Here's why health-care startups are setting up shop in Sudbury, Ont.
The city is investing capital to attract companies from elsewhere in Canada
When Barb Ward started her company, Medicor Research, in 2005 there weren't a lot of other health-care startups in Sudbury.
"There was one company that was working kind of in concert with Laurentian University, but they ended up closing their doors," she said.
Medicor Research runs clinical trials on behalf of pharmaceutical companies testing different drugs and vaccines.
"Anybody who remembers the H1N1 pandemic, we actually did the testing of that vaccine during the pandemic," Ward said.
"So yeah, we've been pretty active over the last 19 years."
Sudbury is 'very good at making things'
During those 19 years the northern Ontario city has become home to many more startups in the health and wellness sector.
Don Duval is the CEO of NORCAT, an organization that got its start training workers in the mining sector, but has since expanded to foster technology startups across different industries.
Duval says NORCAT's portfolio now includes more than 80 startups. About half are mining-related companies, but the next biggest group, around a quarter of the firms, are part of what he calls med tech.
"Sudbury at a broad level, you know we are a community that is very good at making things," Duval said.
Instead of developing new pharmaceuticals, a lot of the medical startups in Sudbury are focused on tangible devices that can be used in a clinical, or other health and wellness settings.
A company called IRegained, for example, makes a rehab device for stroke patients that is meant to improve the mobility in their hands.
Flosonics makes a wearable ultrasound device that gives doctors real-time information on their patients' health.
And a company called Kinmetrix has developed a machine targeted at athletes, designed to strengthen a person's neck muscles to reduce the risk of concussion.
Many of the health-related startups in Sudbury started in other parts of Canada, but moved to the nickel city for a variety of reasons. IRegained was founded in Thunder Bay, Ont., for example, and Kinmetrix started in Nova Scotia.
WATCH| This Sudbury company's device improves neck strength
Another company called WaiveTheWait, which designs software to help doctors cut back on their paperwork, started in Kingston, Ont.
Duval says the companies have set up shop in Sudbury to access capital and mentorship opportunities they weren't able to get in their home communities.
A network called the Northern Ontario Angels has helped with that recruitment.
About 300 high net worth individuals from across northern Ontario are part of the network.
"They're putting capital into a company. So they're looking at returns on their investments," said Ian Lane, Northern Ontario Angels' executive director.
He adds the angel investors are sharing their own business experience with new entrepreneurs to help them grow their companies.
Peter Dal Bianco, a well-known business owner in Sudbury, who started the Bianco's Supercenter store for home electronics and appliances, is one of those angel investors and mentors.
"A lot of the things that we've done in Sudbury with the Bianco's brand, I feel very fortunate that I had a lot of great mentoring and angel investments at that time," he said.
Dal Bianco says he was often too busy to help young entrepreneurs when he was focused on his business, but in semi-retirement he's taken on a consulting role at NORCAT.
"NORCAT Innovation along with Northern Ontario Angels have completely shifted the viewpoint of what can be done in northern Ontario," he said.
Money if you stay in Sudbury
When a Sudbury startup attracts investments from angel investors it can also apply for the Sudbury Catalyst Fund.
Established in 2019, the $5-million fund will match private investments up to $250,000.
NORCAT manages the fund; and FedNor, the Nickel Basin Federal Development Corporation and the City of Greater Sudbury have all contributed to it.
"Because the City of Greater Sudbury is a contributor to the fund, the companies that we invest in must have what we call agreement to a localization covenant," said NORCAT's Duval.
That covenant stipulates that for three years, at least half of the startup's employees and half of its operational spending, have to be located in Sudbury.
In addition to that access to capital and mentorship, startups in Sudbury also have access to the region's largest hospital, and its research institute.
Dr. Robert Ohle is the vice-president of research and academics at Health Sciences North.
He says the research institute works closely with industry on product development.
"We're able to create those collaborations between frontline staff such as clinicians, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists," he said.
"So by creating those connections, we're able to facilitate the voice of the staff who will be using or potentially implementing technology."
Research scientists at the Health Sciences North Research Institute have also gone on to start their own businesses.
Amadeo Parissenti, for example, is the chief scientific officer at RNA Diagnostics, a company that helps oncologists determine how a breast cancer patient will react to chemotherapy.
For Ohle, Sudbury's future as a hub for medical and health-related startups looks bright.
"I think we're going to move towards a point where health innovation within Sudbury is going to be one of the major drivers of innovation in the hospital, but also in economic impacts within our community," he said.
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