innovators
We support Canadian innovators developing digital health solutions and medical devices (Class I and Class II) across the early stages of commercialization, typically from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2 to TRL 8.
One program, tailored to where you're starting.
Researchers & Inventors
You have a promising technology in the lab.
Clinician Innovators
You've seen a problem at the bedside and have an idea to fix it.
Early-Stage Health Technology Startups
You've formed a company and need your first customer.
Whether you're still shaping the idea, starting to test it, or hunting for your first customer, we meet you where you are.
Why CORE Innovation
Most innovation programs specialize in either entrepreneurship or healthcare. We bring both together.
CORE Innovation combines deep healthcare expertise with practical commercialization experience to help innovators navigate one of the world's most challenging markets.
A Single Partner Across the Innovation Journey
Access the expertise, resources, and relationships you need through one connected partner, rather than navigating multiple disconnected programs.
Expertise That Adapts With You
As your company evolves, so does the support you receive. Our multidisciplinary team and network of advisors provide targeted guidance when and where it matters most.
Built for Healthcare
From clinical workflows and procurement pathways to market strategy and adoption planning, everything we do is designed specifically for health technology innovators.
Founder spotlight
“A game-changer, it connected me with a community of like-minded innovators who truly understood the journey.”
Konain Qurban
Founder, Axon Health
“The whole program has helped me look at it from a higher level: what am I actually after, and how do I go and get that?”
“It's what everybody in our position needs.”
“The program was immensely helpful to our efforts in understanding and diving into the healthcare sector. Access to experts in the field representing entrepreneurs, ideal customers and mentors expanded our understanding of the underlying pains behind lacking healthcare workforce readiness and helped us crystallize how we should solve it.”
Beyond first revenue: CORE Innovation supports ventures across the full lifecycle. Once you have revenue, Adoption & Scaling carries you into hospital adoption and scale, and Research runs alongside both whenever you need clinical evidence.
Ready to move your health innovation forward?
Move forward with clarity, confidence, and a strategy designed for healthcare.