Innovation ecosystems investments
Through our innovation mindset, we advance high-impact, cutting-edge initiatives while serving as a catalyst for health innovation.
The Canadian outlook
The Canadian life sciences sector is an essential contributor to Canada’s innovation economy, bringing together science, research and development (R&D) and technology-based products and services to improve human, animal and planetary health. Recent investments by the government continue to fuel its growth and potential.
Life sciences sector impact
>$640B contribution to Canada’s GDP in 2019.
200,000 people employed in 12,000 organizations.
>200,000 STEM and healthcare graduates in 2019 (15% increase from 2015).
Strategic investment in life sciences sector
- Canadian innovations lead in the prevention and treatment of disease, allowing Canada to participate in strategic international partnerships and alliances.
- Canada made significant financial investments in key life sciences areas, including $1.2B to rebuild Canada’s vaccine, therapeutics and biomanufacturing capacity.
- Canada’s Economic Strategy Tables anticipate the health and bioscience sector will double by 2025 to become a top three global hub.
Biopharmaceutical contributions
The pharmaceutical industry has played a significant role in the growth and sustainability of
Canada's life sciences and innovation sector. The contribution of biopharmaceutical
companies in Canada is crucial to driving research and discovery, nurturing talent, building
capacity, and providing innovative medicines to Canadians.
Driving research and discovery | Pharmaceutical companies advance internal R&D efforts and partner with academic institutions to drive research and discovery. |
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Nurturing talent and building capacity | Pharmaceutical companies employ highly-skilled personnel, train the next generation of life science leaders, and create an ecosystem to nurture talent and ideas. | |
Bringing innovative medicines | Pharmaceutical companies conduct clinical trials in Canada that enable early access to innovative medicines and create a foundation for Canadians' future uptake of these drugs. |
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The innovation mindset
We foster a healthy and collaborative learning environment that empowers employees to acquire and apply knowledge and skills innovatively. We are firmly committed to nurturing talent and equipping our team with the expertise and resources to drive healthcare innovation and change.
Approach
Beginning In 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim Canada piloted an innovation Incubator—designed as an internal knowledge engine enabled to provide resources, share knowledge and give the employees the freedom to innovate and advance ideas in areas of importance to the health and the wellbeing of Canadians and the life sciences ecosystem.
After experiencing some success with a blockchain project (IBM collaboration on blockchain technology for clinical trials), Boehringer Ingelheim Incubator explored digital therapeutics and AI before being absorbed into on-going innovation efforts throughout the organization.
Outcomes and impact:
New health-focused pilot project
- At least four out of five pilot projects were inspired and advanced, with several focused on digital therapeutics and AI for disease diagnostics.
Enhanced knowledge transfer across teams
- As sector leaders in digital healthcare innovation, Boehringer Ingelheim shares knowledge and expertise through partnerships with governments, healthcare organizations and start-ups.
“The goal of the Incubator is not about business growth or therapeutic areas, but to educate and expand the knowledge of our employees and foster a culture of innovation.”
Healthcare Affairs
Solutions
Partnering for progress
We are focused on driving health innovation by establishing long-term partnerships and investing in capacity-building initiatives across the health research and innovation ecosystem. Our strategic investments have the potential to bring about significant changes and impact, contributing to health system transformation in Canada.
Boehringer Ingelheim strategic investments
- Partnering with industry to provide $1.3M over six years in matched funding with MITACS—a national, not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada. We are helping support 156 Masters and PhD students with skills training and international experience in financial/blockchain technology.
- We funded interventional cardiology equipment at the Veterinary Centre of Excellence in Montreal to help advance animal health by promoting minimally invasive procedures and veterinary training.
Our approach to engagement focuses on creating meaningful relationships and working with partners to help advance their ideas and bring innovative solutions to the market.
We are working with forward-thinking Canadian start-ups to advance digital innovations and empower care pathways to achieve health impact.
- Boehringer Ingelheim formed a five-year strategic partnership with the Vector Institute to explore potential AI-enabled smart solutions as digital therapeutics.
- Boehringer Ingelheim has offered in-kind guidance and expertise to Seamless MD—a leading digital care journey platform for hospitals and health systems—to broaden its post-surgical care platform into rare idiopathic lung disease.
We collaborated with William Osler Health System—a hospital network in Ontario—to create novel clinical pathways for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes and heart failure. These were shared with Scarborough Health Network and others to serve as frameworks to guide their customized clinical pathways to meet their regional health needs.
“At Boehringer Ingelheim Canada, we’re trying to support and promote digital solutions by creating a space for them to evolve and thrive.”
Manager
Approach
We partnered with MEDTEQ+, Greybox Solutions Inc. and the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) and the CHUM Research Centre to form CONTINUUM—a research collaboration to provide remote management for patients with heart failure and comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes, and equip healthcare professionals with digital tools to optimize treatment plans, redefining how complex patients are managed.
MEDTEQ+ : a pan-Canadian consortium for industrial research and innovation in healthcare technologies, aims to accelerate the development of innovative technological solutions to improve people’s health and quality of life.
Greybox Solutions Inc : a Montreal-based healthcare technology company and a pioneer in the development of Digital Therapies (DTx), integrating a multitude of technologies within its Takecare platform.
Outcomes and impact:
Patient outcomes
CONTINUUM demonstrated an improved quality of life in patients who engage in the platform and increase their self-management.
Demonstrated a clinically significant impact in hospitalization and emergency visits.
Accelerated start-up growth
Through this partnership, Greybox Solutions expanded their service and therapeutic development to include other disease such as heart disease, lung disease, mental health and newborn care, and more.
Support for digital innovations in healthcare
The clinical impact demonstrated true benefit to the Québec’s Health system with a reduction of 23 % of cost savings.
In fall 2023, the CONTINUUM partnership was awarded MEDTEQ+ RSI prize for the most innovative solutions in healthcare by the Québec government at the ADRIQ innovation gala in Quebec.
“We see a triple bottom line, meaning we see 1) better outcomes for the patient, 2) better innovation development within Quebec and 3) job creation through those innovations as we deliver an energy into the digital innovation space.”
Affairs Solutions