Dr Peter Morand, former Dean of Science and Engineering, University of Ottawa, past President, NSERC and past President & CEO, Canadian Science & Technology Growth Fund.

Will someone tell me who's driving the bus?

By Dr Peter Morand

Medical technologies (sometimes referred to as medical devices or medtec) are seen as a key economic driver in many countries that have provided incentives and R&D support for products and services in this exponentially growing sector. This is not surprising in the light of demographic trends that have ensured sustained market growth with global markets in the billions of dollars. But here in Canada, just when we seem to be getting our act together to become a more significant player in this industry, abrupt unilateral actions have been taken that seriously undermine the progress that's been made to date.

First, let's look at what's been done to position medical technologies as one of the pillars in Canada's innovation strategy. Medical imaging is an important component of medtec and many universities have established state-of-the-art facilities for research and training in this area. This could not have been accomplished without the help of Canada Foundation for Innovation grants complemented by investments from provincial governments and other granting agencies. An example is the Robarts Research Institute's Imaging Research Laboratories (IRL), adjacent to the London Health Sciences Centre and Western University.

substantial investments

In keeping with CFI's substantial investment in Canada's medical imaging capabilities, NSERC has given prominence to medical imaging and photonics in its Collaborative Research and Training Experience program. Collectively the IRL and the imaging centres in other provinces have a strong track record of knowledge translation — a very encouraging sign.

CIHR's Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine Initiative (RMNI), launched a few years ago, cuts across several of CIHR's institutes and demonstrates how widespread medical technologies have become in many aspects of health research, including tissue engineering and transplants.

Tofy Mussivand, director of the Cardiovascular Devices Program at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, has organized three Medical Devices Summits (2010-12) with the "ultimate goal of advancing a National Medical Devices Strategy". Very noticeable at this year's summit was the more prominent role of senior executives from industry and of a re-energized MEDEC, the association of Canada's medical technologies companies.

At the provincial level, British Columbia (Life Sciences British Columbia), Ontario (Health Technology Exchange), Quebec (Campus des technologies de la santé, CTS) and others have identified medtec as a growth sector for their respective economies and have put in place policies and mechanisms for nurturing the industry.

The National Research Council (NRC) has been no slouch in building Canada's medical technologies infrastructure going back to the days when Bill Schneider, a world-renowned magnetic resonance spectroscopist, was its president. In 1992, NRC launched the Institute for Biodiagnostics (NRC-IBD) in Winnipeg, which started operations with a staff of 25 and grew to a complement of over 200 with satellite locations in Calgary and Halifax.

As a former member of the institute's advisory board, I was impressed by the quality of its R&D program and emphasis on knowledge translation. The IBD became an integral part of Winnipeg and its economy and the innovation ecosystem was further enhanced with the construction of the adjacent NRC Centre for the Commercialization of Biomedical Technology.

On a website that has now been archived, the Institute's sustained growth was attributed to multidisciplinary R&D that spawns new ideas and encourages technology translation; a focus on R&D directly related to improving health care; and; local, national and global partnerships.

Undoubtedly, execution of this strategy is what led to nine spin-offs and commercialization support entities. The two big success stories are IMRIS Inc (VISIUS Surgical Theatre) and Novadaq Technologies Inc (fluorescence imaging for real-time visualization during surgery) — both publicly traded companies with a combined market cap in the order of $650 million. Not bad for Canada's fledgling medtec industry.

In the last two decades Canada has succeeded in creating a viable medical technologies infrastructure with bioengineering programs in many of its universities/colleges and state-of-the-art facilities in imaging and lab-on-a-chip capabilities across the country, anchored by NRC-IBD.

Among advanced technology start-ups in Canada, medical technologies (imaging, diagnostics, home care, etc.) dominate the scene and provinces boast of their achievements in this sector as key elements of their strategies for economic growth. These are all signs that the infrastructure being built is feeding into a dynamic and growing industrial sector, creating the momentum needed to greatly improve Canada's position as an exporter of medtec products and services.

decision to close NRC-IBD

But wait a minute. NRC recently decided to shut down NRC-IBD and its satellite operations and to wind down all its other imaging facilities, including the magnetic resonance facility partnered with the University of Ottawa. No public announcement has been made about any of this and nothing has appeared on the NRC web site.

Notwithstanding the huge investment in capital and human resources that is suddenly being abandoned, these actions will have a significant impact on what appeared to be a well-conceived long-term strategy to position Canada in a sector of great relevance to health care costs in Canada and around the world. As well, it flies in the face of the timely investments that have been made by many players to support this sector.

What's most disturbing is that no one seems to know what is happening at NRC, except through the rumour mill and leaked memos to staff. One rumour has it that NRC has yet to succeed in getting its strategic plan approved by Cabinet. But this is apparently not an impediment for NRC's current management to make decisions that, in my opinion, are blatantly at odds with a cohesive innovation strategy for Canada. We need to improve our innovation performance not undermine it.

Dr Peter Morand is former Dean of Science and Engineering, University of Ottawa, past President, NSERC and past President & CEO, Canadian Science & Technology Growth Fund. petermorand@rogers.com.