In direct competition with North America’s leading health research and commercialization hubs, Toronto’s vast life sciences ecosystem has made the region a thriving centre for the discovery, development and market-readiness of advanced medical products and solutions – all at a lower cost.
At the heart of this ecosystem is the University Health Network (UHN). Comprised of four world-leading hospitals and seven state-of-the-art research institutes, UHN is located in Toronto’s 7 million square foot Discovery District, a research park and health innovation hub that invests over $1 billion annually in public and private medical research and is home to Canada’s largest concentration of hospitals, research institutes, business incubators, venture capital organizations and world-renowned academic institutions.
Click on the headings below to learn more about the many advantages of doing business in the Toronto area.
The Toronto region is home to the largest geographic concentration of health sciences assets in Canada, with strong connections to other global centres of expertise. The city’s life sciences sector employs nearly 30,000 professionals and contributes more than $2 billion to the local economy.The result is a thriving HHS cluster with excellent potential for continued growth and groundbreaking research.
Today, Toronto’s HHS research outputs include:
• $1B+ in research funding across universities and partner hospitals
• 9,300+ annual life science graduates
• 9,500+ researchers and research staff
Toronto enables leading HHS companies to thrive, offering many advantages including:
• An Established Industry Ecosystem: A hub for HHS/pharmaceutical companies, academic research and world-class talent.
• A Generous Tax Incentive Program: The Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program (SR&ED) provides investment tax credits to individuals or corporations that conduct research and development in Canada.
• Lower Costs: The cost of doing business in Toronto is well below the three major U.S. health sciences clusters . KPMG recently ranked Toronto the world’s second-most cost-effective business and investment environment. https://www.toronto.ca/business-economy/invest-in-toronto/competitive-city/business-costs-in-toronto/
Toronto brings together leading-edge medical research, international business expertise and advanced manufacturing capabilities – offering a perfect mix of science, business and lifestyle in North America’s fourth-largest city.
Highlights of Toronto’s well-established industry ecosystem include:
• Home to thousands of startups and multinational companies including pharmaceutical, medical device and digital health companies
• Highly skilled professionals, academics and technicians
• Home to more than 50 of the world’s top 100 life sciences companies
• Home to 16 of the world’s top 25 global medical device companies
• Home to 37 research institutes, nine teaching hospitals, and the world-renowned University of Toronto
• A leader in growing fields including regenerative medicine and artificial intelligence for healthcare
• A centre for global clinical trials
• A dynamic metro region
• An advanced business environment
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Toronto brings together the perfect mix of world-leading academic, translational and clinical research, a business-friendly tax environment and one of the most affordable, safe and fastest-growing tech markets in North America.
Today, the dynamic Ontario Life Sciences sector generates over $40 billion in annual revenues and employs nearly 83,000 people – making Toronto a magnet for investors, multinational companies and highly skilled personnel.
At the heart of this vibrant ecosystem is the Toronto Academic Health Science Network comprised of the University of Toronto and 13 affiliated research hospitals, including Canada’s largest and leading research hospital, the University Health Network.
Toronto is a hub for world-class health sciences talent – with 38,000 employees across 800+ companies spanning all major areas of HHS.
One of the fastest growing areas in North America, Toronto welcomes 100,000 new residents to the area every year. Canada’s skills-based immigration system ensures many of these newcomers are highly-skilled professionals from around the world. The city’s incredible diversity drives enhanced innovation and greater connectivity with the rest of the world.
The Toronto region’s thriving HHS cluster offers specialized scientific infrastructure and globally recognized expertise and is known for an impressive history of “firsts” – conducting pioneering research across a number of therapeutic areas, including cancer, neuroscience and chronic diseases, and excelling in cellular and regenerative medicine, genomics, imaging and medical devices, and digital health and informatics.
For over 60 years, Toronto has been at the forefront of global research and advancements in the area of regenerative medicine:
• Discovery of stem cells in 1961
• Home to Princess Margaret Cancer Centre –Canada’s leading hospital for cancer research, teaching and treatment and stem cell research
• Globally recognized stem cell publications – University of Toronto ranked #2, Mount Sinai hospital ranked #4
• 160 local researchers currently dedicated to regenerative medicine
• Recently established Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine’s Centre for Cell and Vector Production, focused on the manufacture of clinical-grade cells for Phase 1 and 2 trials
• A more vast cell and gene manufacturing facility in the greater Toronto area’s McMaster Innovation Park., OmniaBio Inc., is soon set for completion and will serve as the largest such facility in Canada.
More than 3,500 active clinical trials make Ontario the 7th largest clinical trials jurisdiction in North America. Toronto has become an ideal location for global clinical trials thanks to:
• Lower clinical trial management costs than in the U.S.
• Streamlined operations and approvals processes -- with a new single ethics review for multi-centre clinical trials
• The recognition of Ontario-based clinical trial data by U.S. and EU authorities
• Access to the world’s most ethnically diverse participant pool, notably within the University Health Network
Housing 8% of the country’s entire population, Toronto is widely recognized as Canada’s largest city. It is also the most ethnically diverse city in the world. Half of all Torontonians are foreign-born, and residents speak over 140 languages.
This incredible diversity enables access to leading-edge informatics and data supported by robust digital infrastructure, and a universal healthcare system to support comprehensive data collection, analytics and sharing.
The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) leads cutting-edge studies that evaluate healthcare delivery and population outcomes -- providing access to a vast and secure array of Ontario’s demographic and health-related data, including:
• Population-based health surveys
• Anonymous patient records
• Clinical and administrative databases