DIGITAL announces its largest investment to advance AI-powered technologies for the healthcare sector

VANCOUVER, BC, July 10, 2024 /CNW/ – DIGITAL, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, announced today its largest investment with innovative Canadian health tech companies and researchers to advance the development and deployment of AI-powered technologies to better support healthcare providers and enhance patient outcomes.

Led by ORX in collaboration with a pan-Canadian team of Tali AI, HEALWELL AI, Phelix AI, WELL Health Technologies and Simon Fraser University (SFU); DIGITAL’s investment in the Health Compass II project will introduce an innovative suite of four AI-driven modules to increase patient engagement, reduce administrative burnout, assist healthcare providers with documentation and enhance clinical decision-making. These modules will be integrated through an Electronic Medical Record (EMR)-agnostic mobile app to further advance patient engagement. WELL’s capabilities as a Canadian leader in EMR innovation, AI healthcare solutions and information security services supports the consortium’s collective commitments to privacy, cyber security and ethical AI implementation for Health Compass II.

DIGITAL’s investment of $15.3 million to support the consortium of organizations is being leveraged by investments from the project partners into a total project value of $44 million. This new commitment builds on DIGITAL’s original $3.1 million investment in 2022, which demonstrated the potential of an AI-powered ecosystem to transform Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) via WELL’s EMR leveraging ORX’s predictive AI technology and Tali AI’s AI Assistant.

“Canada has a significant opportunity and imperative to leverage our global leadership in AI research into accelerated commercialization of Canadian AI applications and tools. These tools will help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges while accelerating the growth of Canadian companies. DIGITAL’s continued investment in the Health Compass initiative is supporting improved health outcomes for Canadians while also supporting Canadian innovators,” said Sue Paish, CEO of DIGITAL. “Since 2018, DIGITAL has worked to foster innovation, help Canadian companies grow and spur private sector investment in digital solutions that are making a positive difference in the lives of Canadians.”

DIGITAL’s new investment highlights DIGITAL’s commitment to supporting competitive Canadian companies scale through leveraging and spurring private sector investment in innovation. The collaboration is integrating tangible intellectual property (IP) developed through the previous DIGITAL investment while also enabling the growth of Canadian companies, supporting a Canadian industry leader and Canadian AI research.

“This is a monumental milestone and we are honoured and grateful to DIGITAL and Minister Champagne’s office for their commitment to supporting healthcare innovation,” said Hamed Shahbazi, CEO and Founder of WELL Health Technologies. “At WELL, we are committed to leveraging technology to empower healthcare providers to ultimately improve patient outcomes. Projects like Health Compass II directly support this mission and are essential in fuelling healthcare’s digital transformation.“

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and Vancouver-Granville MP, Taleeb Noormohamed, attended the announcement with DIGITAL at WELL Health’s Vancouver office, where they were given a live demonstration of one of the Health Compass AI-driven modules from Tali AI. The demonstration showcased Tali AI’s AI Assistant technology, which captures medically relevant information from natural conversations without taking provider focus away from their patient and alleviating significant administrative burden.

“Artificial intelligence presents a transformative opportunity for healthcare professionals to innovate and enhance patient experiences, and Canada is at the forefront of this pivotal field,” said The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “Our government is proud to champion the Digital Technology Cluster as it collaborates with industry partners and researchers to reshape the delivery of healthcare services for Canadians.”

“From helping health professionals take notes and assist in recording their diagnoses, to streamlining administrative paperwork and facilitating the patient care experience, this innovative project is using AI to build a better future for Canadians,” said Taleeb Noormohamed, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. “The government looks forward to the success of the Health Compass II project and to other made-in-Canada innovations, that will unlock social and economic benefits for everyone.”

Since 2018, DIGITAL has committed over $200 million of its total $255 million invested into Canadian-led, AI-enabled technology development, commercialization and adoption. DIGITAL’s co-investments have spurred private industry investment into a $637 million portfolio spanning health care, natural resources, agriculture, and workforce development. DIGITAL’s private sector partners have gone on to raise over $1.2 billion in follow-on funding and generate over 630+ Canadian-owned IP assets and patents.

To learn more about this investment and the Health Compass project it supports, visit here.

Access this release in French here.

About DIGITAL

DIGITAL, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, grows Canadian businesses through the development, adoption and deployment of Canadian-made technologies and by working with industry to develop a digitally skilled workforce to positively impact lives across our country. 

We bring together businesses, academia, community and government agencies to solve some of industry and society’s biggest challenges – better and faster than any single organization can do on its own. Through a powerful model that combines cross-sector collaboration, Canadian IP creation and results-based co-investment, we unlock the potential of Canadian industry to lead and succeed in the digital world. 

Ahead of the curve starts here. For more information, visit digitalsupercluster.ca 

SOURCE DIGITAL