(right to left) Akshita Vincent (Director Strategy and Partnerships, PRiME University of Toronto), Olaf Kjelsen (Ambassador of Switzerland), Prof. Molly Shoichet (Scientific Director PRiME, University of Toronto), Prof. Melanie Woodin (President University of Toronto), Karim Bardeesy (Member of Parliament), Urs Obrist (Senior Science and Technology Counsellor, Embassy of Switzerland)

Two firsts in Canada in 2025: Swiss-Canadian Innovation Symposium and Innosuisse Startup Camp in Toronto

Research excellence and collaboration enhancement were the focus of the 2025 Swiss-Canadian Innovation Symposium (SCIS) that was for the first time held in Toronto. The Embassy partnered up with the University of Toronto’s (UofT) PRiME program to focus on AI-driven precision oncology. The UofT is Canada’s leading research university and PRiME is strongly invested in expanding its international collaboration both on the side of industry as well as academia.

A high-level dinner on the eve of the SCIS brought together all Swiss and Canadian panelists, distinguished representatives from industry, investment, research institutions, and from Canada’s federal Parliament as well.

The scientific symposium consisted of two morning and afternoon sessions, a pitch competition, a fireside chat and a networking reception. Among the more than 210 registered guests were the recently installed UofT President Melanie Woodin, MP Karim Bardeesy, the Parliamentary Secretary to Innovation Minister Mélanie Joly, and PRiME’s multiple award-winning scientific director Molly Shoichet. The exceptional line-up (https://live-prime2.pantheonsite.io/swiss-canadian-innovation-symposium/) featured Swiss professors Paola Picotta, Bernd Wollscheid, Roger Schibli, Valentina Boeva, and Nicolas Thomä. With their Canadian colleagues, they presented on biomarker discovery and systems-level proteomics, computational frontiers in oncology, advancements in precision delivery innovation platforms, and the AI/ML revolution in drug design. The program was complemented with an industry fireside chat to delineate the work of the private industry in AI-driven drug discovery. The participating institutions aim now to work towards an MoU.

The SCIS also offered the opportunity for four promising Swiss start-ups to present themselves to an expert audience. Limula, InVirtuoLabs, bionomous and GoHealthy were part of the very first Innosuisse startup camp in Canada. For this flagship project, the Embassy joined forces with Swissnex San Francisco and Innosuisse to introduce Swiss life-sciences Startups to Canada’s most vibrant innovation eco-system. They took in two weeks of intensive programming set up by Fabienne Bütler (Embassy Ottawa) and Matteo Cariglia (SNX SF). This allowed for an informative deep-dive into Canada’s health-care market, incorporation practices, DEI requirements, IP considerations, pitch-training, and additional workshops on launching into the Canadian business world, fundraising, and storytelling. The participants were full of praise for the high quality of the programming, the valuable contacts established, and the lessons learned. Thus, the Embassy is considering a next edition in 2026.