Health Innovation Roundup
Sept. 23, 2026

Headlines

• Sophie Gray of DiveThru addressed what innovation means to her at the Femtech Connect event put on by Antigoni Studios during Life Sciences Week. "Something I've really learned as an entrepreneur and around innovating is that sometimes we don't need to innovate (the core service)," she said during a company showcase as she discussed DiveThru's new reduced-rate program. "The thing we need to innovate is everything around it to make it easier for someone to access that."
• Prismecha Robotics has spun out of a University of Alberta research lab to make robotic prosthetics work better for people with limb differences using AI. "This is an emerging area that's exploding right now — people wanting to use robots with machine learning — but they're not necessarily designed for that purpose," Michael (Rory) Dawson told Taproot at the BioRob conference in August. "We've been doing that all along." The company was incorporated earlier this year by Dawson, a protégé of Patrick Pilarski, co-lead of the BLINC Lab and a fellow at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.
• Zylotex founder Lelia Lawson reflected on the Alberta Capital Connect pilot launch at the ASTech Awards opening ceremony. "It was a rapid-fire, exhausting, lose-your-voice-by-the-end kind of event," she wrote. "We all left buzzing about the innovation happening across Alberta." Health innovators accepted into the program include Patricia Nadworny of FeynMed Solutions, Harpuneet Kaur of Humble Insurance Brokers, Catalina Vasquez of Nanostics, Nina Karpoff of RNARevive, Adil Muhammad of SenseHuman.AI, Mohamed Sabek of VisioConTech, Piyush Kumar of WWiKY BioSciences Inc., and Aaron Purchase of MagnetaMR. The next stage of the program, which is meant to connect investors with innovators, will see a smaller cohort advancing to a second session tied to the Nov. 6 ASTech Awards gala in Edmonton.
• RNARevive co-founder and COO Nina Karpoff described her path from genetics and health-care leadership to helping commercialize RNA therapeutics, after earlier ventures in photography, an online marketplace, and a women's mountain-biking program. "I've always had a yearning spirit," she said in an Alberta School of Business alumna profile. "I need to be learning, growing, and challenging myself."
• The Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury at the University of Alberta received more than US$3 million in combined funding from three foundations to expand its repository of published and unpublished research. The funding will support data curation, software tools, and common reporting standards with the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. The project "fights waste in research," said co-director Karim Fouad. "Data can be pooled, independently analyzed and reused."
• The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute's Approximately Correct podcast explored social robotics with Angelica Lim, a Canada CIFAR AI Chair who directs the ROSIE Lab at Simon Fraser University. The conversation covered the challenges of giving AI empathy and why turning robots into artificial friends may not be the ideal goal.
• The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute's recap of All In, an AI summit in Montreal, highlighted a talk by Amii's Greg Burlet and Daniel Zikovitz of the AI Centre of Excellence in Cancer Care on "how Amii's AI + X approach is driving real-world impact across industries."
• The University of Alberta and the Government of the Northwest Territories have signed a research agreement running through March 2035. The partnership focuses on northern priorities including AI, climate change, public health, and agriculture, and commits to Indigenous-led or co-developed research and Indigenous data sovereignty.
• University of Alberta health-law researcher Timothy Caulfield warned that AI-generated ads using doctors' likenesses are becoming harder to spot, scamming patients and putting their health at risk. Canadian physicians told CBC there is no clear way to have the videos removed.
• Stollery Children's Hospital ranked 40th globally for pediatrics in Newsweek and Statista's 2026 specialized hospital rankings, with its cardiac capabilities highlighted.
• Alberta Innovates has reopened expressions of interest for its Accelerating Innovations into Care program, which offers staged, non-dilutive funding to Alberta companies developing health technologies. Intake forms are due on Nov. 27, and full applications are due on Jan. 15.

Social innovation

• The Stony Plain Road Business Association hired outreach navigators with an $81,000 enhanced services grant from the city to help people in vulnerable situations, build "dignity kits," and advise businesses on addressing social disorder. The program's continuation depends on the outcome of the city's next four-year budget deliberations. "I think on behalf of all of the BIAs, we're very appreciative, and we think the enhanced services grant needs to stay," the business association's Todd Janes told Taproot.
• The Edmonton Community Foundation is celebrating 25 years of the Belcourt Brosseau Métis Awards. The awards, funded by an endowment donated by Orval Belcourt, Herb Belcourt, and Georges Brosseau, has distributed more than $13 million through nearly 4,400 student awards. The Well Endowed Podcast explored how former recipients have become mentors and leaders, with some recipients' children now receiving awards.
• A recovery group in Edmonton is aiming to support inmates released from custody by facilitating a smoother transition back into the community. The initiative, led by Soberhood Edmonton, provides essential resources such as housing, employment assistance, and mental health support. The group collaborates with local businesses and agencies to offer comprehensive services designed to reduce recidivism rates and help former inmates build stable lives after their release. Meanwhile, the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Police Service are reviewing how they collaborate on public safety, with a report expected to go to council in late 2027.
• CRIPSiE's Nothing About Us, Without Us, a show featuring spoken word, dance and music, aimed to challenge stigma around performers with disabilities. "I am out and proud about being disabled," choreographer Brooke Leifso told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. "The theme … is really looking at how do we uplift disabled lives, our stories, our issues, and our art?"
• The Stable Family Development Centre, which supports newcomer and Black families, held a workshop about discussing mental health, with Somali journalist Amina Mussa as guest speaker. Mussa and workshop organizer Duran Aden spoke to CBC's Edmonton AM about why it's important to spur conversations about mental health.

More health news

• Alberta recorded 1.035 million flu vaccine doses in 2025-26, the lowest number on the provincial dashboard since 2010. Only one in five Albertans was immunized, while flu-linked deaths reached 282 province-wide, including 92 in the Edmonton zone. The 2026-27 vaccine rollout begins on Oct. 5.
• The Alberta government is considering changes to the Traffic Safety Act that would give municipalities more authority to regulate e-scooters and other personal micromobility devices, including speed limits, age restrictions, and where they can be used. The proposed changes come amid safety concerns, with an Edmonton study finding 759 adults sought emergency treatment for injuries from rented e-scooters between 2019 and 2021.
• A Parkland Institute report criticizes Alberta's upcoming referendum, which includes five immigration-related questions. The report, authored by Bronwyn Bragg from the University of Lethbridge, argues that these questions unfairly blame immigrant communities for strains on public services. The report contends that the questions rely on problematic anti-immigrant tropes; a government spokesperson dismissed the report as inflammatory.
• Boyle Street Community Services is seeking donations because its annual Thanksgiving meal is at risk due to rising costs. "For more than 15 years, Boyle Street has been committed to providing a dignified, sit-down meal with all the Thanksgiving fixings to anyone who needs one," external relations director Elliott Tanti said in a release.
• The Alberta RCMP unveiled a memorial plaque at its 109 Street headquarters honouring members who have died by suicide. It is one of 15 plaques installed across Canada.
• A new Emergency Health Services Alberta station in Redwater is complete, replacing a trailer and providing paramedics with a purpose-built facility for the community and surrounding area. The approximately $3.6-million project was funded through Alberta's Rural Health Facilities Revitalization Program.
• Strathcona County extended its Emergency Health Services contract with the province through March 31, 2029, preserving its integrated fire and ambulance model with no additional renewal cost. The province continues to review municipal ambulance funding and future service-delivery options.

Happenings

Here are some events coming up soon:

• Sept. 23-25: Lab2Market Summit at University of Alberta
• Sept. 24: Disability Justice and Employment starting at 12pm online
• Sept. 24: eHUB SPARK Pitch Night starting at 5:30pm at University of Alberta (eHUB)
• Sept. 25: AI + Health Forum: Innovation, System Leadership, and the Future of Care starting at 2pm at Amii
• Sept. 25: Life Sciences Week Official Wrap-Up Celebration starting at 6pm at Enterprise Square

And here are more to keep in mind:

• Oct. 14: Health Data Connect: Perspectives, Pathways and Possibilities at Royal Glenora Club
• Oct. 14: The Future We Can Afford at ArtsHub Ortona
• Oct. 15: ERINnovation Meetup at CAMS: Where Health Innovation Meets Simulation at NAIT (Feltham Centre)

Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.