Defy Dementia
2023–24 Impact Report
DIGITAL VERSION
Mission
To drive the development and adoption of transformative aging and brain health innovations.
Vision
A world where every older person lives with purpose, fulfillment, and dignity.
Accelerating Innovations that Defy Dementia
Last year at CABHI we continued our strong track record, further expanding our leadership position as the preeminent and most active global innovation accelerator in the aging and brain health sector.
Read a message from our President and Chief Scientist, Dr. Allison Sekuler, and the Chair of our Board of Directors, Jeff Blidner.$185M+
in funding directed toward advancing innovative projects
$79M+
levered in addition to CABHI’s government funding
$610M+
in follow-on funding secured by CABHI-affiliated companies
528
projects launched
$80M+
in jobs created and sustained
CABHI’s
Impact to Date
415
unique solutions supported
199
solutions evaluated
110,000+
Canadian older persons and caregivers engaged in CABHI projects
4,700+
highly qualified personnel (HQP) involved in CABHI projects
353,000+
people reached directly through CABHI-supported education, knowledge mobilization, and communication activities
151
solutions introduced into real-world and clinical settings
$185M+
in funding directed toward advancing innovative projects
$79M+
levered in addition to CABHI’s government funding
$80M+
in jobs created and sustained
CABHI’s
Impact to Date
110,000+
Canadian older persons and caregivers engaged in CABHI projects
4,700+
highly qualified personnel (HQP) involved in CABHI projects
$610M+
in follow-on funding secured by CABHI-affiliated companies
528
projects launched
415
unique solutions supported
199
solutions evaluated
353,000+
people reached directly through CABHI-supported education, knowledge mobilization, and communication activities
151
solutions introduced into real-world and clinical settings
*Figures as of March 31, 2024.
*Figures as of March 31, 2024.
Our innovation themes ensure our projects and partnerships build upon our mission and help realize our vision. When assessing opportunities, we ensure alignment with our core innovation themes and our cross-cutting innovation themes.
Core Themes
Enabling older persons and people living with dementia to live in the setting of their choice and remain active in their communities for as long as possible.
Aiding or simplifying day-to-day caregiving responsibilities, providing education or training on caregiving topics, or helping caregivers maintain their own well-being while they care for older persons and people living with dementia.
Helping older persons and people living with dementia and their caregivers navigate the healthcare system to access timely and appropriate care, while also supporting healthcare providers align their practice with long-term care standards.
Ensuring early detection of cognitive impairment or dementia in older persons, implementing preventative care approaches to maintain or enhance older persons’ brain health (including both cognitive and mental health supports), and protecting the cognitive and mental health of healthcare providers and caregivers.
Helping older persons remain financially independent, stay safe in the workforce longer, seek later-life employment, prepare for retirement, plan for financing care, and prevent financial exploitation.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Diversity, Accessibility, and Health Equity: Ensuring aging and brain health needs are addressed and solutions are accessible for Indigenous, Black, and racially and culturally diverse communities; women; people living with disabilities; members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community; rural or Northern communities; or other vulnerable populations; and including issues of intersectionality.
Creating opportunities and programs for enhanced engagement and social connection for older persons, including intergenerational programs to combat ageism and stigma and support strong cognitive and mental health in older persons. Protecting older persons, particularly those living with cognitive decline and dementia, against elder abuse and other unsafe relationships.
The team at CABHI, in conjunction with all program offerings, were instrumental in ensuring we were equipped with resources needed to thrive throughout the program’s duration
— Curv Health, CABHI MC2 portfolio company
Spark
The Spark program empowers point-of-care workers, clinicians, researchers, and caregivers to test ideas that have the potential to change the care landscape for older persons. In addition to funding, Spark provides tailored coaching, mentorship, networking, and end-user validation to move innovative ideas from proof-of-concept to reality.
Mentorship, Capital, and Continuation (MC2)
The Mentorship, Capital, and Continuation program (also known as MC2) is a program, in partnership with National Bank, that works with early-stage healthtech and fintech companies to help them achieve their validation and business milestones on their pathway to commercialization, growth, and scale. In addition to funding, MC2 provides acceleration services such as access to end-user validation, business and research expertise, our Innovation Network, and so much more.
Discover + Adopt (D+A)
The D+A program supports healthcare organizations (e.g., long-term care homes, hospitals, home healthcare and community-based organizations, etc.) to build their skills and receptivity to adopt innovation within their organizations. In addition to funding, participants receive training and coaching support to find, introduce, implement, and sustain high-quality innovative solutions that address their pain points.
CABHI offers innovators a range of acceleration services to enhance the success of their funded projects. These services are meant to provide end-to-end support, guiding innovations through the various stages of development, from testing to validation, implementation, and scaling.
Alison Smith, Ph.D.,
Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Roga Life Inc.,
MC2 portfolio company.
Photo: Eric Benchimol, 2024.
Alison Smith, Ph.D.,
Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Roga Life Inc.,
MC2 portfolio company.
Photo: Eric Benchimol, 2024.
Our Coaches Community provides innovators with access to subject matter experts (e.g., business development, finance, regulatory affairs, etc.) to help them grow and scale their solution.
The Innovation Network provides innovators with access to key contacts at healthcare and other industry organizations to pilot studies, expand their business and customer base, and more. Organizations can join the Network to gain early access to promising CABHI-vetted solutions and participate in pilot studies.
Leap is an online community that connects older persons and individuals with lived experience to innovators. Members are empowered to share their stories, learn from one another, and provide critical insights to innovators for refinement. This influential community works together to ensure innovators have the space to work directly with their target audience, meeting their needs and making real-world impacts.
The Perks Package provides innovators with a catalogue of exclusive discounts and services from select industry partners to help grow their business.
Our Online Learning Series provides innovators with access to tailored, program-specific learning focused on developing knowledge and skills in key areas of innovation, strategy, and change management.
KL-CARE works with innovators to facilitate and implement formative, process, outcome, and impact evaluations, and basic and applied research to inform client care and optimize program and organizational efficiencies.
Services that provide innovators with guidance on how to promote uptake of their solutions to target audiences and support with dissemination through CABHI and partner channels (socials, website, and events).
Scientific Officers provide innovators with access to researchers in the aging, brain health, and dementia space to collaborate and ensure scientific validity.
Our Student Intern Program provides innovators with subsidies to hire a student intern to complete a specific scope of work.
Our Consulting Services provide innovators with a spending stipend to access various services from third-party contractors (legal, design, software development, etc.).
Mobilizing Knowledge and Sharing Community Insights
As a national and global leader in the aging and brain health sector, CABHI continues to build a strong culture of innovation and demonstrate thought leadership by mobilizing knowledge through conferences and outreach events. We bring together a wide range of stakeholders, from innovators to CABHI alumni, investors, healthcare providers, researchers, older persons, caregivers, and industry leaders, with the ultimate goal of fostering diverse connections to exchange and apply knowledge for greater collective impact.
Engaging our Global Community of Innovation
- The sixth annual CABHI Summit: Defy Dementia, held virtually on March 26, brought together hundreds of innovators, CABHI alumni, investors, healthcare providers, researchers, older persons, caregivers, exhibitors, and industry leaders. Attendees gained insights into the most pressing challenges, opportunities, and trends in defying dementia and healthy aging.
- CABHI produced season five of the Community of Innovation Podcast, bringing the total number of free episodes to 60. The series features experts in healthcare, research, technology, and business, as well as older persons and their caregivers, discussing hot topics in innovative healthtech solutions, aging, and brain health practices.
Creating Opportunities for Inclusive Innovation
CABHI has a strong commitment to ensuring our Community of Innovation is reflective of diverse groups, including women. Our programs are designed to bring entrepreneurship opportunities directly to women and other equity deserving groups. Although only 18 percent of small- and medium-sized businesses in Canada are womenowned, the vast majority of project leads in our programs are women led. For example, we have run 6 cohorts of MC2, and over 40 percent of the investments have gone to support Female Founders with the latest cohort reaching 60 percent. Similarly, 78 percent of the Spark Portfolio has been female-led projects to date. In the most recent Spark cohort, 45 percent of projects addressed ageism, 35 percent addressed socioeconomic inequality, 25 percent addressed racial inequality, and 15 percent specifically addressed Indigenous health.
Engaging Students, Colleges, and Universities
Through campus-linked accelerators, like Collision Days and Hackathons, we connect students, entrepreneurs, and early career researchers from colleges and universities with each other and members of the community to co-design aging and brain health solutions. Through these opportunities, student ventures gain access to CABHI funding and acceleration services, including Leap community engagement.
Spotlighting Innovators
Through Innovation Showcases, like our 2023 Atlantic Innovation Showcase in Halifax, we connect innovators to industry professionals spanning government, healthcare, and investors. Our Atlantic Innovation Showcase hosted more than 75 people, including leaders from start-up companies, researchers, investors, hospital administrators, and government staff. Dr. Allison Sekuler, Dr. Lara Swarek, an investment associate with Invest Nova Scotia, and eight companies from Atlantic Canada presented; three of which were existing CABHI portfolio companies and five were in the process of applying to CABHI programs.
Looking Ahead
The future is bright for CABHI. We will continue to foster innovation, skillbuilding, and collaboration among diverse groups, including innovators, researchers, older persons, caregivers, and healthcare organizations. We will harness their experience and expertise to co-design solutions that enrich lives. By providing funding, mentoring, training, and networking, we will develop, validate, and scale innovative solutions in aging and brain health. Our programs and dynamic partnerships will lead to critical knowledge exchange that influences behavior, practice, and policy, catalyzing breakthroughs and transforming the landscape of aging and brain health.
CABHI’s Global Thought Leadership and Active Engagement at Conference Panels, Workshops, Exhibits, and Trade Missions
-
May 2023
May 23
Ontario Trade Mission to BioMed in Israel
-
June 2023
June 2023
+ International Federation on Ageing Conference in Thailand
+ What’s Next Longevity Venture Summit in the United States
+ UK Canada AgeTech Innovation Exchange in the UK -
July 2023
July 2023
Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in the Netherlands
-
August 2023
August 2023
Transatlantic Telehealth Research Network in the United States
-
September 2023
September 2023
Global Ageing Network Conference in Scotland
-
November 2023
November 2023
Canadian Women’s Mission to Korea and Thailand
-
January 2024
January 2024
JP Morgan Health in the United States
-
March 2024
March 2024
+ South by Southwest (SXSW) in the United States
+ American Society on Aging’s On Aging Conference in the United States
+ AgeingFit in France
Our Leadership Team, Board of Directors, and Seniors Advisory Panel lends expertise and strategic oversight to ensure CABHI continuously strives for the greatest impact with its initiatives.
Please click on the Financial Report to view.
If you have any questions or would like more information about CABHI or our annual report, please contact info@cabhi.com.
CABHI gratefully acknowledges the support of our funders.
The views expressed herein are those of the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Ontario or the Public Health Agency of Canada.