Program Curriculum

The program is completed over the course of 10.5 months. The training and experience fellows receive will serve to de-risk the commercialization/start-up path by equipping them with relevant knowledge, connections to mentors, industry partners and investors, and having already identified and tested markets for their innovations.

BOOTCAMP AT WORLDISCOVERIES

Western Research Park

  • Three weeks of an educational and hands-on ‘boot camp’
  • Experienced speakers with diverse backgrounds (academic researchers, clinicians, industry representatives, entrepreneurs, investors)
  • Training on medical innovation, prototyping, intellectual property, regulatory affairs, and business strategy
  • In depth instruction on policies, procedures, and intellectual property and regulatory guidelines in Canada, at Western, Lawson Health Research Institute and their research partners
  • Five day design sprint

Clinical Immersion

London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph's Health Care London, and BrainsCAN for cognitive neuroscience

  • Shadowing of clinicians in operating rooms, clinics, and imaging suites to identify unmet clinical needs
  • Start with pre-selected areas of high potential for commercial development, but free to move to any topic the team feels could yield an innovation
  • As a team, fellows study and evaluate various projects within their chosen areas and pursue those with the highest commercialization potential
  • Areas of focus will be set on an annual basis and can be expanded based on the number of fellows
  • For MIFs exploring innovations in the area of cognitive neuroscience, BrainsCAN infrastructure and expertise will be made available

Design and Prototyping

Across all partner sites

  • Begin research and development, collaborating with appropriate clinicians and researchers to create new devices and software to meet clinically identified needs
  • Refine ideas, assess potential markets and evaluate capacity for intellectual property creation, filing a Report of Innovation with WORLDiscoveries for each promising innovation
  • Use existing services and facilities (e.g., at Robarts, Western and Lawson) to design, prototype and test technologies
  • Leverage connections within the London and Ontario Life Sciences communities to further refine ideas and evaluate potential international markets