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“The Power Of Convergence”. Murray Wigmore Executive Director. YORK biotech Mission. Mission.
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“The Power Of Convergence” Murray Wigmore Executive Director
YORK biotech Mission Mission The mission of York biotech is to act as a catalyst toharness thewealth of intellectual and technical resources to promote economic success and growth of the biotechnology industry as a key strategy foreconomic developmentin our region
York Biotech • 37 affiliates that span four key sectors: companies (SMEs and MNEs); Academia and hospitals; Governments (local, provincial, federal); And associations • “YRBC will focus on creating a strategy that will drive initiatives which will provide value to all affiliates”
Barrie YTA York Region Markham MEDEC AOMM HTX ISCM Venn Growth Networking Infrastructure Financial support RBC Business support YRDSB Sunnybrook MDS Education and Research Global markets Seneca York U IBM Government funding Sinofi-Pasteur NRC Other SME MNE Vision I York Biotech MEDT
The Importance of Clusters • A cluster is a group of interrelated companies, organizations, associations, academic institutions, suppliers, service provides, etc. of a particular field located in the same geographical area • Clusters promote regional economic and knowledge growth • Benefits of clusters: • Accelerate the pace of innovation • Attract investment • Stimulate job creation • Generate wealth
Everyone Is Claiming “Convergent Technology” • Bio-informatics, proteomics in bio/pharma drug discovery • Photonics and mass spec in Proteomics • Pharmaceutical coated stents • Robotic surgery and communications • Telemedicine, EPR and PACS • Supercomputing and 3D realtime visualization • Nanotechnology in biosensors and drug/gene therapy delivery
Convergent Medical Technology • Synergistic “intermingling” of 2 or more distinct technologies creating a new, hybrid device, process or product applied in health prevention, screening, diagnosis, therapy, monitoring or functional enhancement. • At its simplest, the synergy results in improvement in the existing mode of action of an incumbent technology or one essentially unaltered product used in conjunction with another. • At its most sophisticated, the synergy produces a new MOA distinct from each component technology with, in some cases, a “disruptive” level of performance, representing an entirely new class of applications.
This implies several classes of CMT • CT Devices/Systems: a CMT which directly applies the combined technologies (e.g. Light-activated pharmaceuticals; in-vivo nanotech sensors or robotic surgery) • CT Manufacturing: a new material / device /biologic/pharmaceutical created by a convergent manufacturing process • CT Targeting: Use of one technology to target the use of another…but by themselves neither the targeting nor drug would be effective (e.g. patient-specific chemotherapy sensitivity or drug resistance assessment)
Companies/researchers Smell a “Funding Frenzy” • Potential for “convergence” to attract a portion of the ballooning biotech, Nanotech or new funding. • Perceived as the next “big thing.” • Biotech Internet (dot coms). • Convergent technology.
Technology Life Cycles Convergent Technology Biotech, Protemics Active Devices Bioinformatics Advanced Materials Big Pharma, Passive Devices Faster Innovation Faster Diffusion 1900 1970 2000
Convergence Combination Examples • Telerobotic surgery. • Robotic surgery + Telecomms. • Surgical simulation. • Natural extensions of existing imaging procedures. • Coated stents. • Stents and Paclitaxel both work independently and are just used together.
Tomorrow’s CT Leaders Are... • Creating interdisciplinary teams • Identifying alliance suitable partners • Able to articulate the importance of convergence to their technology strategy • Clear on the proportion of risk capital to devote to convergent technology