PHC Ventures and NRC IRAP Launch New Program to Accelerate AI Innovation in Health Care
Canadian health tech companies face a critical bottleneck in bringing AI innovations to patients: lack of access to the clinical data needed for validation. A new partnership between Providence Health Care Ventures (PHC Ventures) and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) aims to vanquish this barrier.
The Clinical Data Service for AI Innovation program provides Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with clinical guidance and ethically-sourced, de-identified patient data needed to refine, validate, and commercialize AI-enabled health solutions. The initiative targets firms that have moved beyond early prototypes and are ready to test their technologies in real-world healthcare environments.
This partnership combines PHC Ventures’ extensive clinical datasets with NRC IRAP’s funding expertise, creating an unprecedented resource for health innovation in Canada—one that transforms a major industry challenge into a competitive advantage.
“This partnership with NRC IRAP bridges the gap between AI innovation and clinical validation by giving Candian health tech companies access to the high-quality, ethically-sourced clinical data they need to refine and validate their solutions.” says Brian Simmers, Chief Financial Officer & Vice President, People & Health Informatics, Providence Health Care
The program targets IRAP-eligible firms incorporated in Canada that are developing AI-enabled health technologies and have moved beyond bench prototypes. Participating companies contribute $5,000 to support program administration and will receive comprehensive support from clinical experts and data scientists, including assignment of a Principal Investigator to guide clinical use case development and ethics approval, access to the Integrated Health Informatics Datalab (IHID) housing clinical, imaging, and genomic data from over 1.5 million patients, custom data curation and anonymization with secure access to datasets, and strategic guidance on clinical validation, workflow integration, and regulatory readiness.
The program particularly benefits firms seeking to augment existing datasets with longitudinal clinical information, improve model performance across diverse populations, or establish high-quality real-world data for regulatory validation. The program offers a unique opportunity for health tech companies to accelerate their path to market while ensuring their solutions are clinically grounded and ethically sound.
This partnership extends PHC Ventures’ mission to support Canadian health innovators quicken the pace of commercialization of technologies that improve care and reduce inequities. By providing AI innovators with essential tools and expertise, PHC Ventures is helping shape the future of health care through data-driven innovation.
For more details about the program or to apply contact Alex Nguyen at anguyen26@providencehealth.bc.ca or your NRC IRAP Industry Technology Advisor.