“The Power Of Convergence” Murray Wigmore Executive Director
Jan 22, 2016
“The Power Of Convergence”
Murray Wigmore
Executive Director
YORK biotech Mission
The mission of York biotech is to act as a catalyst
to harness the wealth of intellectual and technical
resources to promote economic success and growth
of the biotechnology industry as a key strategy for
economic development in our region
Mission
Timmins
Kingston
Greater Sudbury
London
Hamilton
Barrie
Ottawa
Windsor
Brockville
Chatham-Kent
North Bay
Sarnia
Elliot Lake
Peterborough
Belleville
St. Catharines - Niagara
Guelph
Sault Ste. Marie
Toronto
KingstonGuelph-WaterlooGolden HorseshoePeterboroughWindsorNorthern OntarioToronto ConsortiumYork Regional ConsortiumMississaugaOttawa and Eastern RegionNo Data
CMA - CA boundary
BCIP Regions, CMA-CA and CDs
Data source: Ontario Biotechnology Secretariat, Life Science and Technologies Branch Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation, Government of Ontario, Sept. 2003 SIEID - EASD, Statitsics Canada, 09/03
Thunder Bay#
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”
Vision I
MEDEC AOMM
ISCMHTX
York Biotech
Seneca
SunnybrookYRDSB
YTABarrie
Venn Growth
RBC
Sinofi-Pasteur
IBM
MDS
York U
MarkhamYork Region
NRCMEDT
Education and Research
Business support
Networking
Financial support
Global markets
Infrastructure
Government funding
OtherSME
MNE
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/SystemsCT Devices/Systems: a CMT which directly applies
the combined technologies (e.g. Light-activated pharmaceuticals; in-vivo nanotech sensors or robotic surgery)
• CT ManufacturingCT Manufacturing: a new material / device /biologic/pharmaceutical created by a convergent manufacturing process
• CT TargetingCT 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
Big Pharma,Passive Devices
Biotech, ProtemicsActive DevicesBioinformaticsAdvanced Materials
Convergent Technology
Faster InnovationFaster 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