In its goal to expedite healthtech procurement in Canada, the Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network is making its program available across all of Canada.
Backed by $30 million in federal funding from Budget 2022, CAN Health announced earlier this month that it is expanding into Québec, the territories (the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut), and remote communities.
“This $30 million investment enables the CAN Health Network to become a truly national initiative.”
The CAN Health Network provides an integrated market to connect businesses with hospitals and healthcare providers with the ultimate aim of delivering new medical technologies to help patients. Through the CAN Health Network, healthtech entrepreneurs can test their innovations, connect with the government procurement process, and access other opportunities meant to help them scale.
With funding from the federal government, CAN Health operates through a regional model that allows the organization to work across regional boundaries to identify shared problems and priorities, and connect health operators across the country interested in similar tech solutions.
CAN Health Network has been active in its nationwide expansion plans, establishing partnerships with other organizations around the country. In 2021, CAN Health received $5.45 million from the Government of Canada to extend the initiative in Ontario by one year and bring the program to Atlantic Canada in partnership with the Horizon Health Network.
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In previous years, CAN Health has also penned partnerships with Kitchener-Waterloo-based tech hub Communitch, as well as Edmonton’s Institute of Health Economics.
With its latest expansion, CAN Health Network is able to work with healthcare organizations and businesses in all of Canada’s provinces and territories.
“This $30 million investment enables the CAN Health Network to become a truly national initiative,” said Mary Ng, minister of international trade, export promotion, small business and economic development. “It also paves the way for Canadian businesses to scale and expand across the country and around the world, keeping Canadian health care at the forefront.”
Launched around four years ago, CAN Health claims it has supported over 40 companies with $55 million of procurement and over 1,000 jobs created. CAN Health added that the federal government has invested more than $42 million to support the initiative.
Featured image courtesy CAN Health Network.