Medicen and partners organize 2nd edition of Franco-Québécois Forum for Health Innovation (FFQIS)

Paris and Montréal, March 21, 2018 – Medicen Paris Region, the leading health competitiveness cluster in Europe, today announces an event organized to strengthen Franco-Quebecois collaborations in the medical technology industry.

This second edition of the Franco-Québécois Forum for Health Innovation (FFQIS) is organized in collaboration with Aviesan, the French Alliance for Life Sciences and Health, MEDTEQ and Polytechnique Montréal alongside other French and Quebecois partners. It will take place at the Institute of Brain and Spinal Cord (ICM, Paris) on May 15 and 16. FFQIS will focus in particular on medical imaging, digital health, biomaterials and biomechanics. 200 people are expected to attend.

Open to all health professionals (researchers, clinicians, industry representatives, start-ups, SMEs and clusters); through round tables the forum will highlight the excellence of French and Quebec players and initiatives in order to identify areas of potential collaboration and better understand ecosystems in these three areas of strategic activity.

The province of Quebec has nearly 300 companies in the field of medical technologies, including health IT, which represents more than 11,500 jobs. In France, the medical technology market represents €19 billion ($23.3bn), with nearly 1,000 companies, 95% of which are SMEs, representing around 65,000 jobs.

Program for May 15 (8am-6:30pm):

• Sessions on diagnostic and interventional imaging and digital health
• B2B meetings
• Visit of the ICM platforms
• Cocktails and networking

Program for May 16 (8am-5pm):

• Musculoskeletal health, biomechanics and molecular biology
• Technological approaches, regenerative medicine and biomaterials
• Session of academic pitches
• Closing round table ‘Quebec: A Unique Health Innovation Ecosystem’
• Session of industrial pitches
• Closing round table ‘The French innovation system’

“This second edition of FFQIS is a great opportunity to accelerate the emergence of Franco-Quebecois collaborations on pre-qualified issues. Being able to organize it in Paris meets a double objective for our cluster: to set up long-term partnerships with Quebec that are mutually beneficial, and to reinforce the attractiveness of our Paris ecosystem in life sciences,” said Christian Lajoux, president of Medicen Paris Region.

“The aim of the first FFQIS Forum was to discuss, understand our two ecosystems and initiate dialogue between French and Quebecois academics and industrialists. This second forum will be an opportunity to strengthen these talks and build solid collaborations. We have set up a B2B meeting platform and planned visits in partnership with the science and innovation sector of Quebec’s Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation. We are eager to attend and to continue our support for the medtech sector’s innovative work,” says Diane Côté, MEDTEQ’s president and CEO.

In October 2016, the first edition of the Franco-Québécois Forum for Health Innovation, led by Aviesan, MEDTEQ and Polytechnique Montréal, was held in Montreal. It brought together nearly 250 participants, both professionals and students.

For more information and to register (until May 11)

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:

• Coordinate the strategic analysis, scientific programming and operational implementation of life and health science research
• Give a fresh boost to translational research by speeding up the transfer of fundamental knowledge to clinical application
• Increase cross-disciplinarity by opening up biology and medicine to contributions from mathematics, physics, chemistry, information technology, engineering sciences, human and social sciences
• Ensure that projects are consistent in thematic and infrastructure terms
• Carry out clinical, economic and social promotion of knowledge, particularly by facilitating industrial partnerships
• Define shared standpoints in terms of European research and international cooperation
• Harmonize and cut down on red tape for laboratories so as to free up the creativity and excellence of teams

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 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:

• Foster the emergence, development and funding of certified collaborative projects in the healthcare sector, in order to create economic value and jobs
• Increase the international development of innovative startups and SMEs
• Strengthen the attractiveness of the Paris region, which represents more than 50% of life sciences activity in France

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/