MONTREAL, July 17, 2018 – The MEDTEQ Industrial Consortium for Research and Innovation in Medical Technologies, and Biovalley France (ex Alsace BioValley), Pôle de compétitivité Santé du Grand Est, announce the launch of a Call for Expression of Interest (CEI) aimed at developing innovative projects between players from the Far East of France and Quebec. The CEI concerns robotics, artificial intelligence and simulation. The projects selected will benefit from strong support and referral to the financial partners’ mechanisms.

 

Context of the CEI

Quebec and the Grand Est region of France have a strong historical relationship.  Among the many partnership initiatives aimed at developing health innovation in the two territories, in addition to the partnership between MEDTEQ and Alsace BioValley initiated in 2017, we can cite the Forum Franco-Québécois d’Innovations en Santé (FFQIS), or the Hacking Health Camp.

Together, the two territories are at the forefront of global innovation in medical technology. However, their resources, expertise and specific know-how are different and complementary. The potential synergies between companies and laboratories in the two territories are therefore considerable.

Presentation and targets of the CEI

The CEI launched aims to promote Franco-Canadian partnerships around 3 themes:

• Robotics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Simulation and VR/AR/MR

The projects presented on these 3 themes should concern one of the following fields of application:

• Telemedicine: teleconsultation, patient follow-up at home…
• Training: innovative tools for training doctors, surgeons, patients…
• The operating theatre: medical robotics, imaging…
• Predictive and personalized medicine: diagnostic tools, tools to help monitor medication intake, neurological diseases…

The projects submitted must be led by an Innovative SME established in Quebec or in the Far East of France, bring together industrial and academic partners from both territories and aim to develop products or services with strong commercial potential within a maximum horizon of 5 years.

Process of the CEI

A call for applications is open until 15 September to allow companies to present their project and partnership expectations (you will find the form here). MEDTEQ and Alsace BioValley will make a selection by evaluating the degree of innovation of the projects, the capacity of the companies to support them and the partnership needs. They then identify actors in the partner territory with the required skills to enable the formation of consortia.

As of October 15, the Franco-Quebec consortia thus created will finalize their files which will be evaluated jointly by MEDTEQ and Alsace BioValley, in order to guarantee the solidity of the projects and allow access to public funding.

The CEI is supported by MEDTEQ and National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Quebec partners will have access to funding provided by MEDTEQ and/or the NRC, as well as any other relevant funding. French partners will be able to access regional, national and European funding (Eurostar) via Bpifrance.

“This joint call for expressions of interest is a concrete example of the application of the agreement set up between Alsace BioValley and MEDTEQ in 2017. The aim of this initiative is to forge links between the two ecosystems and to support value-added innovations that can be developed through field-based collaborations. Over the long term, it will facilitate Quebec and European companies’ access to international markets. ” – Diane Côté, CEO of MEDTEQ.

“The CEI launched jointly by Alsace BioValley and MEDTEQ constitutes an important development of the partnership concluded between our two structures. It is a strong support to innovation and international development for the actors of the two territories, which will make it possible to bring together the respective competences on joint projects with high added value. The initiative is supported by public funders. It is in line with the ambitions of local authorities, illustrated by Nextmed, an ambitious medical technology campus project in Strasbourg. “- Marco Pintore, General Manager of Alsace BioValley.

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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. https://www.medteq.ca/en/ 

About Biovalley France (ex Alsace BioValley)

Alsace BioValley is a competitiveness cluster in the Far East of France. Its mission is to federate, develop and promote the health sector through innovation. The cluster participates in the region’s structuring projects aimed at increasing the skills of the sector’s players. It supports its members in their R&D Innovation approach, their search for partners, and more broadly in their development, especially international. http://www.alsace-biovalley.com/en/

 

Read the press release