Transforming Ontario into a Global Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Hub

This past fall was big for the life sciences sector in Ontario. MedTech 2024 was held right here in Toronto – the largest of its kind to-date and hosted for the first time outside of the U.S. On top of that, the Ontario government announced a major $146 million investment in life sciences. It’s a critical step to establish the province as a global biomanufacturing and life sciences hub. That means more R&D, capital and jobs dedicated to discovering the next medical breakthrough, right here.

At Toronto Global, we have taken a proactive approach to investment attraction in this sector. In recent years, we have welcomed leading international companies such as Recursion, Cepheid and Sanofi. They are seeking something unique that is happening in the Toronto Region – the existing strength of our technology sector has converged with the life sciences industry to build a truly unique ecosystem.??

Artificial intelligence is being applied to improve the quality and efficiency of health care. And where else do biotech and pharmaceutical companies have access to the world’s top AI researchers? Increasingly, the world’s most promising researchers in deep learning and AI subfields are looking to Toronto as a hub with many opportunities to collaborate, advance research and develop applications.??

We have also advocated for the development of specialized laboratory space – wet labs – to support the demand for cutting-edge life sciences research. Recently, our team has run into this challenge: while companies are interested in expanding here, the type of real estate they need to operate is essentially non-existent in the Toronto Region. The lack of lab space – and wet lab space in particular – hinders not only Toronto Global’s, but all of Ontario’s, ability to land international life sciences investments.??

This advocacy work aligns with the province’s commitment to allocate $15 million for a new wet labs program to reduce the time and barriers companies face when seeking to access lab spaces. Today, as a result of our collective advocacy efforts, the story is changing. University of Toronto Mississauga just opened SpinUP, and new wet lab facilities are under construction in Mississauga (Spec Labs) and Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood (Seeker Labs - Catalyst), with others in pursuit, referencing Toronto Global's Wet Labs white paper as a key resource.??

As described by Minister Fedeli, Ontario is making this “hard pivot” to life sciences and is looking to replicate its aggressive investment in the EV sector in a bid to become a global leader in biomanufacturing and health sciences. The province has an ambitious goal of growing employment in life sciences to 85,000 jobs by 2030, which would be a significant increase from the 72,000 jobs that currently exist. That’s a bold vision that we can get behind and that’s where we come in.?

We are also focusing our efforts on investment attraction and job creation in this sector. We’ve helped dozens of life sciences companies set up operations, creating more than 1,000 jobs throughout the Toronto Region.?

Additional and sustained funding for life sciences in the Toronto Region and Ontario will mean more growing companies – both domestic and international – will come, stay and scale here, further strengthening the industry. This commitment by the province is a step in the right direction.??

As the home to medical breakthroughs such as insulin, the pacemaker, and stem cells, we have a reputation for innovation and excellence in this field. The life sciences and health care sector is too important – to our economy and to Canadians – to risk falling behind.?