Canadian companies secured some high-profile awards at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, even while most face hurdles building their solutions on home soil.
Montréal-based Eli Health won a Best of Innovation award at the event for the Hormometer, an app-linked home device that the company says can measure levels of the hormones cortisol and progesterone in saliva. Users pay by the test ($8 each), making it viable to check hormone levels frequently and get faster, more personalized care than you’d receive by waiting for lab appointments, the company claims.
Haply Robotics, also from Montréal, earned its own Best of Innovation award for the minVerse.
It’s a small “haptic device” meant to provide precise interaction in virtual environments, such as 3D modelling and animation. The $1,500 unit is considerably more affordable than the company’s professional products (which cost as much as $7,500) and is aimed at “prosumers” who want more dexterity than the usual VR controllers and hand gestures can provide.
Eli CEO Marina Pavlovic Rivas told BetaKit that her company’s win was a symbolic recognition of its work, and small companies in general. The startup beat out healthcare giants like Abbott and Dexcom, she added.
Meanwhile, Haply co-founder Colin Gallacher noted that his firm had oversold pre-launch orders, and anticipates a bright future for minVerse. It’s more of an AI-driven robot than a 3D mouse, he said.
Made in Canada?
There was little doubt, however, that the Canadian tech companies exhibiting at CES still faced an uphill battle when it comes to the global tech landscape—first and foremost, with production.
Eli Health said it conducts all its research and manufacturing in Canada, noting that both had to be developed at the same time to establish economies of scale. Cellphone signal-boosting startup SmoothTalker, which was also at CES, produces all of its boosters in Aurora, Ontario, the town where the company is headquartered, according to Business Development Director Kevin Carter.
Other companies don’t have that option. Gallacher noted that Haply has to outsource some elements of production, though large portions (including final assembly) take place in the country. George Yin, the CEO of composting technology company VCycene, pointed out a familiar reason for manufacturing his brand’s Lila home composter device in China: fast, easy access to a supply chain that simply isn’t available in Canada. Even if the factories are domestic, the component and raw material suppliers tend to remain overseas.
There’s also the question of talent. Pavlovic Rivas said that Eli has little trouble attracting workers from around the world due to its niche field. Dan Vu, the business director for medical robot creator Cobionix, said that southern Ontario was “primed” for tech talent. His company has drawn heavily on graduates from the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo to support plans to bring its tech to market in three years.
Not everyone shared the same optimism. Daniel Park, the Director of Engineering at Waterloo, Ont. micro-semiconductor startup VueReal, said it was difficult to attract talent that would otherwise go to California.
The Canadian brands at CES also had common complaints about a lack of support. VueReal’s Park and Cobionix’ Vu argued that government support has been lacking, while VCycene’s Yin contended that Canada’s industrial infrastructure is not robust enough to back up innovative projects. There was more positivity from Gallacher, though, as he said investments from Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program dramatically eased Haply’s work.
Gallacher even suggested that Canadian companies tend to have a defeatist mindset. They look for quick exits (that is, being acquired) rather than ways to scale to the large valuations of American heavyweights. And that greater ambition might be important when the threat of steep US tariffs looms over many Canadian businesses.
Images courtesy Jon Fingas for BetaKit.