AGE-WELL is pleased to be a founding partner of AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto, a major new collaborative initiative supported by AGE-WELL and the University of Toronto (U of T) to accelerate innovation for an aging population.
AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto, an Institutional Strategic Initiative at U of T, will create a dynamic platform where researchers, students, older adults and caregivers, health and community organizations, industry, government and entrepreneurs can connect, collaborate and move promising ideas forward. AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto integrates research, training and real-world implementation across the university’s three campuses.
The goal is to help build the Greater Toronto Area into a world-leading centre for AgeTech.
AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto brings together U of T’s interdisciplinary strengths and AGE-WELL’s national network and experience supporting AgeTech research, training, innovation and commercialization. The LaunchPad is supported by U of T through its Institutional Strategic Initiatives (ISI) program, which supports large-scale, high-impact interdisciplinary research.
AGE-WELL will contribute its national expertise, networks, partnerships and programming, helping to connect U of T researchers, trainees and partners with the broader Canadian AgeTech ecosystem. It will also contribute expertise in capacity building, knowledge mobilization, technology adoption and engagement with older adults and caregivers, strengthening pathways from research and innovation to real-world impact.
“This is an exciting opportunity to build on what AGE-WELL, as steward of Canada’s AgeTech ecosystem, has developed over the past decade, to advance AgeTech development with U of T, a long-time, valued AGE-WELL partner and leader in healthy aging,” said Bridgette Murphy, CEO of AGE-WELL, Canada’s technology and aging network.
“We are grateful to the ISI program and other U of T faculties and divisions for supporting this new initiative, which will benefit older adults, caregivers and health care systems, while training the next generation of leaders. This initiative will also enhance opportunities for impact across the broader AgeTech ecosystem.”
AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto is led by Academic Co-Directors Alex Mihailidis, a U of T professor and AGE-WELL founding Scientific Director and Vice-Chair, Research, and Michelle Silver, Chair of the Department of Health & Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
The LaunchPad will support a suite of programs aligned with AGE-WELL’s three pillars: research, capacity building and technology adoption.
At its heart, the LaunchPad is about connection and action. It will help people find collaborators, test ideas with communities, access research and expertise, develop new solutions and create pathways from discovery to implementation and adoption.
AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto will also create new opportunities for students and emerging researchers to engage directly with the AgeTech ecosystem, building the skills, relationships and experience needed to lead innovation in the years ahead.
New funding opportunities will launch in November. A LaunchPad networking event will be held on November 17, providing an opportunity to learn more about the initiative, connect with potential collaborators and help shape what comes next.
AGE-WELL thanks and acknowledges the many contributors and collaborators across the University of Toronto involved in making AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto possible, including: Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Data Sciences Institute; Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; Faculty of Arts & Science; Faculty of Information; Indigenous Research Network; Faculty of Music; Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing; School of Cities; Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society; Temerty Faculty of Medicine; University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), including the Department of Health & Society; and the Institutional Strategic Initiatives (ISI) program.