INOVAIT
INOVAIT is a federally funded Canadian network that provides non-dilutive grants, training, and ecosystem connectivity to medtech SMEs, academic institutions, and hospitals working on AI-integrated image-guided therapy, operated from Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersToronto, Canada
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What INOVAIT does
INOVAIT is a non-profit, membership-based national network founded in 2020 and hosted at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, dedicated to advancing image-guided therapy (IGT) integrated with artificial intelligence across Canada. The organization is funded by the Government of Canada's Strategic Response Fund (part of the Strategic Innovation Fund) and is not incorporated as a separate commercial entity, operating instead as a program under SRI's governance. Its core offering is a platform of interconnected programs: non-dilutive funding vehicles (Pilot Fund up to $150K CAD per 9-12 month project; Focus Fund up to $2M CAD per 2-3 year project), experiential training (the Medventions fellowship and lecture series), networking events (annual Discovery Forum and IGT Symposium), and a health data licensing toolkit and governance framework designed to help Canadian healthcare institutions safely share data for AI commercialization.
INOVAIT does not generate commercial revenue or sell products; its operating model is that of a government-funded intermediary that channels capital, training, and ecosystem connectivity to Canadian medtech SMEs, academic institutions, hospital research centres, and not-for-profit organizations working on AI-enabled medical imaging, diagnostics, and precision treatments. As of mid-2026, the network had funded more than 100 collaborative R&D projects with cumulative sector infusion exceeding $128M, supporting named companies such as Perimeter Medical Imaging AI, KA Imaging, Hyivy Health, Vope Medical, Daxsonics, Synaptive Medical, Sonic Incytes, 16 Bit, Altis Labs, and Dova Health.
The organization maintains a small staff of approximately 10-12 members led by Co-Executive Directors Kullervo Hynynen (VP Research and Innovation at SRI) and Raphael Ronen (Director, Commercialization and Administration), supported by a board that includes executives from Fusion Pharmaceuticals, McKinsey, and Augmentr Inc. Distribution is primarily through membership enrollment, open funding calls, and in-person events, with strategic partnerships formalized in 2026 with DIGITAL (Canada's Global Innovation Cluster) and Mitacs (fellowship umbrella). The 2026 launch of the 'Navigating the Canadian Image-guided Therapy Sector' market research series extends INOVAIT's role from funder into sector intelligence provider.
INOVAIT firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- INOVAIT
- Legal name
- INOVAIT
- Website
- https://inovait.ca
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- INOVAIT is a federally funded Canadian network that provides non-dilutive grants, training, and ecosystem connectivity to medtech SMEs, academic institutions, and hospitals working on AI-integrated image-guided therapy, operated from Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
INOVAIT industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Medtech Innovation Network
- NAICS
- Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Interventional Radiology & Image-Guided Therapy Systems (HLAHABAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Disease-Specific Research & Support (e.g., Cancer, Diabetes, ALS) (BPAGACAA), Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations (HLAJAKAN)
Keywords
Where INOVAIT is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Toronto
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
INOVAIT business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Government Funding (Strategic Response Fund): INOVAIT receives funding from the Government of Canada's Strategic Response Fund (part of the Strategic Innovation Fund) to support the Canadian IGT sector, fuel better patient care, and develop image-guided therapy technologies. This non-dilutive funding is used to provide grants to member companies and institutions.
- Membership Fees: INOVAIT operates as a membership-based national network. Members receive exclusive access to events, funding opportunities, training programs, and networking with industry leaders in the IGT-AI sector.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Pilot Fund - Up to $150,000 for 9-12 month projects |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Focus Fund - Up to $2 million for 2-3 year projects |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
INOVAIT product offering
Product offeringCore offering
INOVAIT operates as Canada's national image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) network, delivering a connected platform of programs that fund, train, and connect Canadian medtech ventures. Its core services include non-dilutive funding through the Pilot Fund (up to $150,000 CAD) and Focus Fund (up to $2 million CAD), experiential training through the Medventions fellowship program and lecture series, networking through the Discovery Forum and IGT Symposium, and health data licensing frameworks and toolkits. Members include Canadian SMEs, academic institutions, hospital research centres, and not-for-profit organizations working on AI integration in medical imaging, diagnostics, and image-guided therapeutics.
Product overview
INOVAIT is Canada's national image-guided therapy (IGT) and AI network that operates as a platform of interconnected programs rather than a single product. The core offerings include two non-dilutive funding vehicles—the Pilot Fund (up to $150K for 9-12 month projects) and Focus Fund (up to $2M for multi-year projects)—that support collaborative R&D integrating AI into medical imaging technologies. Complementing funding are the Medventions training programs (fellowship and lecture series) that develop medtech talent, networking events (Discovery Forum and IGT Symposium) that connect the ecosystem, and data licensing tools that enable responsible health data sharing for innovation. Together, these programs form a comprehensive commercialization support ecosystem for Canadian medtech companies.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Medventions: A medtech innovation fellowship program that targets clinical needs and nurtures Canada's rising medtech talent base. Founded at Sunnybrook Research Institute, it immerses fellows in real clinical settings to identify unmet clinical needs and develop innovations in healthcare.
- Discovery Forum
- IGT Symposium
- Lecture Series
Products and services
- Pilot Fund Non-dilutive funding program providing up to $150,000 CAD per 9–12 month project, reimbursing up to one-third of eligible costs for collaborative R&D projects integrating AI with image-guided therapy technologies. Targets Canadian corporations, academic institutions, hospitals, and not-for-profit organizations.
- Focus Fund Non-dilutive funding program providing up to $2 million CAD per 2–3 year project for high technical and clinical merit projects with highest commercialization potential, supporting larger-scale IGT-AI development initiatives.
- Medventions Fellowship Program Elite medtech entrepreneur training program providing clinical immersion, mentorship, and prototyping funding to aspiring healthcare innovators. Operating in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador through a formal partnership with Mitacs.
- Medventions Lecture Series Educational lecture series addressing the role of big data in image-guided therapy and the integration of AI data handling into IGT technologies, designed for students, entrepreneurs, and scientists seeking introductory knowledge of the field.
- Discovery Forum Annual members-only flagship event featuring cutting-edge image-guided therapy technology showcases, panel discussions, and project progress presentations for academic-industry networking.
- IGT Symposium Annual two-day scientific conference bringing together clinical and research communities for emerging diagnostic and therapeutic health technologies, including biomedical imaging, AI, machine learning, and image-guided therapeutics.
- Health Data Licensing Toolkit Free toolkit for Canadian healthcare institutions to safely and responsibly share data for commercial development of AI technologies, including data licensing frameworks and governance guidelines.
- Principles for Safe, Ethical, and Trustworthy Canadian Health Data Licensing Framework document for healthcare institutions to confidently engage in health data licensing, grounded in transparency, ethical practices, patient representation, governance, and Indigenous data sovereignty.
- Navigating the Canadian Image-guided Therapy Sector Series Multi-installment market research initiative chronicling experiences of 30 Canadian IGT companies, analyzing funding sources, ecosystem gaps, and recommendations for sector growth.
Companies that use INOVAIT
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
INOVAIT technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature3 records
INOVAIT partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- MitacscoreMedventions Mitacs Umbrella agreement supporting fellowship programs across Canada (Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador) over two years. The partnership will support 39 internships within the Medventions program, equipping medtech entrepreneurs with hands-on clinical experience. The partnership formalizes a relationship that began in 2021.
- DIGITALcoreMOU signed to formalize collaboration expanding opportunities for IGT founders and accelerating commercialization. Framework includes bi-directional referrals, cross-promotion of programming, exploration of joint co-innovation calls, and expanded participation in ecosystem-building activities. Builds on previous co-investments in Dova Health, 16 Bit, and Altis Labs.
- Sunnybrook Research InstitutecoreINOVAIT was established in 2020 at Sunnybrook Research Institute, which serves as the host organization. SRI is the research arm of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, one of Canada's premier academic health sciences centres fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. SRI is home to the Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics.
- Dova HealthminorHigh-impact Canadian IGT company that has received co-investment support from both INOVAIT and DIGITAL at different stages of their journey.
- 16 BitminorHigh-impact Canadian IGT company that has received co-investment support from both INOVAIT and DIGITAL at different stages of their journey.
- Altis LabsminorHigh-impact Canadian IGT company that has received co-investment support from both INOVAIT and DIGITAL at different stages of their journey.
- University of TorontocoreMajor academic partner through Sunnybrook Research Institute affiliation. INOVAIT works with various university departments including Department of Medical Biophysics, Department of Biophysics, and Department of Chemistry for IGT research and commercialization.
- University of WaterloocoreAcademic partner collaborating on multiple funded projects including KA Imaging's AI-based triage tool and Hyivy Health's AI-enabled therapy system.
- University Health NetworkcoreMajor hospital research centre partner collaborating on projects including Vope Medical's CLARIS platform and Altis Labs' deep learning system for lung cancer treatment decisions.
- Nova Scotia Health AuthoritycoreMajor Atlantic Canada health authority partner, recipient of INOVAIT Aurora Borealis Award, and partner in Medventions Atlantic program and various IGT research projects.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
INOVAIT competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- BioEnterprise (Cleveland): US medtech/healthtech commercialization hub providing advisory, capital, and program services to medical device start-ups. Operates a similar model of cohort-based commercialization support but is regional to Northeast Ohio rather than national.
Direct peers
- Mitacs: Canadian national research network that funds internships and R&D collaborations between academia and industry. INOVAIT's Medventions Mitacs Umbrella Agreement partner; both operate as federal-network intermediaries funding applied research and talent development.
- MEDTEQ+: Canadian medtech industry consortium funding collaborative R&D projects between SMEs, hospitals, and academia. Closely overlaps INOVAIT's mission of accelerating medtech commercialization via co-investment, training, and networking, with a similar funding-network business model.
- DIGITAL (Canada's Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies): Canada's Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, INOVAIT's newest MOU partner covering bi-directional referrals and co-investments. Operates the same non-dilutive matching-co-investment model on a larger stage across digital tech, making it the most direct analog to INOVAIT's IGT-AI mandate.
- OBIO (Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization): Ontario health-bioscience cluster that invests in and supports early-stage life sciences and healthtech companies, with programs for talent, capital, and commercialization. Comparable mission and instrument set to INOVAIT, though broader in therapeutic scope.
Broad incumbents
- Creative Destruction Lab (CDL): Seed-stage accelerator affiliated with the University of Toronto, hosting health-focused streams (CDL-Healthech). Similar Canadian innovation-ecosystem pedigree, but operating via equity-mentorship cohorts rather than non-dilutive grants.
- MaRS Discovery District: Canada's largest urban innovation hub hosting healthtech ventures, programming, and capital connections. Operates a similar network-and-ecosystem model in Toronto, but with a much broader sector mandate than INOVAIT's IGT-specific focus.
- Innovate UK (Health & Life Sciences): UK government-backed innovation agency funding late-stage R&D and commercialization in priority sectors including health and life sciences. Analogous in role as a national-level public innovation funder targeting medtech/healthcare innovation.
Others
- SOSV (IndieBio): Venture firm and accelerator network with health/biotech programs running cohort-based commercialization support. Comparable in building founder/venture ecosystems in healthtech, though capital-based (equity) rather than grant-based like INOVAIT.
Regional players
- Healthtech Innovation Hub (HTX): Healthtech-focused accelerator and network focused on commercialization support in adjacent medtech and digital health. Comparable funding-and-network operating model but with different therapeutic emphasis and non-Canadian footprint.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
INOVAIT social profiles
Digital presenceINOVAIT financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
INOVAIT leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles15 records
INOVAIT funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
INOVAIT M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments5 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about INOVAIT
What does INOVAIT do?
INOVAIT operates as Canada's national image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) network, delivering a connected platform of programs that fund, train, and connect Canadian medtech ventures. Its core services include non-dilutive funding through the Pilot Fund (up to $150,000 CAD) and Focus Fund (up to $2 million CAD), experiential training through the Medventions fellowship program and lecture series, networking through the Discovery Forum and IGT Symposium, and health data licensing frameworks and toolkits. Members include Canadian SMEs, academic institutions, hospital research centres, and not-for-profit organizations working on AI integration in medical imaging, diagnostics, and image-guided therapeutics.
Is INOVAIT a public or private company?
INOVAIT is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was INOVAIT founded?
INOVAIT was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is INOVAIT based?
INOVAIT is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, in the North America region.
How does INOVAIT make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Government Funding (Strategic Response Fund) is the primary driver. The others are membership Fees.
Who are INOVAIT's main competitors?
BioEnterprise (Cleveland) is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Mitacs, MEDTEQ+, DIGITAL (Canada's Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies) and OBIO (Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization). Broad incumbents are Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), MaRS Discovery District and Innovate UK (Health & Life Sciences). SOSV (IndieBio) is listed as an others. Healthtech Innovation Hub (HTX) is listed as a regional player.
Does INOVAIT have an API?
No public API is recorded for INOVAIT.
What industry is INOVAIT in?
INOVAIT's product category is Medtech Innovation Network. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAHABAG, Interventional Radiology & Image-Guided Therapy Systems, with a secondary code of BPAGACAA, Disease-Specific Research & Support (e.g., Cancer, Diabetes, ALS). Its NAICS code is 5417 and its SIC code is 8742.