Franco-Quebecois Forum for Health Innovation: successful 2nd edition strengthens international partnerships

In total, close to 150 participants from France and Quebec (Canada), as well as from other Francophone countries such as Belgium, Switzerland and Algeria, assembled at the Institute of the Brain and the Spinal Cord (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, ICM) for two days full of opportunities to exchange information and meet other participants.

Six thematic roundtables were organized in two streams (one French, one Quebecois) to discuss the approaches and opinions of industry, academia and clinicians on the two respective health innovation ecosystems.

Close to 100 B2B meetings took place over the two days, maximizing opportunities to form partnerships, in particular for the thirty-strong Quebecois delegation.

Two site visits were also organized for participants, with trips to the ICM’s CENIR (Center for NeuroImaging Research) platform and Fab Lab.

The Ministry for Economy, Science and Innovation, with the assistance of the General Delegation of Québec in Paris and the Medicen Paris Region cluster set up a week-long complementary program. This allowed the Quebecois participants to talk in more detail with both French and Quebecois stakeholders from the medical technology sector. The attendees met with representatives from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris university hospital trust, and visited NeuroSpin, a research center for innovation in cerebral imaging and the Curie Institute, one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.

“We would like to highlight the involvement of our partners and the exceptional efforts by all the Quebecois stakeholders who contributed greatly to the success of this second edition. Going forward, the focus needs to be on making these projects a reality,” said Christian Lajoux, president of Medicen Paris Region.

“The FFQIS II was incredible! The participants shared their knowledge, explored the strengths of our two ecosystems and discussed mutually beneficial collaborations. This second edition was a great success. Together with Polytechnique Montréal and the TransMedTech Institute, MEDTEQ is already working on a third Franco-Quebec meeting that will take place in Montreal next year,” said Diane Côté, CEO at MEDTEQ.

About Aviesan
Aviesan, the national alliance for life sciences and health, was created in April 2009 from the desire to increase the performance of French research, promoting its consistency, creativity and excellence. The purpose of Aviesan is to:

www.aviesan.fr

About MEDTEQ
MEDTEQ is the Quebec Consortium for Industrial Research and Innovation in Medical Technology. Its mission is to accelerate the development of innovative technological solutions to improve patients’ health and quality of life. MEDTEQ supports their validation and integration in the healthcare system and their impact, both locally and globally, by bringing together the complementary skills of industrial and academic partners with those of healthcare providers.
www.medteq.ca

About TransMedTech
The TransMedTech Institute in Montreal is a living lab that supports the accelerated development of next-generation medical technology applied to three major groups of diseases (cancer, cardiovascular illnesses and musculoskeletal disorders) with the aim of facilitating their adoption in the healthcare sector. Its living lab approach puts the focus on transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborative research, open innovation and co-creation. Created in the fall of 2016, TransMedTech was born out of an initiative led by Polytechnique Montréal in partnership with the Sainte-Justine University Hospital, Montréal University Hospital (CHUM) and the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal. It is supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the Ministry of the Economy, Science and Innovation of Québec and the Fonds de recherche du Québec, as well as many other government, philanthropic, socio-economic and industry partners.
www.transmedtech.org

About Medicen Paris Region
Medicen Paris Region is a competitiveness cluster for innovative health technologies, with national and international scope. With more than 300 companies, research centers, universities, hospitals and local authorities as members, it aims to position the Paris region as Europe’s leading healthcare cluster. It focuses on five strategic areas: biological diagnostics, diagnostic and interventional imaging, regenerative medicine and biomaterials, digital health and translational medicine. In close collaboration with local, regional and national healthcare innovation players, Medicen Paris Region aims to:

Since the creation of the cluster in 2005, 62 innovative products have been launched in the imaging, medical devices and biological tools sectors. The cluster has certified 292 projects. They received funding from the French government (French Inter-Ministry Fund FUI, Structuring Projects fund), the public investment bank Bpifrance, the National Research Agency, the European Regional Development Fund, the Investments for the Future program and/or local authorities, and the Paris region. Total investment is close to €1.9 billion ($2.3bn) and €533 million ($635M) of public aid.
www.medicen.org