Intellijoint Surgical to lead new medtech innovation hub in Waterloo

mix lobby

Intellijoint Surgical, a Kitchener-Waterloo-based medical device company, has announced the creation of the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX), an industry-led hub dedicated to healthtech startups in southern Ontario.

“Our goal is to create a thriving local medtech ecosystem that supports local companies in achieving scale.”

MIX, slated to open this month, will be joined with Penta Medical, Vena Medical, and Bloom Care solutions. The organizations will together provide integrated community workspace for local healthcare professional and smaller healthtech companies. The space will take up 30,000 square feet of the west side of 908 Wellington Street North, in Kitchener, and is expected to house 200 people from the local healthtech industry.

The goal of MIX will be to connect the medtech community within the Waterloo Region, to create a national collision space for members to share expertise, leverage experience, and achieve scale.

“Our goal is to create a thriving local medtech ecosystem that supports local companies in achieving scale without having to relocate to Boston, Houston, or any other city outside of the region,” said Armen Bakirtzian, Intellijoint Surgical CEO and co-founder. “Launching MIX is the first step to creating an ecosystem that enables the region to retain and develop talent, create local customers, and attract capital. If we don’t fill this gap, we risk the loss of our local medtech companies to the established ecosystems in the US.”

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Intellijoint Surgical said its members will have direct access to intelligent mentorship and local health care professionals and administrators all housed in this state-of-the-art facility. Access to such resources will help to combat the exodus of Canadian innovation, intellectual property, biomedical engineering talent, and economic value created by maturing healthtech companies.

“As medtech companies in the region mature and phase out of start-up incubators,
they are left without the resources they need to continue to develop their product and
enter commercialization,” said Alexa Roeper, CEO and founder of Penta Medical. “The collaborative hub of MIX fills this gap through access to affordable lab space, industry-specific knowledge sharing, and one-to-one mentorship centred around the unique challenges that medtech companies face when scaling.”

“The evolution of the local health and medical technology ecosystem is demonstrating
the strength of collaboration between the innovation community and clinicians,”
said Elliot Fung, executive lead of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network.

MIX is set to officially open in early fall of this year.

Image courtesy MIX

Isabelle Kirkwood

Isabelle Kirkwood

Isabelle is a Vancouver-based writer with 5+ years of experience in communications and journalism and a lifelong passion for telling stories. For over two years, she has reported on all sides of the Canadian startup ecosystem, from landmark venture deals to public policy, telling the stories of the founders putting Canadian tech on the map.

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