W21C Research and Innovation Centre | Annual Report 2020 - 2021

COLLABORATION
SPARK Calgary:
A success story
Translating academic digital health innovations into clinical practice
Often great innovations can get stuck in the research
phase and do not make it out of the lab and into the
hands of those who need it. Launched in April 2020 and
led by Dr. Scott Kraft, MD, W21C Research and Innovation
Centre, SPARK Calgary helps academic researchers,
post-doctoral scholars, and students with digital health
innovations bridge that gap, increasing potential for
these important ideas and discoveries to make it into
clinical practice to benefit patients and the community.
These digital health innovations include products such as
mobile applications for patients, monitoring or diagnostic
2
cohorts
launched
15
project presentations to
industry advisors
SPARK CALGARY
YEAR AT A GLANCE
technologies, and data visualization software.
SPARK Calgary is part of the SPARK Global network.
Initiated in 2006 at Stanford University, SPARK Global is
comprised of more than 60 academic institutions across
six continents. W21C is the first and only Canadian site.
In its first year, SPARK Calgary supported 11 digital health
project teams with group mentorship from industry
experts, educational seminars for product and business
development, project management support, and in-kind
W21C research services.
$40K
in Alberta Innovates
and Calgary
Innovation Coalition
funding for the
SPARK program
12
education sessions to
297
attendees
Digital health platform aims to reduce
antimicrobial resistance: Firstline
Since the discovery of penicillin in
1928, antibiotics have become a
foundation for modern medicine,
and continue to significantly improve
our lives. However, years of overuse
are causing increasing rates of
antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
around the world. A digital clinical
decision support platform created
by Canadian company Firstline
Clinical, was developed to combat
and prevent the overuse of broadspectrum
antibiotics. Their goal is
to become the worldwide digital
steward to increase adherence to
prescription guidelines and reduce
AMR. W21C worked with Firstline
to conduct a heuristic evaluation
of their iOS and Android-based
smart phone application (SApp),
as well as the web-based content
management system (CMS). More
recently, Firstline has been working
with W21C to customize and launch
the application globally, and it is
currently being used across Canada,
the United States, Europe, Southeast
Asia, and Africa. In Canada, the app
is servicing over 400,000 healthcare
providers, with nearly 300,000
uses to date within AHS alone. The
platform is customizable to local
health guidelines and continues to be
quickly updated to include relevant
COVID-19 support pages. In 2020,
Firstline and their partners received
over $4 million from Canada’s Digital
Technology Supercluster to build
a global knowledge network for
infectious diseases, and to develop a
software solution for researchers to
harness COVID-related genomic and
clinical data. New versions are now
being developed for the WHO as well
as for use by veterinarians—creating
impact in both human
and animal health.
11
teams
with over
50
Including students, PhD
candidates, post-docs, faculty
Affiliated with or alumni
of 8 academic institutions
Spanning 9 university faculties
22
industry advisors
from across Canada
(BC, Alberta, Ontario)
team members
supported
PARTNERSHIPS
Innovate Calgary
Platform Calgary
Venture Mentoring
Service of Alberta
(VMSA)
Life Sciences
Innovation Hub
INITIATED AND CHAIR FOR
SPARK AMERICAS
Members = SPARK Stanford, Wyoming,
Mexico, Colorado, Cleveland Clinic
Aim to provide opportunities for team
members and advisors to connect across sites
Share best practices on SPARK
Collaborate on educational programming
$30k
in funding secured by
teams since joining
SPARK Calgary
335
people engaged
through public
outreach events
Software platform focuses on
enhancing stroke treatment triage:
StrokeSENS
In Canada, stroke is the third
leading cause of death and the
leading cause of adult disability.
Every year, there are over 50,000
new strokes in our country—
approximately one stroke every 10
minutes. In 1993, neurologist Dr.
Camilo Gomez coined a fundamental
rule of stroke treatment, ‘time is
brain.’ This rule still holds today,
meaning that quick identification
and accurate imaging interpretation
are essential at front-line hospitals
for the successful treatment of
strokes. StrokeSENS, created by
Circle Neurovascular Imaging Inc.,
was designed specifically for this
purpose. This software platform,
developed by expert physicians,
acts as a clinical decision support
tool for non-stroke physicians in a
variety of urban and rural locations.
W21C was approached by Circle
Neurovascular Imaging Inc. to
perform a heuristic evaluation with
design experts to help them enhance
the overall usability of their platform.
In the future, they hope to integrate
StrokeSENS into the clinical pathway
for stroke care. This tool could be
used to enhance patient triage,
providing information on key stroke
indicators (aspects) and enabling the
physicians to understand whether
a patient should go to a specialized
acute stroke care centre for
treatment (e.g., the Foothills Medical
Centre), or if they can be cared for in
other health-care facilities.
ADDITIONAL W21C
DIGITAL HEALTH
STATS
$1,925,254
in external grants and
industry sponsored
funding from 2018-2021
28 digital health
projects supported
Health Innovation
Platform Partnership’s
Stage 1 Grant
Launch of SPARK
Calgary program
13
W21C Research and Innovation Centre
Annual Report 2020–2021 | COLLABORATION
14