Canada’s Health Tech Ecosystem Is Shaping the Future of Global Healthcare

Canada’s future-focused thinkers are building the health tech solutions the world needs now—and it’s happening in Toronto. Here, a world-class health corridor brings together universities, hospitals, research institutes, startups and tech leaders all within walking distance of one another to accelerate the commercialization of transformative health technologies.

A City Built for Collaboration

Anchoring this corridor is the University of Toronto—Canada’s largest university and a global research powerhouse. Nearby is the MaRS Discovery District, a former hospital transformed into North America’s largest urban innovation hub, home to more than 1,200 technology and science startups alongside global firms like Merck and Novartis.

Just steps away is Hospital Row, connected by underground tunnels that enable collaboration and patient care. The Row is home to: 

• The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), which combines specialized care with research in areas such as genomic, immunology and rare childhood disease. 
• St. Michael’s Hospital, which was founded in 1892 and is part of Unity Health Toronto, one of Canada’s largest Catholic healthcare networks. 
• Toronto General Hospital, the site of the world’s first successful lung transplant and centrepiece of the University Health Network. 

Just around the corner is the Vector Institute, co-founded in 2017 by Geoffrey Hinton and fellow visionaries at the University of Toronto. The institute has established the city as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), partnering with hospitals and universities across Ontario to ensure that advances in AI flow directly into healthcare. At SickKids, for example, AI is used to improve paediatric emergency care—one of many ways Canada’s AI expertise is reshaping medicine.

A Vibrant Culture of Connection

Collaboration doesn’t stop at the lab. Nearby, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre offers more than 700,000 square feet of space and 77 meeting rooms, placing meeting delegates within blocks of Toronto’s leading research partners and institutions.

In July, the Alzheimer’s Association brought thousands of researchers, clinicians and dementia specialists to the convention centre. Highlights included the release of findings from the U.S. POINTER Study on lifestyle and brain health, and a demonstration by Toronto-based startup RetiSpec, which uses AI-powered retinal scans to detect signs of Alzheimer’s.

Each week, the city also hosts dozens of life sciences gatherings and pitch nights, creating a steady flow of ideas, advice and investment.

In these dynamic hubs of innovation, engineers, entrepreneurs and epidemiologists share elevators—and chance encounters lead to breakthroughs with global impact. 

For associations, this proximity means that convening in Canada offers direct access to the innovators shaping the future of global healthcare.

Global Breakthroughs, Made in Canada

What happens when ideas collide in Canada? Breakthroughs that change lives: 

• BlueDot: An AI-driven disease spread detection platform founded in Toronto that alerted clients to the COVID-19 outbreak five days before the World Health Organization. 
• Toronto Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion System: Developed at Toronto General Hospital, this device keeps donor lungs viable for up to three days outside the body—allowing for better assessment and enabling more than 1,000 life-saving transplants worldwide. 
• Altis Labs: Using AI to mine data from computed tomography (CT) scans, Altis enables clinicians to better assess whether cancer therapies are truly working, outperforming conventional methods in a phase 3 lung cancer trial with AstraZeneca. 
• Trexo Robotics: A paediatric exoskeleton developed in the Greater Toronto Area now helps children with mobility challenges walk, transforming lives globally. 
• AGE-WELL Innovation Studio: A high-tech apartment in downtown Toronto that tests and demonstrates new technologies—from smart stoves to fall-detection systems—helping older adults live independently. 

These are not isolated stories. They’re the result of Canada’s connected ecosystem—where local ideas scale into worldwide impact.

Local Diversity Drives Global Solutions 

Canada’s strength isn’t only in its institutions and startups—it’s in its people. Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world: 47 per cent of residents are born outside Canada, representing 250 ethnicities and speaking 170 languages. 

For health innovation, this diversity is an asset. Clinical trials conducted here better reflect real-world populations, ensuring technologies are ready to scale globally. Muhammad Mamdani of Unity Health Toronto, who has helped launch more than 50 analytic tools, notes this unmatched diversity enables the AI developed in Toronto to be incredibly robust. 

Inside Klick Health, a small diagnostics laboratory called Klick Labs is developing Voice 2 Diabetes, AI software that can predict Type 2 diabetes from a 10-second voice clip, detecting frequency and amplitude changes that occur as the disease damages fine control of the vocal cords. The technology is being trained across languages, accents and ethnicities—proof that Toronto’s global mix drives solutions ready for the world. 

Shaping Global Conversations About AI

Canada’s reputation in health tech is rooted in decades of research. Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton—often called the “godfather of AI”—planted the flag for artificial intelligence in Toronto, laying the foundation for the city’s rise as a world leader in the field. His work attracted talent, investment and new ideas that continue to ripple through Canada’s innovation ecosystem today.

That legacy now flows directly into life sciences, with Canadian breakthroughs in AI advancing everything from cancer trials to paediatric emergency care. It’s also drawing the world to Canada.  

This fall, Toronto Metropolitan University will host the Global AI Summit, which will focus on achieving a balance between innovation and social responsibility. 

For associations, hosting in Canada means convening in a country that not only helped shape artificial intelligence but continues to define its future on the world stage. 

Where Collaboration Sparks Innovation 

Toronto’s innovation ecosystem thrives on what MaRS CEO Grace Lee Reynolds calls “collisions”—chance encounters between researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs and investors that drive progress. These collisions happen in corridors, clinics and conference rooms, and they’re shaping the future of healthcare by turning local breakthroughs into global solutions. 

Organizations like the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO) also fuel the pipeline, connecting early-stage companies with mentorship and investment to scale their ideas globally. Noa Therapeutics, which is developing new treatments for chronic inflammatory conditions, received seed funding through OBIO’s Women in Health Initiative. In total, OBIO has helped raise more than $1.6 billion for health tech startups. 

This blend of chance encounters and structured partnerships means meetings in Canada don’t just happen—they generate ongoing momentum so that innovation comes naturally. 

Learn More 

For associations, meeting in Canada means tapping into one of the world’s most dynamic life sciences ecosystems—where discoveries move from idea to impact faster.

To discover more about meeting in Canada, visit the Destination Canada website.