Health innovation bottleneck: adoption, not invention

Canada’s health-tech problem is not a lack of inventions, two University of Waterloo experts wrote this week. They said the bigger obstacle is getting proven tools adopted inside Canada’s health system. (uwaterloo.ca) Moazam Khan and Elliot Fung made that case in an opinion piece published April 22, 2026 by Waterloo News. Khan leads Velocity Health & Medical Innovation Xchange, and the article said part of the piece also ran in Metroland newspapers the same day. (uwaterloo.ca) Their argument starts with a basic distinction: invention is building a new device, software tool or care model, while adoption is a hospital or clinic actually buying it, testing it and using it at scale. The authors wrote that Canada has strong research and startup output, but weak pathways for procurement and rollout in a publicly funded system. (uwaterloo.ca) The piece lands as health systems across Canada are still dealing with wait times, staffing pressure and modernization projects. A 2025 paper in *Health Research Policy and Systems* identified culture, funding gaps, limited mechanisms to adapt innovations locally and workforce shortages as barriers to health-system innovation in Canada. (uwaterloo.ca) (springer.com) Waterloo’s example is a regional network built to move startups past the lab stage. University of Waterloo said Velocity Health launched in 2023 with partners including Grand River Hospital Foundation, the Accelerating Clinical Trials Consortium at McMaster University, the University of Calgary’s IMPACT program, Medical Innovation Xchange, Western University and MaRS Discovery District. (uwaterloo.ca 1) (uwaterloo.ca 2) That network was backed earlier by a $10 million FedDev Ontario investment announced in 2021. Waterloo said the funding supported a Southwestern Ontario Health Innovation network led by Velocity, Western University, the City of Kitchener and Medical Innovation Xchange. (uwaterloo.ca) The region has also been building physical space around that strategy. Waterloo Economic Development said in 2024 that the Innovation Arena was working with Medical Innovation Xchange and local hospital partnerships to speed commercialization and delivery of health technologies. (waterlooedc.ca) Others in Canadian medicine have been making a similar case. A 2025 *Canadian Medical Association Journal* article said health-care organizations’ culture and policies often block private-sector partnerships, and argued that health systems need to function more like “living laboratories” where clinicians, patients and companies can test and refine solutions together. (cmaj.ca) Khan and Fung’s point is narrower than saying Canada needs more startups. They wrote that faster adoption pathways would let regional ideas move from pilot projects into provincial and national systems, which is the step they say Canada still struggles to make. (uwaterloo.ca)