Toronto, Ontario – April 11, 2016. Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) hosted its annual Queen’s Park Advocacy Day on April 5, attracting an impressive 150 attendees including 50 elected officials. High profile meetings with the Premier and key Ministers took place throughout the day followed by a reception which served as an awareness and showcase campaign of 15 health science companies including several from among OBIO’s CAAP entrepreneurs. Politicians from all Parties interacted with innovative health technology being developed right here in Ontario and engaged with members of the health science industry. OBIO’s All-Party MPP Health Science Caucus was on hand to share their enthusiasm for the industry and support the sector.
“OBIO’s Provincial Advocacy Day is the first phase of a larger initiative.” said Gail Garland, President and CEO of OBIO. “We have spent the last 9 months consulting with 125 CEOs from industry to look at the future of the global industry, identify the opportunities for Ontario and Canada and make recommendations to ensure we derive the economic and patient benefits from competing successfully on the world stage.”
Here are what others had to say about the event:
"I would like to congratulate OBIO on its successful inaugural Queen's Park Advocacy Day and their investments in Ontario's life sciences companies over the past five years. Our government is committed to ensuring that Ontario’s world-class life sciences research is translated into innovative products and successful companies. Our government is proud to have supported OBIO’s efforts in helping promising companies become investment-ready.”
Reza Moridi, Minister of Research and Innovation
MPP Richmond Hill
“I was honoured to deliver a statement and offer a greeting in support of OBIO as part of your Advocacy Day at Queen’s Park. I believe OBIO provides a unique approach to engaging in the development of a health innovation economy for Ontario. A way to engage companies to stay and grow in Ontario in the areas of health and human sciences. A way to build trust and strengthen relationships between government and industry as a mechanism to build a competitively successful health science industry in a $9 Trillion Dollar Economy.”
Bill Walker, MPP Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
PC Critic, Seniors & Long Term Care
“OBIO’s Advocacy Day at Queen’s Park was a great success for advancing the conversation on human health science innovation in Ontario. OBIO’s members and companies will lead the transformation of health care delivery in this province. Based on the conversations that I had on OBIO’s Advocacy Day, it is clear that what we need is greater transparency, decisive action and more access for innovators.” Catherine Fife, MPP Kitchener-Waterloo NDP Critic, Finance & Treasury Board
“The OBIO Queen's Park Advocacy Event was a great opportunity for companies such as Translatum Medicus inc to showcase their potential contributions to the biomedical community, and the province, to the MPPs of Ontario. The attendance and genuine interest by MPPs at the event was exceptional. OBIO is making great strides in advocating for early stage life science companies, and in raising awareness for the importance of this business sector. TMi is proud to be an active member of OBIO.”
Dr Shelley Boyd, MD, FRCSC
President & Chief Scientific Officer
"OBIO’s QP Advocacy Day was a great event for Swift Medical. We had the chance to share our excitement and passion with MPPs. It gave us a space to share our early successes and challenges, such as procurement. Access to community leaders opened important doors and created important connections we hope to build into strong relationships."
Rob Fraser BScN MN RN
VP Strategy and Clinical Engagement Swift Medical
The discussion focused on the Ontario Highlights from OBIO’s upcoming report “How Canada Should be Engaging in a $9 Trillion Dollar Health Economy” set for release at the end of April and to brief elected officials on the issues affecting Ontario’s Health Science Industry. The commercialization of health technology is an opportunity to diversify Canada’s economy, create quality jobs and to ensure our highly educated workforce can remain here and build a future.
Click here for a photo gallery of the event!
The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization engaged in the development of an integrated health innovation economy for Ontario and one that will become a global leader in providing health technology products and services to the international marketplace. OBIO advances this goal through advocacy, promotion and strategic leadership and via collaborative partnerships with industry, academia, patients and government.
Follow OBIO on Twitter @OBIOscience