Overview of Techna
What is Techna? Techna is a new institute of the University Health Network, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, focused on the accelerated development and exploitation of technology for improved health.
What will Techna Do? The Techna Institute is designed to shorten the time interval from technology discovery and development to application for the benefit of patients and the health care system. It will also stimulate and facilitate the innovation cycle through a continuum of clinically-driven innovation, technology & process development, and translational research.
How is Techna Unique? While technology has existed as an essential platform for UHN research, Techna represents a paradigm shift towards demand-driven activities, and the organizational alignment of the needs of the research hospital and the research enterprise.
Techna is comprised of five Core Centres of excellence:
Each core of the institute will:
- Be championed under dual leadership, representative of the needs of the research hospital (typically this will include clinical representation and a physical sciences/engineering faculty representation), to assure the translational mandate is achieved;
- Assemble existing expertise and assets to move technology concepts forward – from a need identified by programs/clinicians, through phases of development, to implementation and practice change; and
- Identify and assemble new resources and talent dedicated solely to bridging the gap from clinically-driven technology needs to solutions.
Techna has also appointed leadership positions in the areas of Communications & Knowledge Transfer, and Process Design to support the translation of new technologies into the research hospital.
A New Model for Research
Building a Research Institute –Techna has been established to “cross the silos†of traditional research, and focus specifically on the exploitation of technology to address healthcare needs. The research infrastructure required to do this is largely in place, dispersed throughout the campuses of the UHN, MaRS, U of T and through other affiliated partner facilities. While technology has existed as an essential platform for UHN research, Techna represents a paradigm shift towards demand-driven activities, and the organizational alignment of the needs of the research hospital and the research enterprise.
People are the Primary Drivers of Research – The clinicians, research scientists and engineers, and business development personnel of Techna will be the key element for scaling up the operations of the Institute. Research faculty recruited to the Institute will be responsible for attracting research investment (both through traditional academic grants, and through industry sponsored research or development of commercial technologies). Techna will provide an environment that enables faculty to build sustainable research and development programs. Funding attracted through Techna faculty will be used to fund training (graduate students, post-docs) and biomedical engineering (to build prototypes using the expertise of dedicated engineering and project management teams; or to advance development through access to advanced equipment and facilities). The business development team will help establish strong relationships with industry from the research and product development perspectives. Technologies arising from this work will then be commercialized and deployed to the patient.
Techna faculty are the underlying model for institute growth and sustainability, with each investigator dedicated to building out a specific program of expertise and attracting funding to support ongoing research and development activities.
Founding Principles
Techna aims to go beyond research, by engineering technology to address unmet clinical needs. Techna will also actively engage academics, clinicians, industry and government as a network of partners in the development and deployment of novel health technologies. Techna plans on having a long-lasting impact, through clinical practice change, improved health outcomes, and a growing industry sector.
Founding Principles of Techna:
1. Engagement of Academic Clinicians is essential to innovation
- Needs: Identified in the clinical environment by anyone working in the clinical environment with a mandate for innovation (i.e. physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, engineers, etc)
- Diverse: Multiple levels/types of clinical programs engaged in the institute to develop novel technologies or solutions
- Educate: Integrates clinical training programs with an environment where innovation is the expectation
2.  Beyond discovery to collaborative development and exploitation
- Integrate existing research assets and clinical programs from multiple disciplines throughout UHN, U of T, and partners
- Focus on the development of novel technologies for health and improvements to clinical practice
3.  Partnerships are essential for growth and deployment
- Partnerships and collaborations encompassing training, expertise, facilities, commercialization and funding.
- The institute will facilitate access for relevant partners outside of UHN / U of TÂ (i.e. other academia or industry)
Evaluating our Success
The Techna Institute brings together three elements for success:
- Research & Development Excellence – Techna will be home to a self-assembling team of world-class researchers focused on R&D in health technologies. Bringing together existing programs and researchers from UHN and U of T to create a hub for health technology R&D and education, will drive innovation and facilitate excellence through collaborative critical thinking.
- Translational Excellence – Techna will build a dedicated biomedical engineering team to develop prototypes, support first in-human studies, and commercialize.   A stunning array of existing resources throughout Toronto’s Discovery District will be leveraged through Techna’s coordination efforts to accelerate innovation.
- Commercial Excellence – Techna will drive commercialization through a proven globally-competitive model underway at UHN. Entrepreneurial activities will be fostered through a business organization networked to local incubators, SME’s, and the medical devices industry for collaborative investment.
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