As we are preparing for our first ex-U.S. RESI event, on June 23rd in collaboration with Johnson and Johnson Innovation (JLABS) at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, we wanted to take the pulse of the early-stage investment community in Canada by taking a look at some data from the LSN investor platform.

One thing that distinguishes Canada's venture landscape from the U.S. and elsewhere is the high level of involvement from the Canadian government in the venture world. This is underscored by injections of capital into two separate fund of funds that will invest in several Canadian venture funds as well as venture funds in the U.S. which invest in Canadian companies...

More and more healthcare institutions are opening their doors to innovation, eyeing on the opportunity to save costs, increase efficiency, and boost patient satisfaction. Partnership with large and reputable institutions can provide valuable, sometimes make-or-break, resources to startups such as patient data, pilot testing, clinician endorsement, and early validation.

However, unlike big vendors who easily know their way around large institutions, it is a daunting task for startup teams to navigate such massive healthcare institution as MD Anderson or Texas Children's Hospital. How to engage large institutions? How to align incentives? Is there is a right time to start a dialogue? In the most recent RESI conference at TMCx accelerator on April 11, innovation officers from four top-tier medical centers gathered to shed some light on these questions...