Ward of the 21st Century (W21C)

The generosity of ATCO Group enables the Ward of the 21st Century (W21C) to continue serving as a research and innovation centre with expertise in developing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of innovation for social and health-system benefits. W21C provides research services on a wide variety of projects. 

SPARK Calgary is one such project and part of the larger SPARK Global network. SPARK Calgary is a one-year cohort-based program supporting evidence-based digital health innovations within UCalgary and other local academic institutions. The goal of SPARK is to bridge science and clinical practice to ensure that important ideas and discoveries are implemented to maximize social impact and benefit patients. Since launching in 2021, SPARK Calgary has had 14 teams consisting of 92 team members participate. This has resulted in two new companies, seven new prototypes of digital health innovations and five filed patents. W21C hopes to grow the program into a provincial model, SPARK Alberta. 

W21C has also created a formal partnership with the Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network, which will allow more homegrown technology solutions into Canada’s health-care sector and assist more companies on their journeys to scale up. Partnerships have been crucial to W21C’s success and CAN Health Network will provide further opportunities with its national partnerships with leading health-care organizations. These public or private organizations are known as Edges and include hospitals, home care organizations, health authorities, private clinics and more. Edges provide promising or procurement-ready innovations to advance rapidly through the acquisition process at a national level.  

W21C is leading an application with the Government of Alberta's Major Innovation Fund competition. This application will bring together researchers, organizations and industry from across the province with the vision of creating a vibrant eHealth and mHealth (mobile health) ecosystem for Alberta. Whether successful or not, this application is creating enormous opportunities for the future of W21C’s program and has allowed W21C to work with new researchers and partners.